wolfmiles

I hope this gets resolved, Ive been stock piling AS miles for a cathay trip to south africa in March and now there is no J options.

milypan

This doesn't help much now, but the history of mileage programs is replete with sudden devaluations and tightening of availability. I would view miles as a "currency" worth at best between one to two cents per mile, depending on how flexible you are with times and destinations, and leave it at that. Trying to stockpile miles for a specific carrier, date, and destination is likely to lead to disappointment.

Flying for Fun

Awesome choice. I would visit CPT over JNB (CX starts nonstop service from HKG to CPT in November) and a Safari in the Kruger should not be missed. I was in SA in Jan/Feb. Flew CX JNB-HKG//HKG-BOS IN J/F. Incredible value for 70K. I paired that with an EK SFO-DXB//DXB-JNB in J. During the 26 day stopover I toured around SE Asia & Australia.

I booked CX J 4 to 3 months out. Originally there was only PE JNB-HKG but 2 J opened up and I grabbed them. Upgraded to F at T-11 days. Hopefully you will find some space which definitely seems to be more challenging since the CX changes.

Personally, I think CX & JL are overdue for a devaluation via AS. I can see it more inline with AA soon but still perhaps maintain stopovers on a one-way award. I have booked 6 CX F&J awards over the last 8 months. Good for CX F to Australia in Feb, returning JL F from Toyko in Mar. Doing a paid J&Y RTW MR and an 8-day Tahitian Cruise inbetween.

James

Happy

Unfortunately, none of the above would apply IF CX does not return to its old mode to release premium cabin seats to the partners.

Until we see something solid to suggest premium cabin seats are released to partners, I would not have any high hope or give prior experiences which are woefully outdated.

Do agree CX and JL charts are overdue for devaluation. If AS is not pre-occupied with the integration with VX, I suspect the partner charts devaluation would have happened already.

Deltahater

I booked two HKG-JFK seats for later this month via AS. Today, QF shows an additional seat open for the flight I want, but AS can't see it. So CX does release J class seats to partners post 6/22. I also saw F seats available

Happy

Close in, Yes, that has been confirmed days ago. If you can travel within the next 7 to 14 days, you can find seats, actually more in F than in J.

One month out thru 11 months the booking window, sadly is a No. And that is what many posters want / need to book. Until we see availability shows up beyond one month from departure, there is no point to talk about prior experiences as such no longer apply.

Flying for Fun

I have been periodically checking CX routes and some city pairs seem to be coming back "online!" After the updates, there was virtually no CX flights with any award availability. On the JFK-YVR route there was also no availability, then Y awards and a few PE started showing up. When I checked tonight there was award availability in ALL Classes. I am not talking about close in awards either. In fact in October 2018 there is F and/or J awards available on 24 dates.

Now that we see JFK-YVR I looked at JFK-HKG and found F & J available in October 2018 as well, albeit not as many as JFK-YVR but still there for three months out. There is also some F & J in December up to the week before Christmas.

From HKG I looked at SIN. J is available virtually everyday of October and on a random day in October, 8 of the 9 flights that day has J open.

I am still not seeing anything even relatively close in from LAX to HKG nor from HKG-BNE/SYD/MEL/JNB.

Given that last week I saw nothing from JFK and now see some availability, I am hopeful that other cities will start showing availability too. I have also noticed there being less flights with both F & J availability together, usually either one or the other.

James

Deltahater

In my limited experience with 2 bookings, I was able to get J class seats (one at a time) 21-25 days out.
Currently, I am seeing seats on QF that AS cannot see. Darn Phantom availability.

I am also seeing the F OR J pattern

Happy

Thanks for the much needed updates.

I checked last night but the BA site just kept churning without ever going to the flight page. I was too lazy to try QF site.

I have not see anything between HKG to Australia in Nov except 2 dates to PER.

EDIT
Just checked. Unfortunately JFK-HKG are all zeroed out again. There is not a single J or F between Oct 9 thru Oct 24.
There are some PE sporadically, but not a single seat on any class for Fri/Sat/Sun during the 3 weeks in Oct I just checked at 1:15pm EST. Not a single seat on a Tuesday Oct 16.

For those days that have PE available, only 1 or 2 flights have seats, primarily on the 10am and the 22pm flight (go thru YVR).

Whatever you saw last night JFK-HKG in Oct 18, they are NOT showing. Can't believe they are all snatched up though it might be possible.

I am afraid we are back to Square One.

newdaybegin

I know this is not a correct topic to ask but I am not sure where to ask. Regard to the new rule if you make any change even before 60 day window you will get charge for $125? someone say you get 1 Free change before they charge $125? anyone know about this? thank you!

Flying for Fun

Reservations booked Post June 5th are subject to the $125 change fee regardless of when they are booked (< or > 60 days) If you have MVPG+ Elite status change fees are waived. Existing reservations that were booked prior to June 5th will get one free change if the change is done 60 days or more before departure.

James

Flying for Fun

@Happy and I had further discussion on CX availability in the Travel Package thread over in the Marriott Forum. If you would like to read it please follow this link.

James

percysmith

I know. Cos this is happening to availability. Partners simply don't get a look-in for Aus/NZ:

milypan

The language that AS uses in their T&C is very confusing. They state, "...For tickets purchased 24 hours or more prior to your scheduled departure time, you may make one change to this itinerary, or you may cancel and refund it to the original form of payment within 24 hours of the original purchase date with no fee."

I believe what they're trying to say is that within 24 hours of purchase you may, without penalty, either make one change to the ticket or cancel and refund it. This is simply compliance with Federal law. It would be less confusing if they'd at least change "...payment within 24 hours..." to "...payment, within 24 hours..."

hightide

Just rang AS. SFO-HKG-SIN is available in J but not the exact flight for SFO-HKG! Hence married segments.