I recently booked from
LAX to NRT then from KIX to HKG to LAX. They were all premium economy. I was told I cannot mix and match? the roundtrip light from LAX to HKG had business class opening in each one but they claim I cannot mix business class and premium economy?

Also, if i want to increase my chance of getting a free upgrade am I better off being a marco polo member

Companion award and upgrade
 

I tried to search but did not find any relevant response

If I have redeemed a companion award for HKG-LHR, can I still apply for upgrade using miles? How does it work?

Companion is U class. You can't miles upgrade an award tic.

Thanks, I was not clear enough.
i noticed there's a terms that the companion must travel on the same class with me.
in that case, does that mean my ticket cannot be upgraded to first class either?

Got an op up on hkg- jfk from PEY to J at HKG station … I am QR silver/OW ruby

​​​​​​​Pleasant surpise … only hint I had was.. I was unable to do online check in … was throwing an error

Congratulations. This is interesting to all of us here since previously I had concluded that before a flight goes to airport control, op ups would exclude OW status pax (meaning GR would have priority over OWE in a theoretical 'OLCI cabin roll', in fact OW elites would be excluded from that if that happens).

This is unless when you were at HK station the flight was already under airport control. But since you cannot/did not OLCI, 'you' should not have been on the pecking order/under airport control still?

Would love to know more specifics. ^

Can't decipher...
 

I just got off CX 749 HKG-JNB (wonderful flight, fantastic service as I was the only emerald in J with no DMs).

Anyway, during boarding, the lady in front of me (no status - nothing there on the BP, PEY) got the red beep and message of 'new seat assignment' (or something like this) and the gate agent wrote on her boarding pass new seat assignment in J.

I had slept really well for the whole flight, so I wasn't able to ask the ISM until like she was busy preparing for arrival during descent. Also, I didn't want to pester her about this and said I was just curious. She didn't even know of it! (She only told me that a GO got an anniversary upgrade but that wasn't it after I told her I saw this happen during boarding at the gate.)

J was 80% full, PEY and Y less than half full.

So...the only reason would be perhaps she had an expensive fare and the revenue system nowadays decided to reward her...?

Normally I wouldn't entertain such speculation but...........

In the last two weeks, I've had 3 regional flights in Y class (sub fare-classes V, M and H, respectively) that were bought between 2-10 weeks ago, and bought lord knows how many more tickets. One of them a full-fare Y short-haul round-trip ticket for $1k USD (...not my definition of good value, oh well), another few cash J tickets, and a one-way F ticket up to PEK.

Anyway, on each of my flown Y sectors (V, M, H) I was upgraded from Y to J. This seemed strange on two counts. First, PEY was being sold on the flights. I know this isn't too weird. Second is the stranger part. I'm certain that on two of my flights, Y class was not full - in one case, I know for a fact it was 50%. (I am uncertain about the third, I forgot to check).

It's totally possible there were real reasons - seat broken, someone at the lounge or check-in went way above and beyond and did me a favor, I crossed a threshold or something I'm not aware of, etc. But just thought I'd throw it out there to get the speculation heating up.

I can't say I minded one bit. And as you might expect, J class had tons of empty seats on all these three flights, so service was outstanding (it wasn't the more typical op-up situations, where the flight goes out totally full in all classes). Certainly appreciative of it regardless of why CX ultimately did that. My *guess* is it's still a relatively straightforward answer in my paragraph above instead of some type of policy change, but who knows.

Thats certainly interesting, especially if you say the rear cabin wasn't even full.

I also recently got a Y to PEY to J upgrade SIN-HKG when I was still GO and I was really really surprised myself, especially considering this route must be DM heavy.

Although I'm certain the cabins were full and not like your case empty. Also, I dont know but it would seem unlikely that gate/lounge agents would know of your future bookings, right?

My wife received a J->F upgrade on her birthday two years ago at the gate. She took the last F seat. J wasn't full.

To get any free upgrade with cathay do you need to be at least green?

