CDKing

calling outside of normal business hours is just a waste of time in general for CX awards

skimthetrees

It is hit or miss in the middle of the night. Sometimes there is a competent agent working then but many times not. I think they usually have one partner qualified agent (as opposed to partner trained which what they all claim to be) working at night but the agent you call has to recognize they cannot handle the issue and forward you to them and there can be a significant wait to get through. That said, if I found award availability in the middle of the night I would call in to attempt a booking. The worst that can happen is the night agent cannot handle it and I have to call back but if they can handle it is a win.

ukinny2000

My own experience has been that Boise-based agents have been far more capable than Seattle-ones, and Phoenix only so-so, when it comes to finding and booking CX awards, irrespective of the time of day I call

rufflesinc

If you are in Asia and are looking for F to be released on your flight home, it might very well be middle of the night. It was lunch time when I found the CX F seat I wanted on the flight home, I called and was able to get someone to change my J to F. If you're in asia I wouldn't stay up late just to call AS

pbelmore

Question for the experts: I currently have two seats in J for a SEA-HKG flight. I've been checking every day for the HKG-DPS flight I need to pop up, but so far nothing. However, today I noticed that a married segment in PE for SEA-HKG-DPS is available according to the BA tool (but still no availability if I just look at HKG-DPS). Would the AS agents be able to add the HKG-DPS flight on to my itinerary as PE, or would that only work if I downgraded the SEA-HKG flight to PE as well?

tobikosan

I am far from an expert but I have SFO - HKG in F and wanted HKG-CHC in J (there is no F) but only PE available and the AS agent grabbed it and a month later I found HKG-CHC in J and easily switched. No downgrading necessary only upgrading.

pbelmore

Was it a married segment though? That's where the wrinkle is. SEA-HKG-DPS is showing up in PE as a married segment, but no availability (in any class) when searching HKG-DPS on its own.

skimthetrees

HKG-DPS usually does not have PE service so that segment may be Y but still better than nothing. Give it a try and let us know if you are successful. Tell the agent the details of what you are trying to accomplish and maybe they can help?

pbelmore

You're totally right, my bad. It's a regional 777 so just J and Y.

I'll try to give them a call today and see if they can at least add it on in Y. I'm not too worried about it (we have 2.5 months!) but my wife is starting to get very nervous about not having the whole trip booked. I'll report back.

pbelmore

Thanks for the help, @skimthetrees! Talked to a great agent in Phoenix who was able to add the HKG-DPS leg in Y without issue. I had to pay the change fee (sadly no longer Gold this year) but she confirmed that I won't have to pay that fee again should J open up down the road.

skimthetrees

I am glad it worked out for you and thanks for reporting back. It is nice to have confirmation AS can handle changes like this involving married segments. Hopefully now your wife is happy

Mauibaby2008

travelbugging

Has anyone had experience with Cathay Pacific changing the date of a married segment and how Alaska/Cathay handled it? Back in July 2018 I booked SFO-HKG-MLE and just got informed today from Alaska that the HKG-MLE sector has been pushed up a day. This in turn causes me to miss the connection because I would land in HKG the day after. I cannot take the SFO-HKG flight the day before due to not having PTO. I am waiting for a call back from the Cathay Pacific representative who handles Alaska bookings (or something of that sort) but was wondering what is reasonable to ask of them. I wanted to ask them to put me a flight that leaves 2 days later and change my MLE-HKG-SFO dates booked on a separate itinerary. No upgrades, no class changes, just simple date changes. Would Cathay Pacific open up award seats in this case for both departure and return? This is a bit of a downer since I had all my hotels booked and itinerary set. Just wondering if anyone has been in this situation and what the resolution was. Thanks in advance for any comments, advice, etc.

percysmith

skimthetrees

I don't know. But, based on my understanding of the way award tickets work in general, CX should allow you to change your broken outbound itinerary (because they broke it) within reason ( a day or two keeping on their metal ). I am not sure if they would extend this courtesy to a separate reservation (your return) but it can't hurt to ask. If it were on the same ticket I would think you would stand a better chance of them being willing to fix the return but on separate tickets, who knows? Once CX fixes your reservation(s) on their end you will need call AS to reticket/revalidate and so long as it is a CX instituted change AS should not charge for this.