Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Miles&Points > Airlines and Mileage Programs > American Airlines | AAdvantage
Reload this Page >

AA Award: Cathay Pacific / CX availability, etc. (2018-2022 archive)

Community
Wiki Posts
Search
Old Nov 19, 2014, 9:27 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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.
Print Wikipost

AA Award: Cathay Pacific / CX availability, etc. (2018-2022 archive)

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old Jul 24, 2019, 9:06 am
  #1066  
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: WAS/ Silver Spring, MD,USA
Programs: UA/AA
Posts: 857
Or some others folks were first to the trough.
Paiteaw is offline  
Old Jul 24, 2019, 10:37 am
  #1067  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,541
Public service announcement:

Recently put JFKHKG award on hold, at the very edge of booking window. Called back two days later due needed HKGDPS. Successfully added to the award-on-hold, sent to ticketing and was confirmed 30 hours later. Middle names properly recognized on CX site.

First time I've had such a quick ticketing for travel that is months out. Have waited 3-5 weeks in the past, which has been a point of consternation for some.

Hope it goes smoothly for all - Jamie
percysmith likes this.
jamienbaker is offline  
Old Jul 24, 2019, 6:25 pm
  #1068  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,053
Originally Posted by jamienbaker
Public service announcement:

Recently put JFKHKG award on hold, at the very edge of booking window. Called back two days later due needed HKGDPS. Successfully added to the award-on-hold, sent to ticketing and was confirmed 30 hours later. Middle names properly recognized on CX site.

First time I've had such a quick ticketing for travel that is months out. Have waited 3-5 weeks in the past, which has been a point of consternation for some.

Hope it goes smoothly for all - Jamie
I assume for the whole family again? Were you able to get any F seat(s) or all in J?

DAK
dkerr is offline  
Old Jul 24, 2019, 7:09 pm
  #1069  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,541
Originally Posted by dkerr
I assume for the whole family again? Were you able to get any F seat(s) or all in J?

DAK
Good to hear from you. Wife in F and kids in J. Row 11 no longer blocked by CX.

I’m flying out separately.

Home on SQ, adults in Suites, kids upstairs in J.
miffSC likes this.
jamienbaker is offline  
Old Jul 24, 2019, 7:13 pm
  #1070  
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,053
Originally Posted by jamienbaker


Good to hear from you. Wife in F and kids in J. Row 11 no longer blocked by CX.

I’m flying out separately.

Home on SQ, adults in Suites, kids upstairs in J.
Nice, thanks for the data point.

DAK
dkerr is offline  
Old Jul 24, 2019, 9:36 pm
  #1071  
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Programs: UA*S, AA Plat, HH Diamond, Bonvoy Gold, Hyatt Explorist
Posts: 256
Originally Posted by seawolf

I concur similar behavior with JFK HKG. No close in despite F4 F5.
Similar behavior on HKG BOS despite F6. Seems like there has been a significant change in routine.
jimmielin is offline  
Old Jul 25, 2019, 6:52 am
  #1072  
 
Join Date: Jan 2000
Programs: Free agent
Posts: 1,296
Has anyone experienced this with the new Married Segment logic.

I called in to book DFW-BOS-HKG in J, BOS-HKG had 5 seats available and I showed DFW-BOS as having two MileSaaver awards in economy at 12.5. Unfortunately AA only saw ONE MileSaaver economy, therefore only ONE married segment DFW-BOS-HKG available. I know the argument on Married is that "It is what it is" and they have no ability to override, but the problem was the underlying issue with the DFW-BOS flight showing incorrectly on the web vs. reservations. They transferred me to aa.com support, who told me that they did not see two MileSaavers available. I still saw them on AA.com, so she told me to hold them. I got disconnected and I back on a 30 minute hold to talk to someone at tech support, again. I have the two MileSaavers held, but a 30 year supervisor in regular reservations told me there is almost no chance they'll combine them.

Again, I understand the logic of married segments, even though I don't agree with it, but to me this isn't a simple married segment issue.
jmail1 is offline  
Old Jul 25, 2019, 7:09 am
  #1073  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: RDU <|> MMX
Programs: AA EXP 2MM, SK EBS
Posts: 12,483
Originally Posted by jmail1
Has anyone experienced this with the new Married Segment logic.

I called in to book DFW-BOS-HKG in J, BOS-HKG had 5 seats available and I showed DFW-BOS as having two MileSaaver awards in economy at 12.5. Unfortunately AA only saw ONE MileSaaver economy, therefore only ONE married segment DFW-BOS-HKG available. I know the argument on Married is that "It is what it is" and they have no ability to override, but the problem was the underlying issue with the DFW-BOS flight showing incorrectly on the web vs. reservations. They transferred me to aa.com support, who told me that they did not see two MileSaavers available. I still saw them on AA.com, so she told me to hold them. I got disconnected and I back on a 30 minute hold to talk to someone at tech support, again. I have the two MileSaavers held, but a 30 year supervisor in regular reservations told me there is almost no chance they'll combine them.

Again, I understand the logic of married segments, even though I don't agree with it, but to me this isn't a simple married segment issue.
Yea, this is not a married segment issue. DFW-BOS and BOS-HKG are both available independent of each other. The issue is that the AA agent couldn't see the same space you could see at aa.com for the AA segments DFW-BOS.

