Nov 19, 2014, 9:27 am
Last edit by: Prospero
Awards: All Cathay Pacific / CX (Including First and Business Class)
Questions, Availability, Discussion
NOTE: Multiple reports starting in June 2021 that CX is allowing only a 24 hour hold and could cancel reservations not being ticketed beyond 24 hours.
Please feel free to use this thread for questions regarding CX Economy, Premium Economy, First and Business Class award redemption using AAdvantage miles, as well as questions regarding award availability, routings and related issues. Please go to the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Forum to discuss or ask about meals, equipment, service, etc. on CX, as there is an existing wealth of information there - and this is the American Airlines AAdvantage Forum
.
AA Flight award chart for oneworld® and partner airlines
Other related threads that may be of interest:
FT Discrepancy between CX Award Search and AA availability: Discrepancy between QF and CX award search and AA availability
FT How , When to Select CX Seats on CX Award: How / when to select seat on a Cathay (CX) award / flight (consolidated)
FT Cathay Pacific Experience - Seats / Interline/ Baggage FAQs: Cathay Pacific Experience / Seats / Interline / Baggage FAQs
Also, for Rules about awards, see AA oneworld and Other Airline Partner Award information, rules (2015 on).
Expert Advice:
Only "MileSAAver" awards apply to oneworld and AA partners.
Premium Economy seats are not available with AAdvantage awards, may be soon as AA sells Premium Economy Feb 2017.
Be aware that what you see on the BA, JL, or QF sites may not be visible to the AA reservations folks. You may want to note the flight on which the F award seat is shown as "available" on those sites and if the AA agent doesn't see any availability suggest that the AA agent check that specific one again. If the AA agent still cannot see it, thank them, hang up, and call back a little later.
Sometimes CX will make flights available for award booking to CX frequent flyers, but not release the seats immediately for other oneworld frequent flyers. Usually though, the seats, if not taken by CX frequent flyers, are released after a while to other OW programs.
Although CX may release seats for award earlier, AA can book them no more than 331 days prior to departure. The awards that CX does release are available as early as 355 days prior to departure for CX and BA frequent fliers, and sometimes that means the awards you want w AA miles will be snatched up prior to the 331 day mark.
*** AA does not have a set schedule to load flights. They can load it anytime after midnight 331 days out. Most of the time it is within a couple to 12 hours of that. Other times, it can be a full day or a day and a half afterwards, especially on the weekends where there's most variability. Unlike JL award space, it is not a specific time of day.
4Keep in mind that when booking eastbound space to North America that it's one day later in HKG so that space usually becomes available 330 days in advance to North America; this is not always true, since CX has already loaded the availability a month prior to AA - it is just up to AA to load and release the seats on SABRE, so it typically ends up being 330 days out, but not necessarily.
Similarly... if you are trying to book westbound, US->HKG->Somewhere then AA may not be able to book the HKG->Somewhere segment 331 days in advance of the US->HKG flight, if it is still 332 days out in HKG. As it is the flights from US->HKG that are hardest to get, if you find a seat US->HKG at the 331 day mark when it is first available for booking through AA but cannot book the continuation, you can just put that US->HKG segment on hold with AA, then call back the next day when connecting flights will be loaded into the system to try to book the onward flight from HKG.
AA does not charge "YQ" surcharges [what they sometimes call "fuel surcharge"] on CX award segments (BA Avios does), thus the taxes and fees on your "free" ticket on CX or KA are almost always significantly less than for the same routing on BA.
There is a Hong Kong Departure Tax (HK) of $120 HKD (approx $15.50 USD) on every segment departing Hong Kong. Exemptions apply. If your ticket includes this tax and you qualify for an exemption, a refund can be applied for either in person at HKIA landside or via post to Civil Aviation Department. AA charges this tax for children under 12 years of age despite the exemption. In order to obtain a cash refund at HKIA, you will need passenger passport, passenger boarding pass, passenger ticket receipt showing the fare calculation line which will show the HK tax being charged. This receipt can be obtained at any AA counter worldwide including HKIA as well as Airport Express in-town check-in (AA check-in). As the AA counter at HKIA operates only during limited hours, Airport Express in-town check-in would be the the convenient option.
