Sorry I was a bit confused by breaking80's reference to buying an eVIP. They're not directly available for sale right (even though secondary market sales do occur on eBay)?

CX will be put off by the secondary market in AA's own eVIPs, probably make them useable by the DM only, non-transferable. And then limit seat availability to similar to the upgrade certifcate CX already gives out to involuntary downgrade passengers.

Would such an additional benefit be attractive?

Something like if you accumulated few tenth thousands more miles over the 120K miles and maybe few sectors over a portion of the 80 sectors (similar scheme can be applied to sector DM, just adjust the two threshold level) CX will give out an upgrade cert without deducting miles?

This would definitely help encourage post-renewal travel

A follow up. I found F award availability online 4 days before departure. On my MP account, my daughter's waitlist for F did not confirm, and the representative did not know why. I was able to cancel the J upgrade award and get a PEY refund as well as use the 20k AM to ticket the F redemption. Glad I checked online for CX award redemption frequently!

Maybe.
But how long until DM's start whining they try EVERY flight and still can't get these upgrade vouchers to work, and I already have X # of cert accumulated!

When you are waitlisted for a redemption upgrade, does calling the Marco Polo Club make any difference?

I ask because twice now I have had the following experience: I book an overnight flight in PEY and get waitlisted for a J upgrade for a couple of months. When I get close to the flight date, I figure the upgrade is not coming, so I change to a day flight. The MPO agent says they are "prioritising" my upgrade on the day flight (I am but a humble silver member). A matter of hours later the upgrade comes through. Great, although now I'm on the day flight I don't really need it.

Is this standard procedure to prioritise people who call the Club? Would it work if I didn't change my booking but just called to ask them to prioritise my upgrade? Or is the whole thing just a coincidence?

I think it's because you changed to the day flight, not simply because you called...

I agree. There are possibly more unsold J seats or fewer higher-status members waitlisted for the day flight. The call probably contributed too as they likely checked on availability immediately on the new flight.

Imagine how much easier this would all be if CX award inventory was viewable on sites such as expertflyer.com etc.

Straight redemption is viewable on cathaypacific.com (and derivative tools such as KVS), upgrade availability is same as straight redemption except with anecdotal evidence that if a member such as lionelhutz waitlists for an upgrade where straight redemption is not available, MPO may consider making a seat available to fill the upgrade request.

You can't see such seats MPO may make available without waitlisting for an upgrade (and have an underlying revenue ticket to support the waitlist).

Yeah strange

I successfully waitlisted HKG-NGO-HKG for next Easter but I didn't want it. I wanted to give to friend my seats, so I created an identical itin for friend (waitlist), then cancelled my HKG-NGO-HKG. He immediately cleared.

OTOH the 19/6 seat my colleagues been waiting for became available today but his 10-month long waitlist didn't clear - I had to call to grab the seat http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...l#post24966618

So if I want my HKG-MXP flight to clear, I should book a paid ticket and then cancel it?

yikes...methinks that's getting close to crossing a line you don't want to cross.

Hi,
a bit new to CX. I am wondering about my chances for an Award Upgrade from PE to J for 3 people on YYZ-HKG (round trip) Jul 4 and Jul 18 respectively.

I am but a lowly CX Green member. I checked expertflyer which shows J9 for both flights. The flights are a few weeks away and I've been told that my waitlist deadline is Jun 27th.

Asiamiles CSR won't give any indication of chances for upgrade or length of wait list.

This is my first time waitlisting for this type of upgrade. I haven't moved any miles yet unless the upgrade clears (plan to move from AMEX points), but not sure what the chances are. What if the deadline passes? Is upgrade after this still possible with points? in that case, I would have to have the points ready to go I'm assuming. I notice that some people say calling in repeatedly may increase chances. Is there anything I should say to them in particular which may help my chances?

Just don't want to move points to Asiamiles if not necessary.

There is a catch that you may miss the upgrade deadline when upgrade is available, but if you transfer your miles now, there is also a chance that you ended up with miles in your account you have no plan for. This is a gamble, just like when a passenger decides whether to buy R or E without enough knowledge on whether the upgrade will go through.

My wife and daughters did instant upgrades at the airport before, but miles must be available for an instant upgrade. This is again a gamble.

Your chance of clearing waitlist depends on your flight. Short hauls and regional flights are easier. Long hauls are difficult, and are not symmetrical. I flew SFO-HKG-SFO a lot. Upgrading HKG-SFO is much easier than upgrading SFO-HKG (same miles, but two hours longer flight time).

cxfan, thanks for your insight.

I guess the question I should be asking to people is:

Is it worth the gamble to transfer 27500 points (x3) if the upgrade deadline passes in the hope of upgrade at checkin. Would YOU in poker terms go "all in" ;) would YOU take the gamble given the following circumstances:

Keep in mind it is for 3 passengers and I am CX Green. These are the flight loads:

CX 829 (Jul 4) YYZ-HKG J9 C9 D2 I0 W5 R3 E0 Y9 B9 H9 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0

CX 826 (Jul 18) HKG-YYZ J9 C9 D0 I0 W8 R2 E0 Y9 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0

I am interested in peoples thoughts if they would take this gamble..