Cathay Pacific (CX) Award Redemption, Booking and Availability (2019-2022)
Jan 16, 2019, 5:01 pm
#76
Join Date: Nov 2013
Programs: NZ
Posts: 1,548
I have mainly been looking in the 300-330 zone as I am looking to book for April 2020 when that opens up. So I can't really give specific input as to the situation close in.
Jan 16, 2019, 5:11 pm
#77
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 80
Do you feed the agent the segments individually which comes up with no availability and then ask them to attempt to ticket it anyway and it ends up married and confirmed? I would suspect many agents would give a lot of pushback on that unless they had previous experience with completely different results from what their screen was telling them. Or, do you just ask to search for CPT-SFO and let the system come up with the flights?
Jan 16, 2019, 5:24 pm
#78
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
After I've found the routing on the JAL search engine, this is exactly what I did. The agent I spoke to was surprised it worked, but was perfectly happy to try. Alaska's international partner agents are leagues ahead of most other airlines though. I doubt you'll have any problems - but if you do, HUCA.
Jan 16, 2019, 5:51 pm
#80
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
That is weird QF didn't show it. AS I would not claim anything is beyond their IT skills to mess up. It is a pleasant surprise that something like this can workaround their system quirks but ideally they would fix the system to make it work without having to know the secret sauce.
Jan 17, 2019, 5:52 am
#81
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: TPA
Programs: DL Diamond, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, Marriott Gold
Posts: 1,256
Interesting info. Found a bunch more availability on JAL, though in Y (which even BA/QF weren't showing). Guess I'll have to keep an eye on it.
Jan 19, 2019, 1:05 am
#82
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: DFW
Posts: 310
Has anybody experienced CX pulling advance F class availability recently? I've been monitoring flights in August for a F class seat (booked my partner in F, I'm confirmed in J, hoping to join him). Before, almost every flight that was F6 had 1 F class seat available (seen on both BA and QF), and as of a few days ago all of that availability has completely dried up. I don't see a single F seat LAX-HKG anywhere in CX's schedule right now, even though there are plenty of F6s way out in advance. Even quite a few F5s, and one F6 flight within a week, but still no availability released aside from a few flights with two seats available that I saw a few days ago that were pulled shortly thereafter.
Is this a new era/policy of CX award availability? Perhaps the past two F class mistake fares have spurred them to attempt to protect the product more, and release fewer (if any??) seats as awards. Bummer for our honeymoon in August, curious as to what your experiences are?
Is this a new era/policy of CX award availability? Perhaps the past two F class mistake fares have spurred them to attempt to protect the product more, and release fewer (if any??) seats as awards. Bummer for our honeymoon in August, curious as to what your experiences are?
Jan 19, 2019, 6:11 am
#83
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,895
Before, almost every flight that was F6 had 1 F class seat available (seen on both BA and QF), and as of a few days ago all of that availability has completely dried up. I don't see a single F seat LAX-HKG anywhere in CX's schedule right now, even though there are plenty of F6s way out in advance. Even quite a few F5s, and one F6 flight within a week, but still no availability released aside from a few flights with two seats available that I saw a few days ago that were pulled shortly thereafter.
Is this a new era/policy of CX award availability? Perhaps the past two F class mistake fares have spurred them to attempt to protect the product more, and release fewer (if any??) seats as awards. Bummer for our honeymoon in August, curious as to what your experiences are?
Is this a new era/policy of CX award availability? Perhaps the past two F class mistake fares have spurred them to attempt to protect the product more, and release fewer (if any??) seats as awards. Bummer for our honeymoon in August, curious as to what your experiences are?
Jan 19, 2019, 8:47 am
#84
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
James
Jan 19, 2019, 9:11 am
#85
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,895
To be clear, I meant if the one F reward seat was already grabbed and flight is F5 or less, CX usually won't release another reward seat until T-14. If no one grabbed the initial seat at 3-4 months out, then of course it'll still be there. i've made several bookings in the last few years and religiously tracked the flights, never saw another F seat open until T-14
That's not to say it never happens, just rare and not something I'd plan for.
