I have always checked Asia miles first in the past, but this time I just called the EXP desk.

(It was a one of “those” cool frequent flyer moments when Mrs. SF saw some neat pictures of the lantern festival on the Internet and remarked how it would be great to go to Taiwan to see it in person some day. I picked up the phone and within 10 minutes we had two F seats on CX booked.):D

I'll give that a try. Thanks.

While traveling on an award flight last year, I made the request at the airport in DPS, and was able to get seated in the F cabin on a DPS-HKG flight. I mentioned that I knew that the airplane was configured with 3 cabins, and that I was connecting to a HKG-JFK flight in F. I then “nicely” asked it was possible to have my seat moved to one in the first 4 rows.

[QUOTE=(It was a one of “those” cool frequent flyer moments when Mrs. SF saw some neat pictures of the lantern festival on the Internet and remarked how it would be great to go to Taiwan to see it in person some day. I picked up the phone and within 10 minutes we had two F seats on CX booked.):D[/QUOTE]

Its what the miles are for - those cool moments. Enjoy the festival!

I am thinking of doing a CX F JFK - YVR - HKG - Asia2 (prob BKK) with a stopover in YVR and <24 h in HKG. This seems to give the most CX F experience per AA mile. Arguably the direct flight as opposed to the nonstop is not the most direct route but anyone got experience with ticketing this? Any other Asia2 destinations that would give more bang for the mile?

JFK - DPS is probably the best bang for buck possible since bali is a good 5 hrs from HKG

Since it sounds like you are trying to maximize your CX experience, you can add one more flight from BKK. CX operates a once-daily BKK-SIN flight, so you can do JFK-YVR-HKG-BKK-SIN, all on one award.

Nice!

CX Award in F with AA miles
 

Nubie here, so be gentle...

I am trying to secure 2 F award seats on CX from YYZ to HKG using AA miles. I have secured 2 seats on 25Dec on CX829 in F, but the flight leaves at 1:30AM, not a good time to enjoy the Krug and caviar. There is 1 seat on the later flight the same day, CX827... What are my chances of clearing the second seat or will it ever become available? Any suggestions?

CX *might * release another seat closer on date of departure. But you might have to keep checking for space. CX Asia miles and MPC members may waitlist and they will get the seat ahead of you if CX releases another award seat. Strategies? Don't know.

Welcome to FT !

But as you're asking a question about USING AAdvantage miles, your question is best answered at the AA forum. People there will have a better idea on redeeming AA miles on CX flights.

Guy Betsy
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles forum co-moderator

I recently took the 1:30 a.m. flight YYZ-HKG, and I would recommend it. The way F works on CX, you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want - so you could board, sleep, eat breakfast, and then do krug/caviar/dinner a few hours later before landing in HKG. Just make sure to tell the FAs what you want, so they don't serve it to another pax as seconds.

Welcome to FT, orli-flier!

Your query has been merged into this CX First awards thread for members' reading convenience, and hopefully yours too.

You've received some excellent advice - dccarroll has experienced this flight, and if anyone knows more than Guy Betsey about CX they are probably working for CX management.

Anytime is a good time for Krug and caviar :D

Welcome to FlyerTalk, orli-flier! :)

If you just glance through the last few pages of this this thread, you'll see that folks generally have good successes nabbing seats on CX F using AA miles. (I've booked multiple award flights where I've had two family members occupying 2 of the 6 F seats on the long-haul 777-300ER aka 77A.)

If you won't be terribly sad/disappointed flying in J, then my advice is book J for now if you can grab the inventory, then wait to see if F opens up. (Again, most FTers report a good degree of success waiting for F inventory to eventually open up.)

Remember that if you have any flexibility on your departure date, AA does allow you to move travel dates around for no fee - as long as there is award inventory available and you're not changing the destination/origin pair - in case you find 2 F seats on another day for the flight you're looking for.

Good luck! :)

One thing to note is that I believe to downgrade one of the awards to J on the second flight it requires the $150 redeposit fee, unless you are an EXP.

Are you saying that when you have an F award, you cannot book a J seat? That's news to me.