Not all CX flights offer First class; CX Business is markedly different on long haul and regionally configured aircraft.
If you're looking for multiple seats in First on a particular flight but can find only some but not all that you're looking for, take what's available in F, then take the rest of the seats you want on J (if available) on the same flight, and check back periodically to see if an F seat has opened up for award. There is no additional charge (in money, although there will be in miles) to change to an award to a higher cabin of service (e.g., J to F, Y to F, Y to J) as long as the award keeps the same origin/destination airports.
Be aware your award must conform to some rules on a) MPM (Maximum Permitted Mileage - your award routing can not exceed 125% of the most direct routing available); a useful tool is Great Circle Mapper.
The Most Significant Carrier (transpacific usually, CX in most of these posts,) must offer a non-"constructed" fare between your origin and destination (you might find an unconstructed fare between DFW and SIN, but might not from Killeen to SIN).
If you can't pick your CX seats online, either due to them being blocked or you just want to call, you need to first get the CX PNR from AAdvantage at 1-800-882-8880. Then call CX at 1-800-233-2742. Some seats that are blocked on CX website are assignable via AA reservations. Close to departure AA can even assign 2A, 2K.
Note: if the Cathay Manage booking tool doesn't appear to recognize your CX PNR, you need to enter your first name AND middle name, separated by a space, in the "First Name" field.
AAward bookings containing CX flights that are put on hold will be restricted to only 24hrs, not the usual 5 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the patterns for west coast routes?
Because LAX has 4 daily flights to HKG, it tends to be the easiest option for blocks of 3 or more J award seats. SFO and YVR only have 2 daily flights and even if 5 award seats were initially released at 355 days prior to departure, some of those may be gone by the time the 331 day mark rolls around. If you need 4 or 5 J award seats on these west coast routes, either use Avios to book at 355 days or consider routing through LAX where there may still be availability at 331 days out.
Can I visit my companion in First Class if I'm in Business Class?
"Up-cabin visits" are not permitted per CX policy, though have been granted under special circumstances. But putting crew in the awkward position of being asked to violate policy is generally frowned upon. Down-cabin visits are permitted ex-USA. However, on flights to the USA, down-cabin visits are not permitted and this rule is vigorously enforced.
Posts made in 2017 may be read in ARCHIVE: 2017 AA Awards in Cathay Pacific / CX, KA...
Posts made in 2016 may be read in ARCHIVE: AA Awards on Cathay Pacific (2016).
Posts made in 2015 may be read in ARCHIVE: AA Awards on Cathay Pacific (2015).
Posts made in 2014 may be read in ARCHIVE: Awards: CX / Cathay Pacific / (inc. F and J) - 2014.
N.B. Older posts have been moved and archived to: Cathay Pacific / CX (inc. First and Business Class) award - ARCHIVED.
Questions, Availability, Discussion
NOTE: Multiple reports starting in June 2021 that CX is allowing only a 24 hour hold and could cancel reservations not being ticketed beyond 24 hours.
Please feel free to use this thread for questions regarding CX Economy, Premium Economy, First and Business Class award redemption using AAdvantage miles, as well as questions regarding award availability, routings and related issues. Please go to the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Forum to discuss or ask about meals, equipment, service, etc. on CX, as there is an existing wealth of information there - and this is the American Airlines AAdvantage Forum
.AA Flight award chart for oneworld® and partner airlines
Other related threads that may be of interest:
FT Discrepancy between CX Award Search and AA availability: Discrepancy between QF and CX award search and AA availability
FT How , When to Select CX Seats on CX Award: How / when to select seat on a Cathay (CX) award / flight (consolidated)
FT Cathay Pacific Experience - Seats / Interline/ Baggage FAQs: Cathay Pacific Experience / Seats / Interline / Baggage FAQs
Also, for Rules about awards, see AA oneworld and Other Airline Partner Award information, rules (2015 on).
Expert Advice:
Only "MileSAAver" awards apply to oneworld and AA partners.
Premium Economy seats are not available with AAdvantage awards, may be soon as AA sells Premium Economy Feb 2017.
