I am going to use BA redemption to fly CX HKG-TPE and TPE-HKG. However due to the return date is not certain yet and BA charges $40 fee to change date online, add another $25 to change with the call center - I am thinking about departing HKG with a one-way HKG-TPE on BA redemption, but also a FULLY REFUNDABLE CX TPE-HKG ticket purchased. When I am ready to return I will book a BA redemption and then refund the purchased fully refundable TPE-HKG.

My questions are:

1) Is CX Fully Refundable a TRUE fully refundable, meaning there is no service fee involved?
A friend swore up and down he has purchased a fully refundable ticket before but is charged $100 when he refunded the ticket. His situation was, he had a r/t US-HKG-US ticket bought at US - he had flown the US-HKG portion, but when he returned on the HKG-US portion CX refused him at check-in because he only had US B1 Visa. CX demanded him to buy a US-HKG ticket before allowing him to fly the return leg HKG-US of the previous ticket. So he wound up buying the "fully refundable" US-HKG and later refunded it but had to pay $100 fee.)

2) Can I cancel the fully refundable ticket online or must it be done at CX office? How long does it take for CX to process the refund?

Thanks for information.

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1. Ex TPE fully refundable ticket has a 1200 TWD refund fee regardless

http://www.cathaypacific.com/cpa/en_TW/manageyourtrip/onlinebooking/faretypessummary?market=TWHK

Normally when you purchase online, there's a link in manage your booking that allows you to cancel the ticket. However for the money to hit back to account it may take some time. There's some previous post on that topic.

AA sells a CX YOW fare at $433.00 with 0 fee on everything.

See Post 14 of my thread in BA forum.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...r-flights.html

CX sells one-way TPE HKG at HKD11,5xx.xx

How can there be so big a price difference?!

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Actually they sounds about the same. CX still need to add YQ and stuff so it becomes approx same.

So I tried to do online check in once we are in the T-48 hours window.

CX seemed to allow us to check in after giving US Passport info but I did not know how to print boarding passes for both passengers - may be I missed the print button but all I could print was the 2nd passenger's BP. Also, despite CX allowed me to replace the BA FFP numbers by AA FFP numbers which have OneWorld status, since the tickets are BA stock, the CX system declares it does not recognize our AA FFP numbers. Further more, it does not show the tickets are redemption tickets despite it shows it is Fare Code X. I remember all our AA redemptions on CX J or F, would show the redemption mark next to the booking. This is the first time I use BA redemption on CX.

Anyway, returning to Manage My Booking, I found CX showed both passengers have been checked-in. There is no button to allow re-print boarding passes - I find this a rather stupid design. What it has, is a cancel check-in button. So I went for that route.

After canceled check-in, logged out and then logged back in, I found the status changed back to no seat assignment and allowed me to check in again.

At first try the system claimed there was a system error and would not allow the check-in process to continue (started from the same sequence of the 2 passengers.) Logged out and logged back in under the 2nd passenger's name - this time it allowed the check-in process to continue to the finish stage and allowed both boarding passes to print. I dont know if the system requires enough time to update the status (cancel check-in), or because the 2nd try is with a different sequence of choosing the 1st passenger in the group to check in... Who knows?

The odd thing is, on the 2nd attempt of check-in anew, the check in numbers remain the same, BN2 and BN3, as well as the system recognizes the passport info has already been entered so no need to fill that in again - just to pick the seats.

My question is, now since CX already allowed us to check in even with a one-way ticket HKG-TPE only, does that mean we can proceed straightly to Immigration at the airport and using the printed BPs to board?

The A330 CX406 Feb 04, has both 2 seaters aisles almost full all the way to row 40, but middle 5 seaters basically only have aisle seats occupied to row 39 and all middle 3 seats are empty.

Based on this type of occupancy, would CX cancel this flight and combine it with the later flight? If so, the re-check in on the new flight may cause the agent to demand the return leg being ticketed before allow for new BPs.

AFAIK, Taiwan immigration has never asked folks with US Passport to show r/t tickets at entry - all they do is to stamp the passport with a 30 days stay duration from the date of entry. (cannot be extended if entering Taiwan using this method.) I just hope to keep the flexibility of our return date without incurring additional charges. BA redemption shows PLENTY of award seats among numerous daily flights every day. Close-in ticket does not have additional fee either.

I cannot comment on why you and the other passenger were treated differently during OLCI, but I can assure your that TPE officials occasionally check outbound travel information. I flew HKG-TPE with my friend around 2007-2008. Both of us were entering on US passports. He traveled to TPE about 10 times a year. I was an infrequent visitor (about 4 times a year). I entered without hassle. He was asked to produce his outbound ticket. Fortunately, he had his e-ticket with him.

Whether the official checks for your outbound ticket is discretionary. If he/she does and you cannot produce one, I suppose you can buy a ticket immediately, but CX may still be held responsible for letting you board.

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I always ticket my next ex TPE ticket before I fly there.

As a HKSAR passport holder, I always being asked for return ticket.

My boss live in TPE with zillion times pass already. He got asked for ex TPE ticket 3 or 4 years before but never again in recent years (He is a DM and in and out of TPE probably 30 times per year)

I went ahead and ticketed BA redemption TPE-HKG and would report back if the Taiwanese Immigration would ask to see the return tickets at entry.

I know HKSAR passport requires Visa (free).

US Passport can have 30 days stay without Visa when return ticket is present. If entering Taiwan using this method, the stay cannot be extended.

I had my TPE/SIN tix cancelled in DEC 2011 and still not receiving credit to my AMEX, is it normal?

I dont know about CX but for cancellation done with AA or CO, the refund is processed in 1 to 3 weeks time. AA refund showed up in just over a week. CO took a bit longer.

I see the credit hit my CC in about 2 weeks, before receiving the notification from CO (split refund - due to paid by CC and e-Cert and the refund went back to the original forms of payment accordingly. Then CO sent an email to inform the new e-Cert PIN.)

In any case if it is over 4 weeks and you still not see any refund, you should follow up with CX.

OT - but it appears that with CX 4-6 weeks for refund is rather normal. But you can obviously follow up with them any time.

Update:

1) Taiwan immigration did not ask to see return ticket at all.

2) CX's machine gave a red light when scanning BPs at the gate - it was kind of comic - the woman before us, got a red light with a Canadian passport and a BP looked like from Kiosk. Our online BPs also got a red light. The gentleman followed us with a Canadian passport also got a red light.

The GA asked for help and another CX GA running back and forth with the passports ant the return tickets to the nearby service counter where they looked up the visa requirements...

I found this procedure of CX should be performed at the counter outside security - their system should NOT allowed OCLI or Kiosk check in if Visa check is necessary. Just display a message "Please check in with airport agent." so any Visa check is performed and taken care of long before boarding.

It should not be normal in any business... But for CX it seems to be. I have been waiting refund for my cancelled ticket since October!

Maybe CX is short of cash?

bumping old thread

is there any CX ticket ex tpe without 1200 TWD fee? i have sin-hkg=tpe imminiently and to avoid check in hassle i am thinking of buying my next ex tpe but high chance to cancel as i have not decided on next destination