alfrie

Just wanting to check AS can break married segments after ticketing? I would like to fly PER-HKG-SFO, but it is not available. I see MEL-HKG-SFO and PER-HKG-TPE are available. Is it possible to ticket MEL-HKG-SFO first, then delete MEL-HKG, add PER-HKG-TPE, then delete HKG-TPE? Sounds like multiple hoops to jump, but maybe I can learn from the wisdom of flyertalkers.

milkway

Hi, just want to know the price/miles needed and whether can book it from Singapore to Japan on CX or not. Probably traveling next year or later.
Thanks

skimthetrees

Yes it is definitely possible to break married segments after ticketing. Maybe not before. It requires special handling and not all agents know how to do it but they should be able to get help to do it although I would probably HUCA if it's clear an agent can't handle it. The issue you may run into is that if you give the agent your existing PNR before changing flights most agents will try to book your new segment as married and space will not show up. To get around this you need to not mention your existing married reservation, ask for only the new segment you want that does have availability and when they find it tell them you want to change one of the segments on your existing reservation to the segment they just confirmed has availability. This usually will get them to do the work to make it happen or get them to consult a more experienced agent or supervisor to make it happen.

ETA:
Important note from James below: Both your originally booked award and the new changed award must be valid AS awards. You cannot change to an award that violates the AS routing rules.

Flying for Fun

No, PER-HKG-TPE is two awards on CX. Your PER-HKG will terminate in HKG unless you are continuing on to North America; with or without a stopover. Since all CX award flights from AU will terminate in HKG, you can't booked onward travel to another Asian City on the same award.

James

EDIT: If there is MEL-HKG-SFO you could book that and then redeem a second flight on QF in J for 20K for PER-MEL. The route is operated on B738, A330 & B789. The widebodies offer the fully-flat J experience and excellent value.

Alternatively, you could also look for HKG-YVR/SEA/LAX as AS will provide service from those gateways back to SFO on the same award. You can also add a North America stopover if you haven't already used one in HKG.

alfrie

Thanks James and skimthetrees! Excellent suggestions I am looking for. I will definitely keep an eye on CX availability to other North America west coast gateways. I am hesitating to book MEL-HKG-SFO because the layover would be 18 hours. Add another positioning flight PER-MEL would further increase the trip by 7+ hours.

I did not know OZ-Asia could not be ticketed as a single award except to HKG. Given that, the ideal scenario would be ticketing MEL-HKG-SFO, finding availability on PER-HKG-NA gateway and asking AS to break married segment to replace MEL-HKG with PER-HKG. If I fail to persuade AS to do so, I'll just add a flight from the NA gateway to SFO.

This trip will be at the end of this year, so I still have a lot of time to plan. Who knows, maybe PER-HKG-SFO will open up, saving me all the workaround.

freed0m

why not fly QF? CX is not really cheaper

Flying for Fun

You can't do a HKG stopover on QF. That may be one reason. Different experiences both in hard & soft products may be another. CX J is 60K, QF J is 55K. Easier to find CX F than QF F.

James

freed0m

he/she did not like a long layover(18 hours) in HKG, why would he/she prefer stopover at HKG?

Flying for Fun

Maybe it wasn't long enough? I like to help out where I can on a posters questions and draw from my experiences. I also like to offer alternatives that maybe they hadn't thought of. In fairness, QF is an alternative. Personally, I would take CX over QF in F & J especially with QF A380 2-2-2 J configuration. JL F is better than CX F, EK F better than EY Apartments and BA F, well lets just say, AA PE has it beat.

James

alfrie

I plan to travel over Christmas/New Year holidays. I booked QF J SFO-BNE-PER, but found nothing for return before Jan 10 on QF. CX at least showed sparse availability. MEL-HKG-SFO would be J+F for 80K, which is excellent value.

alfrie

Trust me, OZ-HKG-SFO would be long enough even for a 2hr layover Anyway, I just ticketed MEL-HKG-SFO (J+F). Will look out for better options in the months ahead.

Flying for Fun

Awesome, that was going to be my next suggestion. A bird in the hand.....

James

milkway

AA website shows Cathay Asia biz class award cost 22.5k

Is it only from HKG to anywhere in Asia?

break means if I fly from SG to JAPAN, I need to redeem SIN - HKG (22.5k) and HKG - JPN (22.5k)?

Am I right?

Flying for Fun

No! SIN-HKG-HND would be one award as it is intra-Asia. If you are starting outside Asia then your award "terminates" in HKG unless you are continuing onto North America. All Europe to Asia awards terminate in HKG and a second award is needed to continue onwards, even to North America.

James

eponymous_coward

Yeah, I wrote that part of the wiki discussing which awards break at HKG. My original answer to you stands. SIN-TYO is 22.5k miles as an intra-Asia CX ticket. No stopover allowed (can only stay in HKG < 24 hours).

FWIW, I would strongly recommend spending the 2.5k extra AS miles redeeming SIN-TYO on JL if you can. JL uses true longhaul equipment on the route (in normal times) and is flying nonstop. Unless you find award availability on the one CX route does longhaul equipment HKG-HND (not likely- CX doesn't often release award space on that route), you are likely to fly CX's regional business class for all of the journey (and you are highly likely to fly it on at least one 3-4 hour segment). It's similar to CX's longhaul premium economy or domestic F on a USA-based airline, and a significant downgrade in comfort or personal space from JL's full lie flat, aisle access business class (some regional J seats on CX planes are middle seats with passengers on either side of you, for instance). If you're going to pay a mileage premium for business over coach anyway... you might want to pay a slightly larger premium and get a much better product.