Be aware that what you see on the BA, JL, or QF sites may not be visible to the AA reservations folks. You may want to note the flight on which the F award seat is shown as "available" on those sites and if the AA agent doesn't see any availability suggest that the AA agent check that specific one again. If the AA agent still cannot see it, thank them, hang up, and call back a little later.
Sometimes CX will make flights available for award booking to CX frequent flyers, but not release the seats immediately for other oneworld frequent flyers. Usually though, the seats, if not taken by CX frequent flyers, are released after a while to other OW programs.
Although CX may release seats for award earlier, AA can book them no more than 331 days prior to departure. The awards that CX does release are available as early as 355 days prior to departure for CX and BA frequent fliers, and sometimes that means the awards you want w AA miles will be snatched up prior to the 331 day mark.
*** AA does not have a set schedule to load flights. They can load it anytime after midnight 331 days out. Most of the time it is within a couple to 12 hours of that. Other times, it can be a full day or a day and a half afterwards, especially on the weekends where there's most variability. Unlike JL award space, it is not a specific time of day.
4Keep in mind that when booking eastbound space to North America that it's one day later in HKG so that space usually becomes available 330 days in advance to North America; this is not always true, since CX has already loaded the availability a month prior to AA - it is just up to AA to load and release the seats on SABRE, so it typically ends up being 330 days out, but not necessarily.
Similarly... if you are trying to book westbound, US->HKG->Somewhere then AA may not be able to book the HKG->Somewhere segment 331 days in advance of the US->HKG flight, if it is still 332 days out in HKG. As it is the flights from US->HKG that are hardest to get, if you find a seat US->HKG at the 331 day mark when it is first available for booking through AA but cannot book the continuation, you can just put that US->HKG segment on hold with AA, then call back the next day when connecting flights will be loaded into the system to try to book the onward flight from HKG.
AA does not charge "YQ" surcharges [what they sometimes call "fuel surcharge"] on CX award segments (BA Avios does), thus the taxes and fees on your "free" ticket on CX or KA are almost always significantly less than for the same routing on BA.
There is a Hong Kong Departure Tax (HK) of $120 HKD (approx $15.50 USD) on every segment departing Hong Kong. Exemptions apply. If your ticket includes this tax and you qualify for an exemption, a refund can be applied for either in person at HKIA landside or via post to Civil Aviation Department. AA charges this tax for children under 12 years of age despite the exemption. In order to obtain a cash refund at HKIA, you will need passenger passport, passenger boarding pass, passenger ticket receipt showing the fare calculation line which will show the HK tax being charged. This receipt can be obtained at any AA counter worldwide including HKIA as well as Airport Express in-town check-in (AA check-in). As the AA counter at HKIA operates only during limited hours, Airport Express in-town check-in would be the the convenient option.
Not all CX flights offer First class; CX Business is markedly different on long haul and regionally configured aircraft.
If you're looking for multiple seats in First on a particular flight but can find only some but not all that you're looking for, take what's available in F, then take the rest of the seats you want on J (if available) on the same flight, and check back periodically to see if an F seat has opened up for award. There is no additional charge (in money, although there will be in miles) to change to an award to a higher cabin of service (e.g., J to F, Y to F, Y to J) as long as the award keeps the same origin/destination airports.
Be aware your award must conform to some rules on a) MPM (Maximum Permitted Mileage - your award routing can not exceed 125% of the most direct routing available); a useful tool is Great Circle Mapper.
The Most Significant Carrier (transpacific usually, CX in most of these posts,) must offer a non-"constructed" fare between your origin and destination (you might find an unconstructed fare between DFW and SIN, but might not from Killeen to SIN).
If you can't pick your CX seats online, either due to them being blocked or you just want to call, you need to first get the CX PNR from AAdvantage at 1-800-882-8880. Then call CX at 1-800-233-2742. Some seats that are blocked on CX website are assignable via AA reservations. Close to departure AA can even assign 2A, 2K.
Note: if the Cathay Manage booking tool doesn't appear to recognize your CX PNR, you need to enter your first name AND middle name, separated by a space, in the "First Name" field.