That's not to say it never happens, just rare and not something I'd plan for.
Jan 19, 2019, 2:05 pm
#86
Join Date: May 2009
Location: LAX
Programs: AS MVPG100, Hyatt Globalist, MGM Gold, Caesars Diamond
Posts: 636
I am looking for award space on Cathay Dec 11 HKG to AKL. I have two PE seats reserved but hoping for J. One is connected to F class SFP-HKG and one is new mileage booking after flying return paid A class on SFO-HKG-HAN ticket. My question is when and how to look for that availability since EF, which I do not have but was considering buying, does not follow Cathay award space. Is my only option to check back manually from time to time or this combined with 3-4 month out searching, two weeks before etc?
Also though my SFO to HKG is booked in F, since there is no F only J on the HKG-AKL does that limite me from using Cathay F lounges in HKG after we arrive and before we connect to the J flight?
Also though my SFO to HKG is booked in F, since there is no F only J on the HKG-AKL does that limite me from using Cathay F lounges in HKG after we arrive and before we connect to the J flight?
Jan 19, 2019, 2:40 pm
#87
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,895
[QUOTE=tobikosan;30675590
Also though my SFO to HKG is booked in F, since there is no F only J on the HKG-AKL does that limite me from using Cathay F lounges in HKG after we arrive and before we connect to the J flight?[/QUOTE]you can use F lounge after arriving on F flight, but only if it is same day.
Also though my SFO to HKG is booked in F, since there is no F only J on the HKG-AKL does that limite me from using Cathay F lounges in HKG after we arrive and before we connect to the J flight?[/QUOTE]you can use F lounge after arriving on F flight, but only if it is same day.
Jan 19, 2019, 5:17 pm
#88
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: SAN
Programs: AS MVPG100K, UA Gold, IHG Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, National Exec
Posts: 320
Does anyone have experience booking awards on CX to Cape Town or Johannesburg in December? I’m at the 330 day threshold, but the Alaska agents I spoke to today couldn’t see any availability to either city in December, regardless of class. I was looking to secure two seats in J, as I was able to secure two J seats out of LAX. I understand that it’s peak season for South Africa, so I just wanted to see if this was normal or not.
Jan 19, 2019, 6:17 pm
#89
Join Date: Nov 2013
Programs: NZ
Posts: 1,548
I am looking for award space on Cathay Dec 11 HKG to AKL. I have two PE seats reserved but hoping for J. One is connected to F class SFP-HKG and one is new mileage booking after flying return paid A class on SFO-HKG-HAN ticket. My question is when and how to look for that availability since EF, which I do not have but was considering buying, does not follow Cathay award space. Is my only option to check back manually from time to time or this combined with 3-4 month out searching, two weeks before etc?
Also though my SFO to HKG is booked in F, since there is no F only J on the HKG-AKL does that limite me from using Cathay F lounges in HKG after we arrive and before we connect to the J flight?
Also though my SFO to HKG is booked in F, since there is no F only J on the HKG-AKL does that limite me from using Cathay F lounges in HKG after we arrive and before we connect to the J flight?
Jan 19, 2019, 8:02 pm
#90
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Does anyone have experience booking awards on CX to Cape Town or Johannesburg in December? I’m at the 330 day threshold, but the Alaska agents I spoke to today couldn’t see any availability to either city in December, regardless of class. I was looking to secure two seats in J, as I was able to secure two J seats out of LAX. I understand that it’s peak season for South Africa, so I just wanted to see if this was normal or not.
I also have bad news and good news and bad news for you.
- The bad news is that you may not be able to find 2J from HKG to JNB direct for next December right now.
- The good news is that if you were able to book with a married segment from Asia (e.g. TPE-HKG-JNB) you can find availability through HKG for next December right now (12/11 and 12/12 and probably more have availability TPE-HKG-JNB for 2J).
- The bad news is that I do not think you can book TPE-HKG-JNB through AS as their award chart from Asia to Africa lists only "Hong Kong to Africa" on CX and no other cities. It might be worth a shot to see if an agent would go for it though.
