jamienbaker

f 747 > f 777 > j 777 > j 747.

exmike

747 J is coffin class

pssteve

Avoid at all costs!

eb12

Using quantas, I was looking for CX first jfk-hgk. didnt see anything available over the dates i was looking for (early october). Then i decided to try bos-hgk for kicks (Im actually departing from bos), and lo and behold a first class seat pops up for bos-jfk-hgk. tried just the jfk-hgk search again and it still didnt pop up. also didnt show on JAL

called up AA thinking there was a 10% chance of success due to the conflicting info, but it was available. just a data point for people struggling to find a seat, strange things can happen

wheresmybagba

Deleted

dagaetch

So lady luck is smiling on me...was running my KVS search last night and found an open F seat on ORD-HKG for Jan 2; quickly called and now have a reservation on hold for DCA-ORD-HKG-BKK. The AA agent was able to find the seat with absolutely no trouble and I was on the phone for about 7 minutes, so a good experience so far.

couple questions:
- the DCA-ORD leg is at a crappy time with a 15 hour layover in ORD. There are a number of other flights that day, just no award space. If a seat opens up on a different flight that day, I can switch with no fee, yes?
- when I call to confirm the ticket, can I ask for the PNR then? What else should I ask for to make sure that the ticket is issued?

thanks all!

dkerr

Well done. Yes you can keep monitoring the other DCA-ORD flights and switch at no cost (as long as origin and destination airports for the entire itinerary remain the same). If you have expertflyer subscription setup an alert for the flights.... watch for both First and Economy (if Economy is acceptable to you for the short connecting flight).

[edited to add...] By-the-way, a long connecting time at ORD is not a bad thing in January. Any weather-related disruption could cause havoc to your trip. I would absolutely not take a flight with the shortest connecting time, you want to leave yourself plenty of options should weather close in to either DCA or ORD. The long-haul CX flight is highly likely to keep operating, quite possibly on schedule, but many domestic flights could be cancelled or operate very delayed. [end edit]


You should ask for the CX record number, so that you can go to the CX web site and do seat assignment, request special meal, whatever. AA agents are not always able to select seat for you.

DAK

dagaetch

Thanks! I'll keep an eye on the connecting flight options; economy would be fine for that leg. And yes, I totally agree on the weather concern. I'm not looking to shrink the layover drastically, I'd just rather not have to get to DCA at 7am and then have 15 hours at Ohare. There's a flight at 11am or another at 1pm, both of which would leave me with 10+ hours in Chicago and other flights in between in case of problems. Also, I may just decide to suck it up and get there very early!

Good to know on the CX record number. Will they have that immediately after booking, or will I need to call back a couple days later?

dkerr

They already have it. You could have requested it as soon as they put the reservation on hold. You might want to wait until after ticket is issued before you attempt to make any requests, like seating, at the CX web site.

Note at the CX website it asks for first name and last name as well as the record locator. Sometimes (but not always) first name is actually your first name and middle name, or middle initial, with no spaces separating them. So if it fails at first with just your first name try adding on your middle initial or full middle name. If all else fails you can telephone CX and ask them to look up the reservation.

DAK

dkerr

Another detail I forgot to mention... CX will depart from ORD Terminal 5 (the international terminal), so you have to get yourself over to it from the AA terminal. AA do run connecting busses airside for passengers connecting to specific BA flights to LHR, but I don't think they do it for other flights, so it is out, onto the train, through security again, etc. At T5 you will get to use the BA First class lounge, you might want to check opening hours for it as you may arrive long before it opens (in which case stay in AA's terminal and use their lounge until the BA one opens)... or go into Chicago for the day, or find a nearby shopping mall, etc.

DAK

no1cub17

WOW - nicely done! The CX award gods continue to reward us, that's for sure. Wife and I were in a similar situation, 12hr-ish layover at ORD. Did exactly as you and booked the longer layover. A week or two later award seats on our preferred connection opened up - so no charge to change. It was pretty funny, when I saw the two F seats on the earlier connection opened up and called to change, the agent was duly impressed "nice work!". Made me laugh. Enjoy your trip!

yztim

I too recently booked CX first and have locator, but the Cathay website only gives an option for window or aisle seat request, not an actual assignment. Should I call Cathay? Are there any recommendations for seats for a couple traveling together?
thanks, tim

exmike

CX just replaced a 77G with a 77H starting 1/2015 which is why the F seats showed up all of a sudden. Indeed the CX gods were smiling.

dkerr

That's odd, I've always been able to select from a seat map, though the user interface is not the simplest to use.

But you may be better off calling cathay because the best seats for a couple in F (on 77W/77H) are the two on the A side.. 1A / 2A. These will be very private as the center seats exit onto the other aisle, next to the K seats. But it is likely that 2A will be blocked as it is a baby bassinet location so you will have to ask CX rep if they can unblock it for you.

That said any seat is great in CX First, but all are individual "suites" and for a couple there are really no two side-by-side that would allow you to talk/see each other. But you do want to avoid one person in an A suite and another in a D (center) suite, as there is no access to the A side from the D suites.

DAK

snofy

I need 4 tickets from KUL to Australia this Dec but MH only release 1 business class seat for each flight. Can I fly KUL - HKG - Brisbane on one single award using AA miles? Both KUL and HKG are in Asia Zone 2.