This was likely due to an aircraft swap to an aircraft without PE, in which case E fares can be rebooked into Y or J (seemingly no rhyme or reason as to which happens, at least IME).

That's correct. I noticed it while on my way so did not look at the details. They sent out an email just now.

Hi all - new to flying CX here.

I am looking to fly one way from LAX to DPS (via HKG). I am thinking of buying economy (M fare) and upgrading. From the AsiaMiles website, it looks like I should be able to upgrade (if it's available) for 20k miles to PEY. From the sticky thread, it sounds like the best way to do this may be to call AM customer service before transferring mileage to my AM account? I currently have 0 pts but a bunch of Amex Membership Reward points that I can use.

I am also a OWS and have seen reports of op-ups on long-hauls, but I'm usually not that lucky.

anyone have ideas/suggestions/answers?

Thanks in advance for your help!!

Yea, thanks for searching. Everything you write is correct and this is exactly what you want to do.

There is no guarantee, fyi they'll let you secure the award without miles in your account, which would suck. But reports on here suggest they'll allow it briefly. IME, Amex transfers to Asia Miles within a day or two, pretty reliable and quick.

Even if you don't have CX status, Asia Miles usually will give you a 24 hour+ period to ticket the upgrade (aka not immediate), and that time is negotiable....so presumably you could convince them of 72 hours and the miles would hit your account by then.

Just to add my op-up data point, both TPAC flights booked in PE (W), I am a OWS (AA Plat):
JFK-HKG 8/2 - no upgrade; economy, PE, and business cabins all appeared to only be about 30-40% full.
HKG-LAX 8/21 - op-up from PE to business at the gate; did not look back at economy or PE cabins, but counted four or five open seats in business.

Question re Upgrade from PE to Business using Asia Miles if mix of CX and other airline (e.g., BA):

How is the process? Any difference from the wiki process? Should I follow the CX or the OW process?

Also, as I gather from the wiki, I should call to book. Are the prices via call center the same as on the website? I would book PE flex as this is the upgradeable fare.

Thanks in advance!

I recently hit MPC Gold and was all like, ooh, maybe I'll start getting op-ups. I successfully upgraded from PEY to J JFK-HKG-MEL using miles. On my return flight HKG-JFK, the machine made a loud beep when they scanned my boarding pass.

Me: (omigod omigod omigod, can it be? did I get upgraded to F? maybe they want to give a new MPC Gold some love?)
Cathay staff: You've been randomly selected by US Department of Homeland Security for a random security screening

I know chances are slim in getting an upgrade on an upgraded ticket using points but I was still hopeful. Boy, did I feel silly as I was getting a pat down lol

Upgrade award on multi-cities ticket
 

Hi folks,
I booked the following multi-cities ticket: SFO-HKG-NRT-HKG-SFO in Econ M fare class, which is eligible for "One Class Upgrade Awards" using miles.
My question is: since it is technically 2 RT tickets (SFO-HKG-SFO & HKG-NRT-HKG), if I want to upgrade the SFO-HKG and HKG-SFO legs, does it require 2 one-way upgrade (20k miles x2) or just 1 RT upgrade (30k miles)?

Thanks

RT (30k miles)

Was very pleased (and hugely surprised) for my whole family of 4 to be upgraded from Economy to Business recently on KA XIY-HKG.

We're 2 x BA Emeralds and 2 x BA Sapphires but I'd have thought that MPC Elites would have been above us in the list?

XIY is elite light. Last time I flew it I was the sole CX DM, and there were 0 GO (OWS) either. (I didn't ask about partners). It's totally possible you guys were the only OWEs and OWS on board.

I had a similar experience to CKG before.

Am flying that route twice soon. Wondering if elites will get DYKWIA treatment ;) ;)

Admittedly I've only done 4x KA sectors on each...hardly a very useful sample size. But that was the case for each of my flights at least.

I'm sure that this has been asked before but I can't find it in this thread. My wife has a bunch of miles that will expire at the end of the year and she would like to use them if possible before that time to upgrade from PEY to J. The thing is that the outward is about 10 months away and the return would be at least 15 months away, I assume it is not possible to book this in one go? If not, what's the best way to approach this to ensure that the miles are not lost?

