My longhaul flight opened up about 48-72 hours prior on both cases (west and eastbound) for U inventory.

Hi FT, casual lurker. Quick question about a free op-up i've had recently.

Cathay Dragon Flight from HKG to XMN. Flight was delayed thrice. (About 3 hours total from intended departure). I recently signed up for MPC and started off with green. Got an Economy ticket from a booking agent (Category S?)

I usually travel on discounted economy tickets through the likes of Skyscanner booking sites. On this occasion, while queuing up in the MPC green lane for boarding, I was given a ticket which shows cat J and told that it was a 'first class' seat all the way at the front row. (Im a pretty frequent low-budget traveller so you can only imagine the s***-eating grin of delight at the op-up)

Anyone able to shed any light on how I was eligible? As I read, my status should be pretty low on the priority list for op-ups.

Cheers

Welcome to FT and welcome to MPC.

I am inclined to think the following aligned.
1. Flight was not elite heavy (i.e. not enough CX and OW higher tier elites to be upgraded.
2. Low check-in sequence (did you check in way early)

Happened to me on my first op up 5 years ago as GR. Q class ticket, upgraded from Y to PY HKG to SIN on CX 735,

I had an earlier connecting flight from SIN so if that counted as an early check-in then maybe.

I took the same route as a non-MPC passenger 4 times in the last 2 months. That's what prompted me to try out for the MPC membership. Would Cathay/MPC have placed that under consideration during op up?

Despite the short journey, i thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience. Was very cool!

The fellow above has posted good reasons. Yet there is another, which is related to what you mention and it's possibly correct. CX is known to, sometimes (but certainly not always) upgrade members who are bumped up a tier the first time. I've seen two colleagues get upgraded their first flight as SL. Personally, 12+ years ago when I first hit SL just starting out with CX I was given an op-ups HKG-SIN. And I've read about it on here.
​​​​​​
Now I've never heard about this dynamic before for Green, but I think it is at least a possibility you got the upgrade as your first flight as an MPC member.

4 seats left 10days out?
come back to the question 2 days out.

hush... before some here accuses cx of watering down their ffp further after cx giving 2mm mpo members DM

Yeah to both. Haven't updated my profile since Hyatt rebranded, guess I should update

Another data point for op-up:
CX619 (BKK-SIN) on a Sunday. MMB showing economy all the way till counter check-in at BKK, where myself (DM) and travelling companion (SL) were upgraded to business. Expertflyer was showing 0s throughout all classes before the flight.

Chance of one J seat becoming available
 

Flying BOM-HKG-SFO on Saturday into Sunday. Work only pays for PE. Transferred Citi TY to Asia Miles and upgraded BOM-HKG. No availability to SFO. Anyone experienced know if a seat will open up last minute? The business cabin is not full at all. Wondering if it’s worthwhile to proactively transfer more Citi TY points. I’ll likely be able to use Asia Miles to upgrade a flight within two years but not totally sure. Any suggestions appreciated.

Is it correct that PEY Class E cannot be upgraded to business class with miles anymore? Trying to decide whether to book CX PEY or SQ PEY for travel between SFO and Singapore/Hong Kong.

Correct. E class cannot upgrade to J with miles.

Worthwhile to spend $100 on MP Green for a better chance for OP upgrade? (vs Asia Miles only).

Yes, but only if you have plans of many future travels with CX in the short-medium term (within the next 2 years). I find it to be extremely rewarding. (And I am now spoiled)

Redeeming upgrades for family members?
 

Has anyone redeemed upgrade awards for others when you're not travelling with them and if so, how do you actually do this? Would I need to call or can I do it through the Cathay or Asia Miles website? Normally for myself, I would log onto the Cathay website to redeem (I think, although I think I ended up needing to call them with my most recent upgrade).

Also, do they allow you to waitlist if no upgrade award is available?

I would purchase upgradable PEY fare, and use miles to upgrade/ (or more like waitlist to upgrade) to Business.

Thanks in advance!

[mod hat on] I merged your thread with this existing one because you may find some of your answers here.

cxfan1960
CX CoMod
[mod hat off]
I did that many times. The passenger does not need to be a family member, but must be on your redemption list. If you are not traveling with the passenger, you must confirm and ticket the upgrade before hand (no instant upgrade at airport in this case).

Yes, you can waitlist. I usually call to do upgrade or waitlisting, but some good TAs can also handle that for you. Wait time for call can be very long depending on your CX status. I am CX GO and my wait time is usually none or very short.

i have booked my ticket at cathay website, but when i logged in to asiamiles and click redeem upgrade, it bring me back to cathay website and says can't find my booking and ask me to update my membership number, i have done that and is still the same. Anyone experienced this before?

before i booked i have called asia miles and check there are seats available for upgrade

Can you call them back and have them process the upgrade?

