Problems with seat assignments on partner airlines with CX redemption tickets
- Redeemed CX points on QR to fly from Doha to Hong Kong. Somehow when reservation was confirmed, got the note that "seat assignments are not free". Did not think too much about it.
- Looked up booking on QR. Forced my way through the seat assignment (in even selecting extra legroom seats), as one of us is Gold / Oneworld Sapphire.
- Got kicked out of seat assignments hours later.
- Repeated the cycle multiple times.
- Called QR. It seems that the issue is Cathay has not paid for the right to free seat assignment (even for Oneworld Emerald/Sapphire) when redeeming points to fly on partners' airlines. The agent said all seats on the plane (even regular seats) were chargeable.
- He also said that this is a known issue with CX redemption tickets. I told him that 6 months ago, I redeemed AA points to fly Doha to Hong Kong and seat assignments were not an issue; he specifically said that yes AA redemption tickets are fine; specifically says that CX redemption tickets do not come with seat assignments no matter what tier one is in.
Need I say more ? Fuel surcharges on CX redemption tickets are already huge compared to AA. Could have just spent HK$4,000 MORE to buy the tickets as revenue tickets (for the 2 of us) and would have got the seat assignments for free. The fuel surcharge and seat assignment fees are not worth it, when using CX points for airlines other than CX.
Last edited by zhaobao; Jun 17, 2023 at 2:56 am