Hi all, looking for some advice. My wife & I are both AA EXP and are flying CX PE on my birthday. I read about birthday upgrades for Asia Miles members, and wanted to know what the upgrade chances are for a newbie Asia Miles member. Is it worth creating a new Asia Miles account? We are flying ORD-HKG.

I need to credit this to AA to requalify, so I'd have to change my FF# back to AA at the gate. Any recommendations? Thanks

Birthday upgrade is an unpublished benefit for Marco Polo Club members (SL or above). Marco Polo is not the same as Asia Miles.

In other words, no it's not going to happen. (Unless your flight is oversold!)

CX only gives possible birthday upgrade to her own DM, GO and SL.
No birthday offer for GR and AM.
Thus, stick all the way with your AA EXP then. You might get op-up when oversold.

Well, I like to arrange my holiday in advice so here is what I usually do:
Call MPC hotline, booking a confirmed outbound seat in 10 months, requesting to hold it for the next 5 months until confirming the inbound flight. Explain the situation to agent and usually they would do me this favor.

However, if your miles expired in less than 15 months, this wouldn't work.

Thanks, I'll stick with my AA EXP. I'm happy with PE for the fare I paid, so no complaints if I don't get upgraded. I appreciate the advice.

I'll be flying alone in PY (E) on CX883 on 31 Aug LAX-HKG. I took a look at EF and the flight appears to be very full in all cabins. Can someone confirm? I'm a bit new to EF.

Anyway, what's typically the recommended strategy for trying to get an op-up? Ask in the OW Biz lounge? Go to the gate? I am OWS and I'll be arriving at LAX 5-6hr prior to departure (long layover from AA). So I won't be using the checkin counters at TBIT.

FWIW, I looked into a miles upgrade, but the buy up to W/R was around $5k one way. And upgrade to J was the same price. No big deal if I don't get upgraded, but the flat seat would be nice for sleeping. I assume this flight is probably elite heavy, so I'm not looking for a miracle.

Looks like there may be a few op ups but bear in mind status and ACV (for which all oneworld elites = 0)

I have no status with MPO, as you probably surmised. I assume travelling alone in PY without a special meal request works in my favor. Is it a good idea to ask the GA (politely) about upgrade availability or is it best to just shut up and do nothing?

ACV = Airline Customer Value?
Is ACV related to CIV (ow elites and everyone else has CIVs though)

I wonder about having a special meal request, if it can't be accommodated do they silently exclude you from an op-up? I wonder about this because some of my colleagues, who are MPC GO and hindu vegetarian, never seem to get op-ups. I thought one possibility may be special meal request. But I think there's no evidence to support this claim.

I originate outport from EWR. I don't think the agents in EWR are CX staff, just an outsourced crew that change uniforms for the different companies they handle. I don't think they have any discretion other than the system telling them to op-up.

However, I do ask, very politely, at each stage, check-in agent agent, lounge agent and sometimes at the gate before boarding. I am a firm believer in asking and that there is little to no harm if done politely and respectfully.

I've never scored an op-up in EWR this way, always I am paged and see the nearest agent to receive my new boarding pass. So I don't believe it's an effective strategy.

You are OWS, high availability in J and low availability in PE and Y, so it looks possible unless you get outranked by DMs and GOs.

Your odds are low. I wouldn't spend any more time thinking about it than you already have if you're the type who gets disappointed.

Asking isn't a problem - no harm - but it will 0pct have any impact on your odds. There is an American idea that politely asking agents helps gets upgrades. At least on CX, that's not how it works. Ever. They've got a system that sorts it out by CX and OW status, and customer value apparently. And in the times they have discretion, asking won't help you. It's just not the same culture where you can kinda sweet-talk your way to things. Believe me, everyone in the back would rather have a flat bed...not just you!

It's also mindful knowing an op-up on CX only happens due to oversold cabins. Whereas in the US flyers fully expect F class to go out full house every single time, it's not the same here. CX will very, very frequently leave empty seats in J or F class. It's not "upgrade until full" mentality. So that reduces odds too.

