Andrew Davidson

Question... I'm looking to book two F reward tickets from JFK to HKG using Alaskan points. There is only one F reward seat available on any given flight. Has anyone had any luck booking an F reward through Alaskan and getting on an earlier flight? If my wife had a reward F ticket on the 2:00 AM flight and I had a reward F ticket on the 9:00 AM flight, would they let me standby to the 2:00 AM flight if seats were available? Thanks!

TravelingZoomer

You’re going to get attitude about booking CX which is unfortunate, but the answer is no. CX **may** open up another spot later but that has become increasingly rare

Andrew Davidson

At check in or if I actually go to the gate, there's no chance of them letting me on? I know it's unlikely for a second award spot to open up, but I was just curious if the gate agents or check in agents have leeway to put me on an earlier flight, especially if my wife would be the only one in F for the flight.

TravelingZoomer

It’s not CX’s ticket, it’s AS ticket. They won’t touch it unless absolutely necessary. Asian carriers are known to be by the book so I’m 99% confident they would not allow you

jamienbaker

Agree. You should book 1F/1J on same flight. Then monitor religiously in the rare event a second F award is released. CX won’t touch ticket issued by somebody else, unless there’s a serious IRROP. CX has had weather waivers in place (which is a non-serious IRROP) and they would not change my ticket as BA issued it. And BA didn’t have the waiver in place so I was SOL.

skimthetrees

CX certainly can move you on the day of travel but history suggests that they will not move your for your convenience. They may move you for their convenience. For example, if one flight is oversold in F (unlikely but possible in the case of IRROPS) they may offer to move you to another flight the same day. The probability of this happening is extremely low. If you want to have a better chance of flying 2F together bank up some points that transfer to AsiaMiles. AsiaMiles has had more F award space available to its own members than to partners. If AsiaMiles opens up F that is not available to AS you could switch one of you to an AsiaMiles award (if you have AsiaMiles). The odds of AsiaMiles opening an additional F award seat are many times that of AS getting more than 1F per flight.

eponymous_coward

You will find that Cathay will not generally change an Alaska ticket in this manner. You're welcome to try with your Alaska Airlines ticket, but if you want to be on the same flight, your best bet is, as mentioned, to book 1F 1J on the same flight and see if a second F seat shows on award.

Flying for Fun

I have never been on a CX flight in F that went out with the cabin full. The only time I was ever able to get 2F on CX was on YVR-JFK as a 7.5K add on to 2 J awards JFK-HKG//HKG-CPT. From my experience, a second F opening up closer to departure is extremely rare. Increasingly, if you find F availability on a flight, there will not be J availability too.

Good luck!

James

ancarlson7

Were the awards through CX or partners like AA or AS? I have found a flight with J and F availability. I'm wondering if I should do two tickets in J or if it's worth rolling the dice in hopes of a F reward opening up (very rare) or them offering us the option to upgrade at check in (is this common?).

eponymous_coward

A paid upgrade offer to F at checkin is probably about as likely as CX offering to fly you to your destination in a Cessna. Especially when it’s on an AS-booked ticket using miles. Why wouldn’t they upgrade a CX elite or offer on a paid ticket first?

As for just gratis upgrades, that’s just plain unlikely. If you want to sit together book J.

Flying for Fun

My CX F tickets were all AS redemptions. If you are okay flying in seperate cabins, then book 1F & if possible, 1J, if you want to be together, book both in J, expect to fly in J, even if you have an F ticket. Aircraft swaps without a First cabin, pre-Covid-19, were a thing too. CX isn’t flying any aircraft with F cabins to North America now and likely won't be for quite some time.

Rather than worry about the best strategy to get 2F (very difficult) on a CX flight, consider if it is a fictitious flight that may or may not fly with or without an F cabin on a route you may or may not be eligible to travel on, while a new hand of cards are being dealt on an almost a daily bases.

I would just book something, anything, now and hopefully it will mature into something that works for you.


James

Mlindal

Hi,

I have booked JFK-HKG-TLV in October. I'am flying in from Oslo, Norway on SAS redemption to EWR. SAS just released redemption tickets to LAX and SFO. So my question is if it possible to book LAX-JFK on AS, and then onward with the planned route? So, LAX-JFK-HKG-TLV in one ticket for 70k AS points.

// Morten

lax.sea.jnu

OSL-LAX-JFK-HKG-TLV is a long way to get from OSL to TLV. That said no, backtracking to the east coast before transpacific award flight is not allowed. Sometimes these routings show up on the website for JL, but as CX awards has to be booked over the phone, most agents know this is not permissible.

lax.sea.jnu

OSL-LAX-JFK-HKG-TLV is a long way to get from OSL to TLV. That said no, backtracking to the east coast before transpacific award flight is not allowed. Sometimes these routings show up on the website for JL, but as CX awards has to be booked over the phone, most agents know this is not permissible.

creditcardgeek

Question: Looking to book J on CX for 4 people in August; preferred routing would be JFK-HKG-CMB. Obviously this is extremely far out to see if this will actually end up happening, but I'm willing to be optimistic.
1. Should I try and book a flight/timeslot that is currently running (for example the 12:05am flight on Wednesday's) to hopefully hedge my bet?
2. If I were to book another flight (for example the 10:00am out of JFK) and my flight was cancelled, do you think CX would proactively place me on another flight that day with availability even though it is an Alaskan ticket?

I know these questions are impossible to answer with certainty, but I was just curious what you would do if you were in my situation.


Thanks.