I ran into this exact same problem a few weeks ago, needed LAX-CLT-RDU to complete a previous booking from PPT-LAX. It was available clear as day at aa.com and EF showed the correct U space, yet the phone agent could not see it. Took at least 20 mins on what should have been a 3 min phone call...put on hold to check with her "help desk", still didn't see it, on hold again, etc., till after about the 3rd time on hold she comes back and says "ok I was able to find it, you're all set." (Seriously...what the F are they looking at)

If the BOS-HKG space is still there then it should be no problem to add it to your existing DFW-BOS on hold, not sure what the supervisor was talking about.

Also...since you already have the problematic DFW-BOS on hold, I wouldn't waste your time any more with the aa.com tech support or whoever you're waiting on the call back from. Just call the normal reservations number and ask them to add the BOS-HKG segments, don't even mention anything else.
JJeffrey is offline  
Old Jul 25, 2019, 7:42 am
  #1074  
 
Join Date: Jan 2000
Programs: Free agent
Posts: 1,296
Originally Posted by JJeffrey
Yea, this is not a married segment issue. DFW-BOS and BOS-HKG are both available independent of each other. The issue is that the AA agent couldn't see the same space you could see at aa.com for the AA segments DFW-BOS.

I ran into this exact same problem a few weeks ago, needed LAX-CLT-RDU to complete a previous booking from PPT-LAX. It was available clear as day at aa.com and EF showed the correct U space, yet the phone agent could not see it. Took at least 20 mins on what should have been a 3 min phone call...put on hold to check with her "help desk", still didn't see it, on hold again, etc., till after about the 3rd time on hold she comes back and says "ok I was able to find it, you're all set." (Seriously...what the F are they looking at)

If the BOS-HKG space is still there then it should be no problem to add it to your existing DFW-BOS on hold, not sure what the supervisor was talking about.

Also...since you already have the problematic DFW-BOS on hold, I wouldn't waste your time any more with the aa.com tech support or whoever you're waiting on the call back from. Just call the normal reservations number and ask them to add the BOS-HKG segments, don't even mention anything else.
Thanks, the last point is what I tried first. The 30 year AA supervisor claimed that due to the new MS rule she couldn't combine them, so after 30 minutes I got the tech support supervisor on the phone and she disappeared for 20 minutes, then came back and said "I have no idea why they couldn't just join these for you."

Worked out in the end, but boy what a PITA. Two hours of total time to get it done.
JJeffrey likes this.
jmail1 is offline  
Old Jul 29, 2019, 2:25 pm
  #1075  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: IHG Plat, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, SPG Gold, United Silver, Garuda Silver, Delta Silver
Posts: 70
Are awards viewable on Quantas generally available through AA? I've always used BA.com but they are not showing anything at all for me, but quantas shows J availablity on August 4th ORD-BKK.
Flyer Sean is offline  
Old Jul 29, 2019, 2:39 pm
  #1076  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Ocean Beach
Programs: Alaska MPVG75, AAdvantage PlatPro, Hyatt Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 535
BA doesn't show close in awards. August 4 may be inside the window they won't show. I've had mixed luck with Qantas. Other people love the site. I always try to confirm availability through JL. On occasion, I've found seats available on JL that don't show on either BA or Qantas. JL does show availability.
25milesfromhome is offline  
Old Jul 29, 2019, 2:48 pm
  #1077  
 
Join Date: Feb 2009
Programs: IHG Plat, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, SPG Gold, United Silver, Garuda Silver, Delta Silver
Posts: 70
Awesome, thanks for the information, I forgot about JL.
Flyer Sean is offline  
Old Aug 3, 2019, 7:15 am
  #1078  
NPZ
 
Join Date: Dec 2018
Programs: One World
Posts: 130
How do you use JAL website to look for award availability on CX? I keep going in circles on their website. Are there steps on the forum somewhere?

Last edited by NPZ; Aug 3, 2019 at 7:44 am
NPZ is offline  
Old Aug 3, 2019, 10:11 am
  #1079  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Originally Posted by NPZ
How do you use JAL website to look for award availability on CX? I keep going in circles on their website. Are there steps on the forum somewhere?
First you need to have or create a JAL Mileage Bank account. From the US site, login, click on JAL Mileage Bank to get to your member page with your name at the top, under the member menu there is a section for "Award Redemption (Air)", and under that a "Book JMB Partner Airlines Award Ticket", select partner airline CX.

I create a bookmark. If you get to JAL international awards page there is a link at the top for JMB Partner Airlines Award Tickets.

https://www.ar.jal.co.jp/arl/en/jmb/...ner/round.html
skimthetrees is offline  
Old Aug 3, 2019, 10:14 am
  #1080  
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Ocean Beach
Programs: Alaska MPVG75, AAdvantage PlatPro, Hyatt Platinum, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 535
Originally Posted by skimthetrees
First you need to have or create a JAL Mileage Bank account. From the US site, login, click on JAL Mileage Bank to get to your member page with your name at the top, under the member menu there is a section for "Award Redemption (Air)", and under that a "Book JMB Partner Airlines Award Ticket", select partner airline CX.

I create a bookmark. If you get to JAL international awards page there is a link at the top for JMB Partner Airlines Award Tickets.

https://www.ar.jal.co.jp/arl/en/jmb/...ner/round.html
25milesfromhome is offline  


Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.