Thanks for the advice.

I definitely would never count on an op up and I'm perfectly content to fly in PY. As long as I'm not in Y, I'll be a happy camper.

If asking the GAs has no impact on upgrades, then I probably won't bother them about it.

Hey everyone, sorry bit unsure if I should called MP (I think the lines are really bad at the moment due to the storms and I imagine a lot of flight changes), but I upgraded a 2 leg flight to Business, and one is waitlisted (return) (Australia -> HK) but the other upgraded (HK -> NY) (Also Return)

I read that I should get them to action the ticket but they did email me to confirm the upgrade but no new eticket. I can pick seats on the manage booking and the flight is not for another 3 weeks or so. It also mentioned that there is a date a bout a week before they will decide to issue a new ticket. Just wondering if I should just wait it out till the week before or call like mentioned in previous posts (in saying that I do notice some of those posts are 2 years ago) so not sure if things have changed! Been about a week since booking.

equip switch upgrade to J = lounge?
 

Was booked in premium economy, but HKG outbound leg had equipment swap for a 333 Regional configuration. So CX "upgraded" me to J.

Does one get J lounge access as part of that, where it was just an equip swap?

I think you get upgraded into I class, which is a revenue biz class bucket. I *think* you'll get a lounge invite, although not 100% sure.

Could second this. A recent aircraft swap made my E into I, instead of J.

Happened to me too this week. Both flights went from E to I.

only exception... when you booked in E and if flight gets cancelled and you choose a flight that offers no PEY they consider it voluntary downgrade and booked to Y cabin

i really feel that OW status is little use now. i dont have enough data points but anacdotally my mom who is Silver gets upgraded almost 60% of time on touristy route flying at touristy day of week... i have been OWE (and OWS before) and even i can see flight oversold in economy for BKK (which has to be tourist heavy but also MPC heavy) i never had much charm.

so i get a feel that it is MPC silver ahead or OWE since revamp... just my feeling

fwiw, I think the CIV thing is overstated on here. Masse at MPC told me explicitly it is used as a tie-breaker between tiers, and that OWE does not get preference over DM and GO for op-ups.

He said the check-in staff do have discretion, but this is generally just for "issues". There are many variables involved getting flights out on-time, irrops, issues that roll into other issues, and whatnot. The system is not 100% DM will always get the upgrade over another, but in most normal circumstances it works the way described I think.

There are a few other caveats which apparently have been in play for some time: sometimes when members first make certain tiers, they do get an upgrade which is placed in the system similar to your birthday upgrade or anniversary upgrade, etc. Aka it is intentionally placed there.

But the idea that OWS or OWE are outflanking MPCs in upgrades would go 100% opposed to what I've been told, and I also haven't seen it in practice very often. Once or twice, yes. But regularly, definitely no.

i agree. when i was lowly silver back in the ages i had more upgrades than now! crazy!

maybe the silver does count for something!

CX will do that up front for a E ticket, but I believe if there is no PEY due to change of equipment, they will still reseat the passenger in I to avoid refunding the fare difference.

Personally I am happy if MPC is further prioritized over OW elites. Or better just consider ow elites as non status.

Here comes the data point as some of you have seen on my IG - CX806 a few days ago: family member A of mine got opup PE to J as a brand new CXAM (only made him sign up a few days ago); family member B OWR no op up. Separate tickets, both awards. Interestingly, family member A was under 18 and was in the non-bassinet PE seat originally. Ground knew they were traveling together as they checked in together

It's good. My parents are now asking me to do the numbers to see if they should switch from BA to MPC.

believe me i am believer i shud expect to fly in cabin paid for and i buy J when i want that comfort.

but...

i must say i used to believe i was up the foodchain as OWE and i admit there was element of bias in choosing CX Y over other cariers just in case this was the case... i also got out of my way to choose a full flight for high frequency routes sacrificing my own preference.

unfortunately i am a captive audience here.. for weekend get away from HKG i guess CX Y is most sensible

What is OWR?

OneWorld Ruby?