Married segment issue - can't upsell to change dates?
 

I purchased a ticket on CX's USA website back in January for JFK-HKG-KUL-HKG-JFK, with a stopover in HKG. This was in V class (except for a codeshare on MH for the KUL-HKG segment).

I'm currently in HKG, and am trying to change the date of my final HKG-JFK segment from Mar 6 to any day on March 12-16, but there is currently no V availability (CX 830). There are occasional pockets of K availability, and one agent mentioned that I could pay an extra USD100 (on top of the USD100 change fee) to upsell my V to K, but I didn't take it when offered as I had to discuss the extra fee with someone else offline before confirming. The CX agent held it for me though, as I saw it as "Confirmed" when I viewed my booking online.

When I called back to proceed with the V to K and date change, I was told that actually, this could not be done. Since my ticket was based on an NYC-KUL fare, they could not upsell it since I had already flown the KUL-HKG segment. Is this what is referred to as the "married segment" issue?

So, I'm stuck waiting for V availability, but from watching the fare buckets on ITN, it looks like CX doesn't release availability in the lower buckets until a few days before departure. The problem is I would have to take my confirmed flight before V availability is likely to show up.

Am I pretty much SOL? :( Not a MPC member/no status with CX so I can't use that seat guarantee benefit. Wish I had known of this restriction before I flew the KUL-HKG segment...

There is not much you can do except to wait for V availability. In fact, you need the V availability for the married segment, not just a general V availability. If that does not happen soon, you will have to fly back as originally planned.

I don't think in this case it has anything to do with married segment. You've already flown KUL-HKG, and having a stopover in HKG means that the two segments are not married. Probably something to do with fare constriction instead. You might want to try calling them again and see if another agent can do something about it.

I have been calling them daily to check on the wait list status for V. When K availability showed up, I've had 3 different experiences across 4 agents:

1. one agent saw the K availability and offered to upsell (but I didn't ticket on the spot)
2. one agent simply said there was no availability -- I wonder if she checked though, as she gave an immediate reply while other agents typically have to type on their computer for a bit. I saw K available on ITN, but it may not necessarily be accurate?
3. two agents said upsell can't be done as I've already flown KUL-HKG

What I wanted to check with the collective wisdom on FT was whether agent #1 made a mistake and I truly can't upsell on this ticket, or that agent was an exception, and was the only one I happened to encounter who knew how to do it?

For reference, here is the fare calculation from my eTicket receipt:

Not quite. For example, a round trip from SFO to KUL, TPE or SIN is ticketed as a round trip to the destination even with stopovers in HKG. CX does not separate the fare probably because of potential HIP.

Why dont you just go to CX's ticket office at the Peninsula Hotel and speak to an agent / Supervisor there who may be able to explain things better , or at least offer options to your plight?

Well ... they moved already

Ticketing Office:
Suite 1808, 18th floor, Tower 6
The Gateway, Harbour City
9 Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Office Hours: Mon-Sat 0830-1800, Sun/PH 0900-1300

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_.../localcontacts

Looks like it's priced as NYC-KUL and KUL-NYC (fare break point in KUL). If they can't change your ticket to K class for the HKG-JFK segment, the only reason I could think of is because you've already flown the KUL-HKG segment. However, this is not to say that it's impossible to change your ticket, but this is the only potential reason in my mind. Merried Segment would NOT be the reason, though, as you've had a stopover (>=24 hours) in HKG, not a transit (<24 hours).

We have a winner!
 

Don't know why I didn't think of that earlier; maybe because the eService Center (eSC) reps told me that they could do everything over the phone at one point. Except when they can't.

I had already packed and checked in online, ready to take my flight tomorrow. However, as a last ditch effort, I went to the ticketing office at The Gateway, Harbour City at Guy Betsy's suggestion (thanks ChrisLi for the corrected location). :-:

Short answer: they changed my flight.

Longer version:

The agents at the TST ticketing office were very nice. I politely asked the agent who assisted me why I was told I could upsell on one occasion, and that I could not on multiple other occasions. She started by spending a short while reading through my record (do they document each call? I called a lot :)). She then tried to call the eService Center twice (on speakerphone), but was disconnected the first time, and got tired of waiting the second. I recognized it as the eSC as I've become thoroughly acquainted with the greetings, menu options, and hold music. I would've thought that they would have a direct line into the eSC, but guess not.

The next 30-40 minutes involved a combination of:

• typing on the computer and more reading
• going into the back office (?)
• consulting with other agents
• generating printouts of stuff - the two I happened to see were my fare construction, and some of the other published fares in the system? MLWSPCL, MLXSPCL, etc.

Finally, she said that she doesn't know what the eSC people have been doing (based on what she could see in my record), but the information I was previously provided was wrong. Out of curiosity, I asked her if they were outsourced to PCCW like MPC. She was surprised that I knew about PCCW (learnt about that from FT ;)). She replied no, the eService Center is part of Cathay, but they don't specialize in ticketing unlike her office.

So: they could upsell my ticket, but she warned me it might be a bit pricey as there is no K class available for the whole of March, only H upwards. FYI, at that moment (checked with BlackBerry) ITN was showing K4 for Mar 12, but I suppose the whole dynamic pricing thing and/or POS issue could be at play? I asked her if it's because it was availability based on KUL-NYC, but she said no, it was HKG-NYC.

The H class she quoted me was slightly cheaper than the H I was previously offered (on the same call I was offered the K class). After I agreed to pay the fare increase and change fee, she proceeded to undo my check-in and re-issue the ticket, and I was on my way.

After I left, I realized I forgot to ask about the change fee. On the fare rules I saved when I first purchased the ticket, there was a mention of "WAIVED FOR UPGRADE TO HIGHER NORMAL FARES" - what are "normal fares"? My fare is an "EXCURSION FARE 4TH LEVEL"; is that considered "normal"?

FT continues to be an educational experience... didn't know what HIP was, but I searched and now know the term "higher intermediate point".

With your comments in mind, I took a special interest in looking at the new fare construction. From my understanding, it looks like they just re-priced KUL-NYC to H (even though I've already flown KUL-HKG), and charged me the fare difference for that segment (USD/NUC new 665.50 - orig. 500.00 = 165.50) and change fee.

Separate question - how do you tell where there's a fare break point? The fact that there's a monetary amount immediately after?

I believe in USA, certain booking classes (perhaps K and below) are available in nett fares. She probably meant normal fare as opposed to nett fare. Anyway, I am glad you got your situation solved.

ooooooooo

The FB point is KUL bacause NYC-KUL is priced together (475.00NUC, where NUC=Neutral Unit of Construction, and NUC*ROE=Currency Priced, in this case USD) and KUL-NYC is price together (665.50NUC). If I had something like
,
there will be two FB points, HKG and TYO.

Just wanted to say thanks to all for the advice, assistance and further explanations to my subsequent questions.