AAward bookings containing CX flights that are put on hold will be restricted to only 24hrs, not the usual 5 days.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the patterns for west coast routes?
Because LAX has 4 daily flights to HKG, it tends to be the easiest option for blocks of 3 or more J award seats. SFO and YVR only have 2 daily flights and even if 5 award seats were initially released at 355 days prior to departure, some of those may be gone by the time the 331 day mark rolls around. If you need 4 or 5 J award seats on these west coast routes, either use Avios to book at 355 days or consider routing through LAX where there may still be availability at 331 days out.
Can I visit my companion in First Class if I'm in Business Class?
"Up-cabin visits" are not permitted per CX policy, though have been granted under special circumstances. But putting crew in the awkward position of being asked to violate policy is generally frowned upon. Down-cabin visits are permitted ex-USA. However, on flights to the USA, down-cabin visits are not permitted and this rule is vigorously enforced.
Posts made in 2017 may be read in ARCHIVE: 2017 AA Awards in Cathay Pacific / CX, KA...
Posts made in 2016 may be read in ARCHIVE: AA Awards on Cathay Pacific (2016).
Posts made in 2015 may be read in ARCHIVE: AA Awards on Cathay Pacific (2015).
Posts made in 2014 may be read in ARCHIVE: Awards: CX / Cathay Pacific / (inc. F and J) - 2014.
N.B. Older posts have been moved and archived to: Cathay Pacific / CX (inc. First and Business Class) award - ARCHIVED.
AA Award: Cathay Pacific / CX availability, etc. (2018-2022 archive)
May 14, 2018, 3:30 am
#346
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: AA, United, Hilton, IHG, Carlson, Hyatt, SPG
Posts: 47
Thanks so much for your kind answers
We will probably be happy in business
Mystic
We will probably be happy in business
Mystic
May 14, 2018, 5:48 am
#347
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,541
Except you’ll be forced to eat when Flight Attendants tell you to. On 16 hr flights I refuse to be beholden to Crew’s schedule. I don’t fly CX J for this reason, and suggest you fight more aggressively for F where YOU can choose when and what you eat.
May 14, 2018, 12:40 pm
#348
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,763
Except that what CX serves in F these days aint anything special (been likethat since a few years ago till current in a progressively downhill manner) - that is the rub. I dont care whether I can choose when to eat but I do hope I can eat relatively well when in the F cabin of a "premium" airline. Sadly this has not been the case. Bed is comfortable and is about the only saving grace of CX F IMHO.
May 14, 2018, 12:46 pm
#349
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,763
You would be perfectly happy sitting in the middle seats of business class if you are unseparatable. The F suite does not let you confer with each other during the long flight. In fact you would hardly see each other without having to stand up. Save your miles as AA charges 110K for F versus the much more reasonable cost in J.
May 14, 2018, 1:20 pm
#350
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,541
Except that what CX serves in F these days aint anything special (been likethat since a few years ago till current in a progressively downhill manner) - that is the rub. I dont care whether I can choose when to eat but I do hope I can eat relatively well when in the F cabin of a "premium" airline. Sadly this has not been the case. Bed is comfortable and is about the only saving grace of CX F IMHO.
May 14, 2018, 1:49 pm
#351
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Houston, TX, USA
Programs: UA 1K, AA Lifetime Platinum, DL Platinum, Honors Diamond, Bonvoy Titanium, Hertz Platinum
Posts: 7,970
May 16, 2018, 11:48 am
#352
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Austin, TX
Programs: AA Plat Pro, Marriott Ambassador, Hyatt Globalist, United Platinum
Posts: 24
I think Happy was referring to the fact that for US Bound flights, Cathay Pacific will not allow passengers to mingle across F & J cabins. Bullet Point 13 in the thread wiki.
May 16, 2018, 12:22 pm
#353
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,763
Yes, you can do the dine-together for may be 2 hours max? Would you sit or let your partner sit at that TINY ottoman for longer than that?
The hooked upon mean table is so wobble that sometimes I worry about the thing would fall off. CX should learn something from QR and other real premium airlines on the size of their tables in F cabin.