Just got reply from AM, the reason is because my name in AM profile does not match the name on my flight ticket, therefore it is unable to find my booking.......need to send my passport copy to AM and let them update my name

My flight LAX-HKG next week is full in PEY cabin.
As an OW Emerald I don't think I have a good chance to get an op-up, but is this the situation op-ups might happen to CX elites at the airport?

You can't assume op-up....I've had a birthday upgrade processed at the gate before. Could be anniversary too I suppose. Could be something else.

Or, it could've actually been op-up if a bunch of seats in J were non-operable or not permitted to fly. I was on a 77W in November with 3 seats in J class closed off due to something broken.

Et cetera.

There are no doubt a lot of reasons that don't come right to mind.

Sure, the scenario would be an oversold condition where they start bumping up pax to make room. However, you can't really predict with certainty how it will play out. Do you know the full loading via EF? If J is full, nowhere to go. If Y is not full but PEY is and no other PEY tix are sold, then you'll enjoy a full PEY cabin without any op ups. I had colleagues (all CX GO and SL) on flights back to NYC right before LNY that were packed out with a few J seats left, but no op ups. The planes seemed full but not oversold as I was helping them out by monitoring loads via EF.

For op up, normal scenario would be CX elites first, DM & GO. After that who knows, we are not privy to the algorithm used. Is it SL then OWE or the opposite? What are the tie breakers? Is there a revenue score and when is it factored in? Does BN (check in order) matter? Are some pax getting targeted with op up to lure them in to buying premium cabin and being selected over CX elites? This entire thread is based on trying to make sense of the logic.

The prevailing wisdom is never plan on an op up. If you really want an upgrade, either pay or burn some miles with an instant upgrade. I still try to check in as early as possible just in case that still matters. For PEY, I usually purchase R class tickets to give me the option for a redemption or instant upgrade.

I just checked EF and it showed
F1 A0 J9 C8 D0 I0 W0 R0 E0 Y9 B9 H9 K7 M4 L1 V0 S0 N0 Q0
It looks nobody gets op-up from PEY cabin. Is that right? When I checked CX site, Y was still being sold, but it was showing like 7 seats left (Flex), so it's getting full, I guess.
If I get an op-up, I just think I'm really lucky. That's all. PEY is the seat I paid for.

New to Asiamiles redemption.

I have waitlisted for an award upgrade (J to F) for 2pax for my flight CX289 in April. EF shows:
F4 A4 J9 C0 D0 I0 W6 R6 E0 Y0 B9 H9K9 M9 L3 V9 S0 N0 Q0

What are my chances of getting this upgrade? Hoping to try out F class for the first time.

How many days out? You said next week but didn't say which day of the week. If your still T-96 anything can happen. A bunch of Y pax can swoop in, CX might open up the discount fares. Maybe PEY is oversold. All you can really do is check in right at T-48 in case check in order still matters as a tie breaker.

Huh? This flight is opup territory. You're probably shoe-in for opup as OWE

HKG-SFO CX 872 25Feb. Seat map in PY had been full for 2 weeks prior to departure. During boarding, BP was rejected by scanner and GA handed me a new one in J (as OWE).

EF showed 9 seats blocked in J at about 8 hours before departure, so not sure if that's indicative of anything.

Did not have same luck earlier in the week on SFO-HKG. Was told it was oversold by 7 in PY but no op-up.

op upped on all segments
 

As DM, failed 01/28, and 02/25 CX872 (HKG-SFO) - J to F, with Asia Miles Redemption request. Get the feeling that the mistake fares are taking away J to F opportunities. Quite how long will last, not sure.

My flight is this Friday night CX883, so T96 just passed and now EF shows
F0 A0 J7 C7 D0 I0 W1 R0 E0 Y7 B7 H6 K5 M3 L2 V0 S0 N0 Q0
I also checked seat map and I can see 6 blocked and 2 available in J cabin and 2 (one is next to me) blocked and nothing is available in PEY cabin.
The 2 blocked seats in PEY cabin was available to take when I checked my seat at CX website.

My partner is flying DUB to HKG Premier Econ Class E on 3rd April and trying to bid for an upgrade. I have just tried too and got the message "Unfortunately your trip is not eligible at this time."
Does the "at this time" mean that it will be possible at a future date?

Just try to use my asiamiles to redeem an upgrade award from J to F for my Lax to Hkg flight on 13/3, but it is still on waitlist and I just check EP it shows F3A3J9C9D9I9W9R9E8Y9B9H9K9M9L9V9S9N9Q9

I guess I don't have a good chance to redeem it successfully, it might related to their first class bug fare earlier this year.

Back out from SFO on 3/21 on 873 and returning 3/25 on 872. All F blocked. Didn't even bother with a UPG request. This is the new norm apparently.

it'll be rough going for USA flights until end of the year, whenever this mistake F fare ends. IIRC the fares were bookable until late November 2019 - does anyone know the dates roughly?

in good news they've restored a lot of A fare availability, at least from ports I buy from. I guess maybe this isn't universal. But I think award F is in big trouble to the USA until the mistake fare window is over.