How / when to select seat on a Cathay (CX) award / flight (consolidated)
 

Hi, bought tickets from TPE - HKG using AA miles on CX, but cannot select seats, have called the Plat desk a couple of times, they haven't been able to either. Anyone have this same issue or know of possible resolutions or alternate methods to try?

Thanks,

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Yes, call AA and get the 5 digit CX Record Loactor.
Then call CX.

zman's suggestion is the best bet.

I've had issues with this also, and it's usually because AA can only request seats from CX within 180 days of the flight.

Yes, for some reason AA is not able to assign seats on some regional CX flights, just call CX. CX will also unblock seats for you if you have status, AA can't do that either.

All good advice but, as JY1024 posts, CX opens seat selection only 6 months out.

The OP did not say when his flights were

Strange. I just booked award flights LAX-HKG-MNL for October and was able to get seat assignments. Booked with EXP desk. Haven't tried to change the seats, though, so don't know how difficult that will be.

This is not true at all. I was able to get seats on CX F HKG/YYZ in Dec 08 for Oct 09 flights and ALSO when I rebooked as HKG/SFO in March 09 for the same Oct 16th date.
Both were booked with AA.

mike

Did AA assign the seats or did you request them through CX?

As far as I know CX do not assign seats further than six months out. You can request a seat and they have some system in place that will assign the seat to you at the 6 month point.

In my experience if I select a seat greater than six months out the seat map on EF will not show me in the seat. However once the 6 month date appears the seat maps change to show it as actually being occupied.

I reserved the seats over the phone with AA.

I will point out however that checking the reservations on-line at aa.com it shows the seats as "unassigned" but a follow-up call to them confirmed that they show us having the seats were originally told we given.:)

It could be some sort of anomaly with Sabre or whatever interface AA and/or CX is using because I encountered a similar problem with two JAL flights on the same itinerary.

mike

CX only assigns seats 6 months out. You can check your seat assignments at Cathay Pacific at this link: http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_...anagemybooking

You will need your CX confirmation number which you can get from AA reservations.

(Slightly OT thread hijack)

What's the best strategy to secure Y exit rows on a purchased AA codeshare on CX (AA6073/AA6086, JFK-HKG-JFK) for this November?

I've read that CX is very good about letting OW Sapphires select these seats, hence the reason I did not go the NRT route. Just not sure on the codeshares if the best approach is to call AA or CX.

Its my first time in the back on CX (ahh, those cutbacks and cost saving ideas ... you gotta love them) and some of these things are all brand new again.

... and yes, I could have the answer with 2 calls, but then how would everyone here fill their time? :p

CX Seats
 

I snagged F seats on JFK/HKG flights but AA could not assign seats but only request them. I did this with the Expat desk and they said that CX would have the assignment listed in 24 hours. Looked up my reservation on AA the next day and my seats were there. If you go to the CX website with the CX PNR you can view your seats but not change them or update your information. For that it requires the 10 digit ticket number (not the AA 001 number the CX 160 number) to unlock your record. That I don't know how to obtain and since my seats were what I wanted did not investigate.

I was able to change seats about a month out, LAX-HKG-CEB....no status on AA nor CX.

Of course, I may be able to change them again at the 48-hour check-in.

Flying CX F using AA miles this week. For me, ExecPlat desk could only 'request' seats - they told me 1A and 1K were taken and requested 2K for me. However I managed to login to my booking on the CX website and sure enough 1K was available so I chose that.

No problems in changing seats online without the ticket number, however I noticed that some of the other functionality (special meals etc) required the ticker # (which is actually given on the AA E-Ticket confirmation email).