azepine00

As does seem to have earlier access to cx than aa by a few hours although i never compared exactly same flights..

halamadrid

Quick question for those with more experience with CX bookings with AS. I've managed to book a one way JFK-HKG-BNE in J (2 passengers). My goal was to get to SYD, but that was not available so I booked a ticket that would at least get me close in Australia. I've been checking every day to see if availability in J to SYD opens up in late December, but haven't seen anything. I guess my question is what are the chances that availability will open in J for my days, and how close would that normally happen...or do you recommend that I just book a separate one way from BNE to SYD on my own now when it's pretty inexpensive. I know that the answer is probably "it depends," but I wanted to see what people's experiences are in terms of award space opening up going to SYD in J. Thanks.

Kremmen

In my experience, the smaller cities (BNE, CNS, ADL) are more likely to get availability than SYD or MEL, as you've already found. You want 2 J seats HKG-SYD on a flight that connects from your JFK-HKG flight. (Unless you think it's worth staying an extra 7+ hours in HKG to avoid the 90 min flight BNE-SYD?) I suspect you could spend a long time waiting for that without success.

halamadrid

Thanks. I'm doing a 2-day stopover in HKG so the wait is not an issue. I guess I should've specified that I'm doing JFK-HKG and then HKG-BNE. I'm just wondering whether it's worth waiting to see if HKG-SYD will eventually open (and around when), or whether it's more likely pie in the sky and I should just buy the BNE-SYD tickets now that they are relatively inexpensive.

Kremmen

Do you feel lucky? I've seen single seats open up more than pairs. Weekends are highly unlikely. Weekdays maybe. If some do open up, it'll most likely be close to the time.

Short domestic flights are generally fairly inexpensive. Cheaper fare buckets tend to fill up on popular flights, while early morning flights tend to remain cheap for much longer. Qantas seems to like having at least one cheap flight a day so that search engines will show that result, but then the convenient flights may cost twice as much.

eponymous_coward

BNE-SYD is pretty cheap with Avios, if you can get your hands on some, and you could cancel the ticket fairly close in (4500 Avios in Y + $15.20, 9k in J + $15.20). If you cancel (but you have to cancel at least 24 hours before flight time) you only lose the $15.20.

Note that you won't be allowed to change your AS ticketed HKG-BNE segment on CX after you start travel though (in other words, during your stopover).

Alternately, just spend the Avios and enjoy a few days in BNE.

halamadrid

Thank you both. It's clear that I should just book the BNE-SYD segment. I'll probably just transfer some UR points to Avios to do the booking. I guess my final question is how many hours are sufficient to leave in between landing in BNE and the flight to SYD. If I land at 10AM, would the 12:05 flight on QS be OK, or should I go with the 2PM flight?

Kremmen

Immigration, collect bags, customs, re-check bags, line up and wait for bus to domestic terminal, go through security, then to the QF lounge if you have status (or using Avios for J). I would not book a separate ticket with less than 3 hours to spare.

halamadrid

Thanks, this indeed sounds like a long process. I'll go with the later flight to be safe.

Steve_19

Rookie question here -

Trying to find a reward flight on Cathy Pacific from Europe to Hong Kong. Alaska Airlines shows this as an option on the award flights page, but when I search for an ex-Europe to HKG I do not see anything in the results for several airports and dates.

Am I missing something or is the availability just not that great?

lax.sea.jnu

Cathay Pacific tickets are not bookable through the website, you have to call into AS. I would suggest starting from the top and reading the Wiki.

eponymous_coward

https://www.alaskaair.com/content/mi...s/award-charts

I would just like to repeat, once again, this is the really annoying part about two different wikithreads about AS Cathay awards.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alask...ility-f-j.html

The same information isn't in both wikis (such as "hey, dude, you gotta call AS to book") unless someone puts it in both places (I just added it to THIS wikithread, it was in the other one).

Steve_19

Thank you for the information! I missed the other thread on this topic.

Steve_19

Thanks for the information!

I did read, but seems the info I needed was in another wiki thread.

PV_Premier

I just canceled two business class seats for 12/11/17 LAX-HKG-AKL ... sometimes these go back into inventory, so if anyone is looking for something like that... act quick...