Well, the saga continues...per my references in above posts re calls to Cathay, one call was to book a one-way First Class redemption ticket for a companion. All was done "successfully", until I noticed yesterday night that the ticket had been issued with the wrong travel date!

Remembering back to normal procedures of issuing redemption tickets, the Agent would always email me the itinerary (to check) and then another email with a payment link.

For this particular booking, the payment link was received first and then the itinerary email was received two minutes later (looking at the time stamps in my Mail app). I did not think to check the itinerary before making the payment (lesson learned). And, just yesterday night, when entering the flights into my calendar did I notice that the flight date on the e-ticket was for the wrong date. (I had wanted to fly on 25th, but the Agent had booked 05th.)

I immediately called Cathay (around 9:30pm HK time), and got through without queuing. I told the Agent the situation, and he immediately first searched for First Class availability for my correct date. Having found availability, he then proceeded to protect this seat first. He then told me about the procedures to verify whether the previous agent did indeed make the booking incorrectly; this would involve listening to voice recording of that conversation.

Around 10pm same night, the Agent called me back to confirm that the other Agent had indeed made the booking for the wrong date. What I had said during that call was correct, but the Agent had booked the wrongly. So, e-ticket re-issued for the correct date.

This incident does lead me to believe that there are some knowledgeable Agents in the system, who are professional in doing their job. However, it now seems like "luck" to find one such Agent!