No, OWE, OWS, OWR, AM may also receive upgrade. The chance is very slim for OWR, GR and AM.

My wife and I (both BA emerald) travelled HKG-CEB with our 4 yr old son (BA sapphire) and 6 month old infant (no FF). We had booked premium economy. Whilst at the Pier F lounge, I was paged and offered an upgrade to J. They were clear that only I could be upgraded and my wife couldn't have the upgrade instead of me (as she had our infant attached to her name in the booking). I offered to let my wife have the upgrade and for me to sit in PEY with the boys, but she passed!

What was interesting is that the lounge staff said that the infant and associated adult could not be upgraded, even if The associated adult were emerald or even CX diamond. It's only for a finite amount of time that we will have this issue, so I guess no big deal.

Has anyone been upgraded with an infant?

No, and afaik it is a rule that infants (i.e. adults with attached infants) will not be upgraded whatsoever, regardless of status.

Edit: IIRC, can't upgrade infants with miles either

Infants and children under 12 cannot be op-upped (but some FTers have experience that their children were also offered op-ups).

The accompanying parent for the infant cannot be upgraded for the same reason. However, as both parents are traveling, they can switched ONCE up front and the father can stay with the infant the entire trip.

Thanks for the responses. So it was very nice of CX to offer one upgrade to me. This was within the constraints of what you say as my wife (emerald) was linked to infant and my son (sapphire) is only 4 yrs.
it worked out fine as I got the last row window seat in J and my family had bulkhead window and aisle in PEY. So there was just the curtain separating us and landing duties etc could be assisted with.
I feel that CX offering me the upgrade was a great gesture and much more than BA did in an overbooked DXB-LHR, where they just overlooked all of us presumably due to the infant in our booking.
PEY bookings to CX in future where possible!

AA EXPs, MPC nothings, biz to first with Asia Miles?
 

Hi all,
Brand new to the CX forum and we have actually never flown CX before.

Looking at tickets for June 2016:
party of 2 in same record, both AA EXP / OWE, I have Asia Miles account, partner does not.
PHX-LAX-HKG-MLE
<open jaw>
CMB-HKG-LAX-PHX

These are all sold in I class and all as CX ticket stock / CX metal / CX codeshares (for the PHX-LAX portion).

We are interested in upgrading the TPAC portions only, since HKG to Maldives and Sri Lanka is a 2 class A333.

I recently opened an Asia Miles account in order to check award availability, and possibly to transfer in Citi TY points (approx 200K in the account).

Questions (and many apologies if this is covered in the thread ...)

1. I don't see any award redemption inventory for the particular flights we want (schedule not that flexible due to work commitments). Can I waitlist BOTH of us for a mileage upgrade from biz to F, even though only one of us has an Asia Miles account?

2. Do I have to have sufficient Asia Miles in my account prior to the upgrade(s) being cleared, or can I transfer them from Citi after the upgrade is issued? If so, how long of a window do I have to do that? My reading of the award chart seems to indicate I would need 85,000 x 2 pax or 170,000 asia miles to upgrade both outbound and inbound. Is that right?

3. It is critical that I credit these flights to AA for next year's status. Is it possible to use Asia Miles to upgrade and then switch out the FF# after ticket reissued?

Should we just take the business class flights and be happy, and not worry about jumping through all these hoops for two TPAC segments? LOL (Having said that, I have heard so many things about legendary long haul CX F that I really would like to try it sometime...)

Thanks for your insight

1) Yes. You can nominate 5 people to be on your redemption list for free, which means you can redeem miles for them (after 5, you have to pay to change the list). Nominate your wife and waitlist her under your account. No problem. It is called your "redemption group" or something like that, search the Asia Miles website for that.

2) I always thought "yes", but some folks report otherwise. The consensus seems to be you need something to be safe. Although that would suck to transfer some and then not have them clear. I recommend just trying to get on the waitlist now without any AM and see what they say, you'll only know if you try. Citi transfers in a few days, pretty quick. If they permit you to waitlist without enough miles, I'm confident if you clear at 14+ days out you'll be okay (they'll always give you a few days to ticket it). Where it will get tricky is if they dont clear until late, which is highly likely.....In this scenario, if you never want to use Asia Miles except for this, it might be best to then just pull your name off the waitlist.

