TravelingZoomer

AS got ride of InterAsia stopovers thanks to the SQ fiasco.

CX F has been extremely hard to find since the mistake fare, CX has been willing to let the cabin go empty lately. YMMV

You can book whatever the agent will let you. According to the letter of the rule, anything below 24 hours is a layover not a stopover internationally. YMMV about booking longer than that. I had a 28 hour “layover” in SIN with SQ last month.

336

OK. Thanks a lot.

If I would settle for business, and if can get one night in HKG, maximising the layover time, that would be great already.

For HND-HKG, there is one flight a day fitted with first class. I expect availability to be limited, but what surprises me is that I can't find any seat in first, no matter which date.
Do I need to look as far ahead as possible? Or can I hope for seats to open up? Or is this route simply one where they are very stingy with availability?

Flying for Fun

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eponymous_coward

Correct, this is one of the few intra-Asia routes where CX offers F (as well as a guaranteed longhaul J product). Award availability is far slimmer than other services.

IMO if you want the best hard product/cost in miles optimization for TYO-SIN you want to fly JL- they have lie-flats on the route that are easier to come by. CX is likely to stick you in their regional J product for BOTH segments (and extremely likely at least HKG-SIN) unless you can catch a J or F award on the one longhaul flight, which is basically the equivalent of USA domestic F. If your heart is set on a HKG layover then of course CX is the only way to do it. If you are trying to “maximize” the experience, a recliner that reclines in a shell (and that is basically CX’s premium Y product longhaul) is not a very “maximum” experience. YMMV, of course.

skimthetrees

Based on a quick look HND-HKG in F is not generally available on the standard partners. It is available via AsiaMiles from around 330+ days out but right around 330 days it dries up even with AsiaMiles which leads me to suspect perhaps another partner gets access around +330 but not BA,QF, AS, JL. Maybe a non-OneWorld partner?

Anyway that route seems to be not available in F to the partners I have checked so I wouldn't plan on F there unless using AsiaMiles.

336

Great input. Thanks a lot.

Final question: how hard is it, to book a flight in someone else name.

Both me and my wife, each have an AS account, with sufficient miles each.
For this flight, a relative and I will be flying. We have decided to try and use the miles of my wife, to book for him. Are there any restrictions?

TravelingZoomer

No, I just booked a couple flights for the mom
and pops with my points. Although your are prone to more scrutiny if it’s interasia

CDKing

I'm not sure why AS was waiving them upon request for CX. Phone fee has applied for over a decade even when no partners could be booked online.

NWplatinum

I am friendly with some AS MileagePlan security staff. I would just warn mileage brokers they’ve really beefed up their security, especially inter-Asia. If you end up booking 5+ tickets with different names and you have no history with AS, odds are your tickets will be canceled.

NWplatinum

CX F cabins are weird when they’re released. You either have to book 6+ months in advance to find space, or a few days in advance. They don’t usually release 1-3 months especially F. However I did just get lucky and happen to stumble upon a HKG-LAX with 2 months so YMMV.

336

Regarding guestimating AS partner award availability on CX: I read that JAL is the closest proxy to what seems to be available (better than BA). Correct?

I just enrolled for JAL Mileage bank, but apparently there is a 60 day wait before I can search award inventory?

Any other good tools to crosscheck availability for AS partner awards on CX?

skimthetrees

Why do you say, "apparently"? JAL does state that miles may not be redeemed by new members for 60 days but I do not see any mention of a restriction against searching. Have you tried searching?

Any OneWorld member airline will be be able to book CX awards so if they have an online search that includes CX results you can use that. Qantas (QF) and British Airways (BA) are the most popular to search along with JAL. I believe AA also supports CX in its searches now. Results can vary by partner and I have found JL to be the most reflective of what is available via AS but if you do not have access to JAL search for 60 days then QF, BA, and AA are all helpful indicators.

MAH4546

I’ve never paid a phone fee booking AS and I have never needed to ask for it to be waived. AS doesn’t charge the fee if the award can’t be booked online.

336

With "apparently" I mean that I leave some room of doubt that I am not finding the right spot on the JAL site to search for award flights.

Everywhere where I click to try and search, I get the notice that miles cannot be redeemed by new members for 60 days. Hence, I assume they disabled their search altogether for new members.

skimthetrees

Got it. That would suck. Try logging in to your JMB account then paste in this URL and see if you still get the message:

https://www.ar.jal.co.jp/arl/en/jmb/...ner/round.html