Rule #5: http://www.asiamiles.com/am/en/redeem/upgrade
Unless there is a change recently, they have to be to the same flight. I was denied to upgrade my wife at the airport because I was not traveling with her.

CX phone agents do NOT process instant upgrades. It is only done at the airport. He/she might have mistaken that you were asking about regular upgrade.

Hello, travelling YYZ-HKG-HND in J next year and wondering if it would be possible to upgrade, using cash obviously, the HKG-HND leg, to F, and preferably only either the HKG -> HND flight or the return (without having to pay a price similar to return flights). Or even HKG-HND return in F if need be?

Reason I ask is that YYZ-HKG does not offer F service and I do not want to pay F prices for the entire intinerary only to travel in most of it (YYZ-HKG) in J.

Yes you can upgrade it, sector by sector. Presumably they'll offer you the cash upgrade from your biz fare class to A (if available) or F (if A is gone). I have never been so lucky to get A on same day cash upgrades and have to pay up for full F.

Depending on your underlying fare class, you could be in for some sticker shock. If you're flying D or I, for example, you can expect to see probably ~4k USD (aka, almost the full value of F the HND round trip) tacked on. There will not be some bargain to be found doing it this way. Fyi, you can do this in advance - aka CX is not going to charge you F class to/from YYZ if only available on the HND sectors. However, where you may be onto something is CX's online booking engine won't let you choose sub fare class, and it may well be it's forcing you into fly J or C class ex YYZ on the longhauls, which is unnecessary. If this is the case, just call CX or a travel agent to get it booked properly. I **think** you should be able to get an I or D fare ex YYZ to HND, and then upfare only the HND sectors, all done well before the flight date.

However, I can never figure out how CX calculates the value of each sector but IME an overwhelming percentage is on the long hauls not the intra Asia connecting sectors. Others can chime in if I'm off base. But I'm assuming you're hoping to buy some discounted biz fare ex Toronto, in which case the HND sector "value" is going to be low, meaning the upfare to F will probably be very close to full fare F for those sectors. If you are actually intending to buy J or C fare ex YYZ to HND, then I think you're just confused - CX isn't charging you F on the non-F sectors!

What are ex YYZ I or D fares these days? 4k USD or so? If so, I think you should expect to roughly double your price to 8k if you upfare the two HND sectors to F. Ie, the round-trip upfare will be in the ballpark of 4k USD on a base 4k D or I fare ticket.

You won't pay F fare for the entire itinerary if F is not available for the long haul. I would suggest contacting a TA on that. Cash upgrade is likely more expensive.

Thanks for your reply, yes, it is a I fare, bought for 4.8k CAD, or 3.8k or so USD, all booking attempts through the CX website.

Sorry for the mix-up, reason I asked is that at the time of booking, attempting to do so online in F would result in a 13k CAD fare, with indeed, the first leg in J instead of I, a huge upcharge for no benefits (that apply to me).

A dummy booking today for the same dates (8 months or so from now) resulted in 7.5k CAD D fare, or 19k (!) CAD J+F fare, while HKG-HND in F has remained around 5k USD.

So basically the question would have been better phrased as whether I could upcharge HKG-HND (preferrably one-way, but return if prices in the former are high) without touching the the YYZ-HKG leg at all (as I fare is good enough for me).

Understand. I know you can do this at the airport.

However, I presume you would like confirmation in advance. In that case I recommend talking with a travel agent so you can tell them exactly what you want, or perhaps CX. Anyone else on here know for sure?

Regardless of when you do it, you should expect that the I fare HKG-HND-HKG sectors are worth very little. So basically be prepared to pay 4-5k USD for the upfare from I, since I is pretty cheap. So I think your all-in cost will be 8-9k USD.

CAD4.8K is an excellent fare. My feeling is that your HKG-HND-HKG is "free", or even worse, HKG is the HIP. In that case, the fare difference may be as high as the HKG-HND-HKG F fare.

Have you checked with your TA on what they can arrange for you?

The new regional seat was medicore at best, but I'm not complaining about the free upgrade though. One thing was the day after, the same flight was subbed to a 747 which was a rarity since the jumbo does the route like 5 times a year. Talk about luck!

Could someone help me check the inventory on the following?

Two tickets booked thru TA, LAX-HKG with PE (R) and trying to upgrade to J. The PE tickets have already been confirmed.

10/6 LAX - HKG -- CX883
11/2 HKG - LAX -- CX882

Thank you!

-Tom

Looks bad for outbound, okay for inbound:
Oct 6 CX 883: F1 A1 J1 C1 D1 I0 W0 R0 E0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0
Nov 2 CX 882: F3 A3 J9 C9 D9 I9 W3 R1 E0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L7 V3 S0 N0 Q0 O0

What would be the cost to change your ticket to E outbound + R inbound minus change fees?

Thank you. What are my real chances here?

We are flexible, so +/- 1-2 days of outbound date is OK if it will increase the likelihood to upgrade to J.

What about CX 881 or 897 on the same day, 10/6?


-Tom

AM Y+ to J chances
 

Dear Cathay friends,

Was wondering your thoughts on the likelihood that my request for AM upgrade using miles, from Y+ to J, would clear on the following sectors:

NEW YORK JOHN F CX 841 R 24NOV 0900
KENNEDY INTL
HONG KONG

HONG KONG CX 197 R 25NOV 2100
AUCKLAND

AUCKLAND CX 198 R 29NOV 1430
HONG KONG

HONG KONG CX 840 R 30NOV 1625
NEW YORK JOHN F
KENNEDY INTL

Thank you and best always

Is it still possible to pay the fare difference from economy to premium economy online using change flight tool at manage my booking? I remember doing this once but apparently I can no longer see any other cabins?

How likely is to get an upgrade from PE to Business for long haul flight when one is not even a member of OW. Asking for friend traveling from SFO to SIN this week.