CDKing

Hang up and try again. Mention that you want to book a Cathay award and ask to be transfer to a partner agent. Worst case grab the F seat then they will be forced to transfer to partner agent since only the most senior have the ability to make changes to existing CX ticket.

kodawg9

Thanks - I went ahead and booked the F from HKG-US. Will be calling again to get this itinerary changed so I can get the MEL-HKG flight on J as part of this overall itinerary (and just pay the additional 10k in pts for the AUS-US F redemption), rather than 70K from HKG-US (F), then another 30K from MEL-HKG (J). Hope this works. Had to do this because I otherwise would've been stuck in Australia due to the cancelled ANZ Syd-LAX flight.


Edit: Talked to a transfer agent supervisor who tried to book it -- he said this was something implemented within the last few months by Cathay that mixed cabin awards are not possible. Sounds contradictory based on others in this thread saying they've been able to book mixed cabin awards all on 1 itinerary.

domino007

I have been tracking the availability for the LAX / SFO flights on Cathay for the past 2-3 weeks. Mostly the availability for 2 J class seats has been opening up for the 14 day period. However for the Oct 5 till Oct 17 I see literally no availability on any Cathay flights. I was hoping it to open up this week but nothing so far. Any ideas what might be happening? Any patterns that I might not be aware of.

flyingstudent

China Golden week travel. Full planes ex-HKG/China this week and next and full planes returning from US the next two weeks.

mbfanos

My workaround was that I booked J then upgraded the section with F available, J->F, and paid the miles difference.

The first agent told me they tried to book mixed award but Cathay system just didn't accept it. Not sure if it was true or they made it up. Who knows.

cnicklo

Quick data point here.

I called Alaska yesterday evening and successfully booked a business class seat on CX's new A350 flight in early November from HKG - SFO.

Both BA and Qantas were showing only one seat available, so I didn't think the Alaska agent would see and be able to book the seat.

On a lark and out of curiosity I called to verify and walked away with exactly what I wanted.

#lucky

cheukiecfu

I am trying to book 2 one-way J class award seats from YYZ to HKG early Feb, but AS agent wasn't able to pull up anything, not even 1 seat. I actually transferred most of my SPG points 2 weeks ago for this. At the time of transfer, I called in and the AS agent was able to see wide open availability, 2-3 seats available on multiple dates.

Any advice on what I should do next?

I am flexible on the timing. Any date between 27-Jan to 15-Feb is fine.

Should I wait and hope CX releases more seats in near future? Or is my chance slim and I should simply book with Avios now? Avios costs more than double.

gojackets

Is it safe to assume that if I can find multiple seats for sale on a flight that it will open up close in?

I'm looking at CX 883 LAX -> HKG 9/27 and CX 562 HKG -> KIX 10/4 which are not showing availability on Qantas/JL/AS but both have 5 seats for sale per google flights in F.

Thanks!

domino007

Feb is still a bit far so can always wait as there is good possibility of J class availability opening up with Cathay - but do keep on watching regularly.

did you explore what BA charges if you cancel your award booking later - you might pay very low taxes when you cancel BA award.

Happy

OP's origin is YYZ - so the taxes are much higher than origin is from US.

The BA cancellation fee is the lower of the cancellation fee (there is a table for members from different countries) or the cash paid (taxes and YQ). I dont know how much CX YQ is on that route but if there is any, BA sure would charge it.

Good thing is, OP can see how much the cash payment is, on the YYZ-HKG award and to compare the cancellation fee to see if he is willing to pay the cost - but that is counting on CX would release additional seats and AS can book it. A very big IF based on current situation.

skimthetrees

Search yourself before you call AS so you know what is and is not available to partners. Sign up for a Qantas FF account (free) so you can do award searches there. I see a couple of dates with 2J awards in your time frame right now. Are you ending in HKG or connecting? There is one flight that arrives HKG in the morning which is good for same day connections and there is another flight in the evening which is not (so if the agent is not searching segment by segment they may not see availability on the later flight for connections). There are some days where there is availability for the later flight but not the earlier flight. If you are connecting and only the later flight is available you could arrive on the later flight, spend the night in HKG (or a couple of days with free stopover), and then continue your journey.

For the earlier flight which leaves 01:20 the AS agent may need to use the workaround for searching availability for flights close to midnight (specify a time for the search). Confirm the AS agent is using the workaround for flights near midnight if you are searching for the 01:20 flight

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28160974-post748.html

Right now Qantas is showing 2J on both CX flights YYZ-HKG 1/28, later flight only 1/31, 2/7, 2/11, 2/14, earlier flight only 2/13 (edit: BA now not showing 2/13).

When first talking to the AS phone agent first mention you want to book a Cathay Pacific award. There are some reports that first line agents will transfer you to the partner desk for booking if you tell them up front you want to book a CX award. If an AS agent cannot find dates Qantas shows as available I would HUCA a few times.

If you are looking for a connection in HKG make sure you have the agent search for the flights segment by segment, not all at once.

Pulley

I called to change my LAX-HKG F to a later flight. BA showed availability on 4 days I was looking at, AS rep didn't see any of those flights. I HUCA multiple times to no avail. On a whim I asked the last rep to try JFK-HKG since BA showed what I wanted over 5 days. This time AS availability matched BA's exactly.

ennsy

I'm looking to go YVR-HKG-JNB on CX F with Alaska Miles for the 70,000 mile redemption (140,000 for both of us) for my wife and I sometime in March. We currently have ~200,000 AS Miles and by the time of the flight will have between 225,000-250,000 if that matters.

From what research I've done so far, this is the best redemption for Alaska miles from YVR, right? The other option my wife is interested in is Australia, is there a way to do CX F from YVR-HKG then HKG to Australia somewhere in F as well? That goes up to 80,000 miles, right?

If we did the YVR-HKG-JNB route, I know the first leg can be done in F and the second is done in J. Is there is a limit on stopover length that can be done in HKG? Also, in HKG can the lounge be used on arrival and departure?

I've been using the Qantas site to search reward availability as I like that you can search with a calendar view over a month rather than just specific dates like on BA website. Is it worth booking the dates we want now in J then upgrading to F if it comes available? Or should we wait until T-14 and book whatever comes available in F then? How does the upgrade from J to F work? Does it have to be on the same dates? What is the cost in terms of miles? Is it just the difference between J and F?

Sorry for all the questions but I couldn't find definitive answers elsewhere, if someone can help me out or point me in the right direction that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

eponymous_coward

There is no F availability to JNB or Australia/NZ.

CDKing

Grab J for now and worry about the F leg later. Otherwise may end up in coach.