For the records, we have flown CX F over a doz or more times the past 4 to 5 years. I think we have only done the dine-together thingie 3 to 4 times and at least 2 of them were under the request of the FAs when they learned about we were on a complex trip to celebrate a milestone anniversary. We have not done dine-together the last 6 or 7 F flights. Neither me nor my husband is willing to be confined in that tiny space to have our meals. Once the extra table is hooked up, the space of the ottoman area is Really Tight. Seriously even with our slim built we dont feel like sitting on that ottoman for our meals. Of course YMMV.
In fact we have flown separate F flights on our last 2 trips because it is not as easy to change ticket with AS redemption as with AA when we were in HKG. My husband has flown his F flights as the sole passenger on each of the 2 flights while I had a full cabin on the flight last Spring and only 2 other passengers on the flight last Fall. He always had better luck than me because I even experienced a Med Evac last Fall that caused us diverting to SFO and therefore made me missed my connection at LAX, thus losing the hard to get AS F LAX-SEA on our last trip. Husband told me later at the hotel that a gentleman took my place but the meal was so bad that he did not think I had missed much.
Seriously, the hard products on CX premium cabins are outdated. The soft products are deteriorating due to low morale and pay cuts. CX is NOT the CX a few years back if you have been flying it for years the deterioration is very noticeable.
I also refer to the F suite is very private despite it does not have any enclosure. The design is so that each passenger in F would not see another passenger when sitting down. So even both of you are sitting in F, it would be not possible to confer during the flight, other than during the meal time if you opt for dine-together for that short 2 hours max. I doubt any couple would enjoy sitting face to face for longer than the meal time in that confined set up.
May 16, 2018, 12:32 pm
#354
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,763
Our last CX F meals on different flights were steamed Chilean Sea Bass which was done right in the proper Cantonese way - far better than the ginger and scallion lobster in the past (I dont miss the disappearance of lobster.) It was a long time since we had a good dish on CX F. So we were satisfied with the main on last flights.
On our last time HKG-DPS I had an inedible pork chop - in fact it was so tough that knife could not cut in it. I rang the FA and just demonstrated it to her. She was extremely apologetic and promptly gave me a smelly fish dish which I took a few bites and gave up. I hope you have a great experience on KE, though I am not a fan for Korean foods.
May 17, 2018, 1:09 am
#355
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 2
Hi all,
I'm currently trying to search for 4x SYD-ICN and 4x PVG-SYD (ICN and PVG interchangable) for mid Apr-19 onwards, but am finding no availability whatsoever in the SYD-HKG segment in J post-Dec-18. As far as I know, Cathay releases availability to AAdvantage 331 days out - should I be concerned about the absolute zero availability post Dec-18?
Thanks in advance.
I'm currently trying to search for 4x SYD-ICN and 4x PVG-SYD (ICN and PVG interchangable) for mid Apr-19 onwards, but am finding no availability whatsoever in the SYD-HKG segment in J post-Dec-18. As far as I know, Cathay releases availability to AAdvantage 331 days out - should I be concerned about the absolute zero availability post Dec-18?
Thanks in advance.
May 17, 2018, 8:37 am
#356
Community Director Emerita
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Anywhere warm
Posts: 33,752
Hi all,
I'm currently trying to search for 4x SYD-ICN and 4x PVG-SYD (ICN and PVG interchangable) for mid Apr-19 onwards, but am finding no availability whatsoever in the SYD-HKG segment in J post-Dec-18. As far as I know, Cathay releases availability to AAdvantage 331 days out - should I be concerned about the absolute zero availability post Dec-18?
Thanks in advance.
I'm currently trying to search for 4x SYD-ICN and 4x PVG-SYD (ICN and PVG interchangable) for mid Apr-19 onwards, but am finding no availability whatsoever in the SYD-HKG segment in J post-Dec-18. As far as I know, Cathay releases availability to AAdvantage 331 days out - should I be concerned about the absolute zero availability post Dec-18?
Thanks in advance.
Welcome to FlyerTalk.
