safari ari

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/32079845-post1298.html

Still not waived.

Flying for Fun

I think the OP is pretty clear that he has two PNRs and is wondering about the possibility of combining them into one.

Again, ZRH-HKG-HND is not a valid routing for a CX award since all European origin award flights terminate in HKG. They can't even be combined with a HKG-NA routing like origins in Asia, Australia, The Middle East or South Africa can. The For the OP, AS was somehow able to retain the ZRH-HKG flight in J when they split off the HKG-HND segment so they could be priced as two seperate awards on 2 different PNRs. I don't see that they can be combined back into a single PNR when it can't be priced, with an invalid routing.

James

rosenkavalier

2 separate tickets, that’s the only way to do it

rosenkavalier

yes I guess the agents I had were quite well-versed with the system and were able to keep the 1st segment while splitting the marriage for the sake of pricing correctly. Now the ultimate in luck would be an agent who was less experienced and would ticket me ZRH-HKG-HND in one ticket for 42.5k miles...🤣

Mister P.

I had a similar issue with an itinerary ex-AUS to Europe, also CX. Alaska agent tried several times and spent quite a bit of time playing around with the booking, but not possible to ticket as one ticket, due to Alaska's routing / ticketing rules.

Mauibaby2008

Has CX been releasing any US HKG F space lately? Especially June +?

skimthetrees

Just did a quick look LAX-HKG in June, searching on Qantas' site. Tons of flights with 1F.

kkjay77

If I fly USA-HKG-BKK-SIN on CX, can I have a stop over at BKK instead of HKG or is that not allowed now?

Flying for Fun

Per the T&Cs, it was never allowed. Remember, all CX awards terminate in HKG unless they are arriving from or departing to North America. Europe awards to/from HKG are always stanalone. Inter-Asia awards used fo allow a stopover but that was nixed after the SQ debacle. For time in BKK you would need to book NA-HKG-BKK (with or without a stopover in HKG) and then book a second award BKK-SIN.

I am not sure if the BKK-SIN non-stop on their 5th freedom flight is an option either through Mileage Plan. If not, a BKK-SIN award would be via HKG with no opportunity for a HKG stopover. CX awards on YVR-JFK were available (before their demise) but AS had a specific award chart for that one route.

James

eponymous_coward

I've tried to get CX stopovers in BKK (back when CX ran multiple fifth freedom routes out of BKK, not just SIN) and had zero luck doing so (and I have had luck getting routings like LAS-SEA-LAX-HKG-BKK with the stop in SEA). It's possible to book SIN-BKK or v.v. as an intra-Asia award (or other fifth freedoms like ex-TPE). I don't recall a lot of success over the years with being tricky with ex-TPE stopovers (TPE used to be a bigger focus city for CX as well).

Right now nobody but Thai nationals or a small number of essential visitors are getting to go to BKK, but I guess OP is welcome to play the HUCA game for far off hypothetical flying to see if they get a one-off.

Flying for Fun

With the necessity to call in for CX awards, it is difficult to determine what is policy and what isn't. There doesn't exist, to my knowledge, a formal outline of routing possibilities. It is generally known that stopovers must be at the gateway city at either side of the pond, yet I have seen data points with stopovers in Western Australia on a one-way QF award in addition to your SEA stopover example.

I had two CX awards, each for 2 pax, YVR-JFK in F and JFK-HKG-CPT in J. A change of date meant that my first award was arriving in JFK less than 3 hours before the second award was to depart. I was concerned about not being protected on the two awards. When I called AS they had no issues combining the two awards into one and refunding the points and tax differential. YVR-JFK-HGK//HKG-CPT in F,J,J for 70K. We flew HKG-SYD-HKG on a revenue ticket during the HKG stopover.

What really is allowed? What the system allows them to book, perhaps? Married segments! They can end in divorce too.

I like to tinker with Partners that can be booked online to see what routings are allowed. In March, I was already in LAX for a CX flight to SIN and was heading to AKL afterwards. I had to cancel the flights. AS was happy to fly me in Saver A from LAX-JFK so I could fly back to LAX in QF J, switch planes and continue onto SYD in J where I had a stopover before SYD-AKL. There was no J award space on the LAX-SYD flight if originating in LAX.

I have an EK J award in October I booked on January 1st. It was DXB-LAX//LAX-JFK. When DXB-LAX down guaged to the 777, I changed it to DXB-JFK-SEA-HNL. When DXB-JFK down guaged to the 777, I changed the EK Segment to DXB-YYZ. Now I have an international Open Jaw. lol. No intention on flying the itinerary but interesting to see what AS allows.

Most airlines schedules look like Swiss Cheese; lots of holes in them. It now takes 27 hours to get from PVR to PHX on AS. The pandemic didn't blow a few holes in CX's schedule, it literally disintegrated it. Unfortunately, for CX, that is their new reality which will exist long after any award space that might be lingering around in the calendar, sits, awaiting detination.

James

pinniped

I finally booked my 2021 trip this week. Because it's open jaw and a stopover, it had to be booked as 2 PNRs. I was charged $15 for the phone fee once - not twice. So I guess that's better than nothing. Not sure if the system automatically did that or the agent did me a favor. It took 30+ minutes to book, even though I knew all of my segments before I got on the phone, so by the end of the call I was too weary to have a long conversation about the $15.

The agent's initial comment was amusing: she said "let's find the Cathay flights first...those are hard to get, the Alaska bits are easy to find." I said no, actually Cathay was wide open...the dates of this trip were entirely constrained by finding 4 seats from MCI to the West Coast and back.

In June 2021, there were only about 3 reasonable options for the AS part. CX for 4 in PE out of LAX or SFO was not hard to find almost any day of the month. (J would probably be a different story.)

Of course I fully expect 3 or 4 schedule changes and perhaps even a routing change between now and then, but at least I have the seats.

Flying for Fun

Have you flown CX PE before? May I suggest selecting seats on the right isle of the aircraft? There is a dedicated lavatory in the PE cabin on the right isle which is difficult to get to if seated on the left isle, especially when the centre bulkhead row is all stretched out and sleeping. Consequently, I wouldn't suggest selecting seats in the first PE row centre for that reason. There will be a lot of "traffic" passing in front of (stepping over) you for access to the lavatory.

James

pinniped

Thanks for the tip! I did select the right side, the two back rows of aisle-window (4 seats total). Didn't think about the lav but that's good to know...I just figured our kids would dig window seats more than sitting in the middle of a 4-across row. I'm also hesitant to pick bulkhead seats on any flight I want to sleep on - there's often more knee room, but less foot room...if that makes any sense at all. (Depends on if the bulkhead goes to the floor...)

Flying for Fun

Fully understand, on AS 2A is always my first choice, I like to stretch my legs out under row 1. I haven't flown CX in Y, PE is certainly nice but not outstanding, just like their J & F can be inconsistent, especially catering. Hard to say this, but I guess I should give credit where credit is due... I preferred AA PE on both hard & soft product flying SCL-DFW-ICN. Over 12K EQM. PE offers good sweet spots for revenue flights and AS MP accrual. We flew CX JFK-HKG-CPT return in PE, 62 hours of flying but we earned enough RDM for an F,J one-way back.

James