3) here, there are no guarantees. Folks usually report it works and that's be my bet for the most highly likely outcome....BUT there are also occasional reports here of mess ups, where you get credit under Asia Miles not AA. I don't know AAs policy here my guess would be you're sol but you should check with the AA board. The usual disclaimer here is if you darn well 100pct need those miles for the original program then don't mess with it, because you are introducing the possibility that you'll be nearing Silver status (OW Ruby) on CX with that itinerary, which I'm sure will be zero solace to you given you'll probably miss out on your AA play or exec plat or whatever you're gunning for. (Aka you might get Asia Miles / Marco Polo Club Points not Advantage Miles / qualifying dollars or whatever they're called)


Btw, one final note. It is very very likely if F awards open they will come one at a time, and perhaps only one max. So maybe just use your AM for your wife to try F if availability opens, and you stay in J if you guys don't mind? This will also give you peace of mind for the AA miles situation in #3. Upgrading her I to Z (F redemption) won't affect your booking, even though you're using your miles.

Unless, of course she also needs status.

I would like to add a worse case scenario - segments are upgraded one at a time and one person at a time after you waitlist. That will become 4 x 50,000 = 200000 AM. It is not a corner case. It happens very often especially if your travel dates are inflexible. If that happens, you have to pay 200000 AM first, and when you finish flying all segments, you can ask Asia Miles to return 200000 - 170000 = 30000 AM back.

You don't need all AM to be in your account when ticket. You can top up your account if you have 70% of the AM in your account:
* If you can redeem all segments together, you need 85000 + 85000x70% = 144500 for redemption and top up the rest.
* If you redeem 85000 for one person and 85000 later, you need 85000x70% = 59500 AM and top up the rest to redeem for the first person. Then you can transfer 59500 AM and top up the rest to redeem for the other person.

Notes:
* You have to be careful about the expiration date for the upgrade booking.
* Top up is too expensive IMHO.

Thank you so much for the replies.

Having gone through this thought experiment, I realized 12 hours after I posted this question that June is high monsoon season in South India / Sri Lanka / Maldives and that it wouldn't be too much fun to sit inside the overwater villa and watch the rain pour down over the turbulent and murky ocean. LOL

I think we might go to DPS instead. But also on CX.

I very much appreciate your replies - given the complexities of upgrading with Asia Miles and the necessity to credit to AA, my primary program, I think the best choice for us will be to save the Citi TY points for a flat out AWARD redemption on a future trip.

Again, thank you for the thorough and thoughtful replies. This was my first time on the CX forum but it won't be my last - you guys are so civilized compared to some of the others! :eek::p:cool:

See you at HKIA sometime, in the Wing

Recently flew BKK-HKG on a CX ticket on a 4-class 773, ticketed in coach with Emerald status. Checked loads a few days before departure and coach was no longer bookable, which made me hope for an op-up. At airport check-in, was upgraded to premium economy and then at boarding, upgraded again to business. Better than I had hoped and enjoyed the short ride. This was my 2nd op-up on about 10 short-haul CX segments in the past year. Certainly willing to pay more for CX on this route to access the lounges and the occasional up is another perk.

You don't need to be Green for opups. A friend of mine (actually the driver of my friend) recently got oped up on his very first flight with Cx with only Asia Mile membership from PEY to J Hkg - Syd.
Y must be very oversold (that's why his boss had to book him PEY) and he must be the only single pax left after all the elite pax in PEY been upgraded.

Or if CX runs into a chaotic situation that they just scramble to put customers on flights after a storm or something.

Plus the status pax (families) with infants, which are edit: often skipped altogether

I was op'd from PE to J on BOS-HKG this week. My first as a Oneworld Emerald. The flight was not full in any cabin class. It seemed entirely random and even surprised the counter agent.

Terrific flight!