May 17, 2018, 8:42 am
#357
Join Date: Oct 2015
Location: So Cal
Posts: 937
Hi all,
I'm currently trying to search for 4x SYD-ICN and 4x PVG-SYD (ICN and PVG interchangable) for mid Apr-19 onwards, but am finding no availability whatsoever in the SYD-HKG segment in J post-Dec-18. As far as I know, Cathay releases availability to AAdvantage 331 days out - should I be concerned about the absolute zero availability post Dec-18?
Thanks in advance.
I'm currently trying to search for 4x SYD-ICN and 4x PVG-SYD (ICN and PVG interchangable) for mid Apr-19 onwards, but am finding no availability whatsoever in the SYD-HKG segment in J post-Dec-18. As far as I know, Cathay releases availability to AAdvantage 331 days out - should I be concerned about the absolute zero availability post Dec-18?
Thanks in advance.
May 17, 2018, 12:17 pm
#358
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: ROC/NYC/MSP/LAX/HKG/SIN
Posts: 3,214
Didn't catch up with this thread for a little while. Can we safely assume that BA is useless for close-in CX availability? The reason why I asked was that I got hit by the blockage in early May when I was planning a short hop on CX. At that time, they didn't block the long haul, so I thought only regional asian routes are affected. Now it looks like they are blocking the long haul within seven days of departure as well? That's very upsetting.
May 17, 2018, 5:32 pm
#359
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,763
Hi all,
I'm currently trying to search for 4x SYD-ICN and 4x PVG-SYD (ICN and PVG interchangable) for mid Apr-19 onwards, but am finding no availability whatsoever in the SYD-HKG segment in J post-Dec-18. As far as I know, Cathay releases availability to AAdvantage 331 days out - should I be concerned about the absolute zero availability post Dec-18?
Thanks in advance.
I'm currently trying to search for 4x SYD-ICN and 4x PVG-SYD (ICN and PVG interchangable) for mid Apr-19 onwards, but am finding no availability whatsoever in the SYD-HKG segment in J post-Dec-18. As far as I know, Cathay releases availability to AAdvantage 331 days out - should I be concerned about the absolute zero availability post Dec-18?
Thanks in advance.
You need to split it up to CX and QF, and look at other gateways - CX flies to SYD, MEL, BNE, CRN, ADL and PER. Used to be one sees ADL and CRN come up more often but lately I have seen MEL has better availability though it is 6 months out scenario. I never book anything 11 months out hence no idea how it might look. But I am pretty certain if you want 4 J seats on the same flight, it would be extremely difficult to achieve.
OTOH if you have UA currency then TG has much better availability out from SYD and you can piece together a TG and OZ itinerary to get you to ICN / PVG via BKK.
Last edited by Happy; May 17, 2018 at 5:43 pm
May 17, 2018, 6:04 pm
#360
Join Date: May 2018
Posts: 2
Thankyou very much for those who have responded to me.
I'm not particularly married to four J on the same flight - two lots of two on different flights works as long as they are +/- a day of each other to be honest but will definitely look at non-SYD departures.
I am unfortunately stuck with utilising AA miles for this jaunt as I saw lots of availability in the tail end of 2018 when I looked in January and (probably unwisely) assumed 2019 would be similar and took advantage of the 25% hotel points transfer bonus, and Cathay has the most flights daily to our destinations.
I have discovered that Cathay is bringing in A350's for the SYD-HKG leg in 2019 so I am praying that is the reason why no award seats have been released for 2019 yet - multiple AA call centre agents have been marginally confused as to the lack of availability as well.
I'm not particularly married to four J on the same flight - two lots of two on different flights works as long as they are +/- a day of each other to be honest but will definitely look at non-SYD departures.
I am unfortunately stuck with utilising AA miles for this jaunt as I saw lots of availability in the tail end of 2018 when I looked in January and (probably unwisely) assumed 2019 would be similar and took advantage of the 25% hotel points transfer bonus, and Cathay has the most flights daily to our destinations.
I have discovered that Cathay is bringing in A350's for the SYD-HKG leg in 2019 so I am praying that is the reason why no award seats have been released for 2019 yet - multiple AA call centre agents have been marginally confused as to the lack of availability as well.