Our flights were ticketed for all carriers, took a few extra days due to the holiday I'm guessing. These are our first F flights ever, so we're really looking forward to this trip. Plus we get to go back to BKK and spend some more time there than last time's 2 nights.

LAX-HKG CX F (2 night Macau, 4 nights HK)
HKG-DPS CX Y (4 nights Bali)
DPS-BKK FD Y (4 nights Bangkok)
BKK-HKG CX J (regional 2-class plane)
HKG-HND CX F (4-class international plane)
HND-SFO JL F (Hello Salon 2002, and reports say they're now serving Dom 2004 :D)

My family says the same thing as if it's MH's fault that they were shot down over Ukraine. And we don't have enough info to know what happened to their other lost flight.

Now, we'll be flying AirAsia DPS-BKK this summer and I haven't told the family about that one yet.

Has anyone had much luck seeing last minute availability ex-SFO since they reduced the number of F seats? The past couple of years I've gotten last minute - 12-days and a surprising 21-days before the flights - seats. I'm going again this February (not around chinese new year) and am wondering if I'll get lucky. I've only been testing the last few weeks, but not rigorously since the holidays aren't the norm and most F seats were taken. Looks like my best test will be in a couple weeks, as there aren't any F-4 flights until 1/23.

The days I'm looking at are F-2 (long shot) and two that are F-4 (with two seats taken on seat maps). I'm okay with confirming a few days ahead, but wonder if that's even going to happen. Looking for one seat.

In which way is the BA site better than the JAL site for CX bookings? The JAL site has worked for the BOS route since the route was announced.

Just personal preference and the ability to search on mobile. The JAL site is more accurate in looking up married segment availability and has no problems displaying ZRH/BOS, but I find it more finicky when entering airport codes, having to enter a dummy return date and not being able to see options say, on JL/MH/QF simultaneously.

They are AA miles, so I am thinking I need to look in the AA forum even though I am trying to book cathay pacific?

CX F is hard to come by...just think about the fact that there are only 6 seats in F, so they are releasing 16% of their inventory even if they release just one seat. They are easier to get close to departure though (2-3 days out).

CX opens their schedule 360 days out but AA opens their schedule 331 days out (i.e. if you are using AA miles, you can only book tickets for traveling at most 331 days from the day of booking, even if CX already loaded their schedule before that), so those with Asia Miles (or for that matter, BA Avios) get an earlier shot.

Wow. This really kind of kills my dream of a NY to hong kong round trip in first. I need to make my plans well in advance and can not wait until 2 to 3 days before and risk not being able to get a seat.

O/D JFK-HKG availability in F is very limited. It's often better to a point beyond, like KUL or PEK, if you can possibly add another city to your trip. If you can find a o/w to HKG in F, and a return in Y, you may want to book it, because there's a good chance an F or J seat will open up close in. AA allows you to upgrade a booking with the same O and D if space opens up without a fee, so its a chance you may want to take.

Hmm, this may be the best way to handle it. Thank you for the advice.

Planning in advance really helps, as do alternative routings. For example, if you are on an AA award ticket, you can fly JFK-LAX in AA's transcon F and then LAX-HKG in CX F. Of course...it's not like AA's transcon product releases tons of award space, but it's an option.

I'm not sure adding an extra city matters if it's an award ticket, since CX's US routes all go through HKG...? But rgdave is absolutely right, AA doesn't charge for an upgrade on an award ticket as long as it's the same O/D, so it doesn't hurt to ticket it now (spaces do really open up close to departure). Just keep in mind the EWR route doesn't have F.

fly JFK-LAX in AA's transcon F and then LAX-HKG in CX F

How do I book something like this? Does it cost extra miles to have a stopover in LAX if I wanted to go JFK-LAX in AA First and then switch to CX F for the LA-hkg branch?

It doesn't cost extra for a layover (less than 24 hours), but since AA no longer allows stopovers, it will be broken into two tickets if you decide to do a stopover (more than 24 hours).

You have to call AA for all bookings involving CX.

Yes
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...l#post24089551
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...l#post24078124
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...l#post24053264

Basic question but what does O/D stand for?

Wanting to fly on Cathay in first NYC to Hong Kong
 

I have saved up my AA miles and I am interested in flying NYC to Hong Kong on Cathay in their first class product. I have been checking JAL for seat availability and have not found very much at all. I was looking to travel in mid-May and have a few questions:

1. I have heard that one option in order to find availability is to book an AA flight from NYC to LAX and then switch to Cathay to continue on to Hong Kong. Is this the best way to find F class products (is there more options out of LAX? What about JFK to BOS then switching to Cathay would that work?)

2. I also heard that one thing I can do is if I find an F class seat to book it and then on the return book a business class and keep checking hoping that an F class seat will open up at the last minute? Does this make sense?

3. If I book a business class seat and an F seat opens up on a different flight the same day can I change flights or it will only work if the F seat opens up on the flight I am on?

4. Is this product out of EWR different than the product out of JFK?

5. Are there certain days of the week that are likely to have more F availability?

Any other advice would be appreciated. Thanks!