Interesting to see more and more anecdotes of these new 'randomized' upgrades (congratulations too!). But my J to F just never comes!! :D :D


Also, I was recently told by an ISM that they do not see/know how much partner elites have flown with CX from their iPads.

My *guess* is these still aren't random (even though I'm guilty of reporting/receiving a few).

I had an experience on 33E a few days ago where FOUR (!!!) AVOD systems were broken in Y. I found out from the outport manager, who I know (I suppose crew must've known too). Four seats went out "empty" in Y and some pax were op-upped as a result. It's possible they thought they thought the flight wasn't full.

Just curious if anyone try to request a free upgrade (if space available) when CX changes their schedule or flight model?

Ha! That's a good one.

No, CX doesn't work like that. I can't say how many times I've seen folks trying to argue this, to no avail.

Flight model changes can work in your favour if you were booked in PEY and they change to an aircraft without PEY. Accommodation in J will be likely, however by definition, this will be regional J.

Upgrade Datapoint
 

Wife & I Just got bumped up from Y to J flying BKK-SIN on an A350 with full J service.

Am just OWS and 1st time scoring an upgrade with CX. What's surprising was we even bypassed the PY cabin straight to J. All that while only on an O booking. Someone's REALLY smiling on us !

Hi guys,

since my family has decided to book flights on their own (via Expedia :o) - is it possible to pay the fare difference from Economy (Q) to PY at HKG? Right now the flight looks like J9 C9 D9 I9 W9 R9 E9 Y6 B6 H5 K5 M4 L3 V1 S0 N0 Q0 O0.

They would want to upsell, not asking for a cash upgrade (which I believe doesn't exist). Since they're transiting at HKG, where would be the best place to approach an agent?

Sorry but this bit will kill any remote chance of that being possible...

Except where the substituted aircraft is a 33E, which is the only aircraft type with long-haul J but no PEY! :)

I was in PY from TPE to HKG on a reward ticket. Very surprised to get a new boarding pass at the gate on boarding for J. I'm just CX Gr and my wife didn't even have MPC. Seems pretty random and surprising since we were on reward tickets.

It wouldn't help at the counter (or transit desk). Had similar situation almost three years ago when CDG had a strike and all CX service to Paris were cancelled including my one. CX had to rebook me to HKG-DOH-CDG with HKG-DOH on CX. Asked if they would move me to a better seat (PEY I was thinking :D) and got refused when issuing the ticket. However, got op-uped to J bypass PEY at gate. Not sure about Y loading but PEY was not full and J was also not full.

Guess it has to be done at the back end, just a nice way to say "sorry" from CX.

Hmm...op-ups I've had:

family of 3 (mom (SL), myself (AM), and brother (AM); I was 7 at the time, brother 11) HKG-YVR Y to J

As AM (before able to register for MP): PEY to J on at least 80% of trips (YVR-JFK and vice versa) 50/50 OLCI or counter/gate op-up

As SL: same percentage for YVR/JFK trips in PEY; however no J-F on those legs including long hauls to HKG :(; no F-cockpit either ;)

Best op-up:

PEY to J at OLCI T-48, use of A-Card at gate to F :D and this was booked with a cheapo discounted corporate rate ticket in E fare

J went from J7 yesterday to J0 today, what does that mean in the grand scheme of things? Could it mean they're planning to op-up from PEY? Oddly, looks like it's still W9 even though the seatmap shows otherwise. Trying to gauge odds of an upgrade from PEY as a OWE on JNB-HKG on 4/19.

Thanks!

My upcoming flights have been booked into eligible sub-classes for upgrade using AM. However, my tickets have been booked through STA travel and they also ticketed it with STA Travel's own 000 stock instead of usual CX 160 stock. I have been told airlines are only able to process miles-paid upgrade when the ticket was issued by the airline themselves or their partner.
Does anybody have experience of upgrading a flight in a situation like mine?

Can means nothing. Now it's a week to go before flight day so CX may simply close the entire J inventory and start to consider how many more seats to release to award waitlist etc