Upgrade ticket bought through Expedia
 

Hi

I have a question about upgrading part of a trip bought though Expedia - I'd like to upgrade using cash, not points.

I have a ticket LHR-HGK-MEL, SYD-HKG-LHR in PEY. The outbound is in E, the return in R,. I'd like to find out how much it would cost to upgrade the inbound (SYD-LHR) to business, so I phoned CX. They said they couldn't change my booking until after I had taken the first flight, as it was booked through an agency. Fair enough, so I rang Expedia. They said they could only upgrade the whole trip, not just the return leg.

Is there any way I can get a price for the upgrade before ringing CX after taking the first flight?

Many thanks

This is why you should buy directly from CX...if I remember correctly as long as you purchased your ticket from an agent (expedia in this case), you have to get them to process the upfare (not upgrade since you sound like you want to pay more). And I'm not even sure if E + I roundtrip combination is allowed, which is probably why expedia is telling you they can only upgrade the whole journey.

I don't know about E+I, but I did R+V with my TA with no problem.

Thanks, I'll give CX a ring after I leave, and next time book direct...

Just a note of caution on this - combinations of Y (or Y+) and J are not always permitted. Some airlines or fares permit this but many don't.

This is one possible reason why your agent told you that you had to upgrade the whole itinerary. Your original fare may not have permitted travel one way in Y+ and the other in J.

As an added complication - when researching your future bookings at least - most online systems simply aren't able to return fares where a combination of cabins is permitted, so even if a mix of Y and J is allowed, you won't see such options returning on any online site - CX included.

Nor does Cathay's website return the "combinations" paragraph of the fare rules that governs whether you can mix different cabins, so even researching online before 'phoning to book is not straightforward, sadly.

I need help with my mileage upgrade request...

I have CX Gold status, traveling out LAX-HKG in late April, then returning HKG-SFO in second week of May. Both upgrades still on waitlist.

After making a mock-booking for my dates above, LAX-HKG looks half full in business as of the moment. However, HKG-SFO is already about 2/3 full. On the same day, if I return via LAX, the flight is less than half-full.

I only booked SFO on the suggestion of an agent that it had more empty seats at the time of booking (last month).

My instinct tells me to go ahead and pay the $100 rebooking fee to change my return via LAX and take my chances of a confirmed upgrade from there.

But then, wouldn't that mean I would have to join the back of the queue for upgrades on the new flight? What are my chances?

Any input?

My husband was waitlisted on similar flights HKG-LAX & LAX-HKG for J Companion Ticket flights this past Feb. Waitlist did not clear but was bumped up to PEY on first leg (op-up) and he personally upgraded with 20K miles during check-in on return leg from Y to PEY. As you may be aware LAX & SFO are quite busy routes and depending on any overbooking you might get bumped up assuming you have paid PEY seat. Maybe some of the members here can do a search on the present flight status for your dates.

As for changing flights and waitlisting you will be back of the line.

Good Luck

Would Asia Miles process a BA PE->J upgrade even though there's just one-way availability for now?

I'm looking at KUL-LHR on 5th and 16th of July for outbound and inbound respectively. There's availability on the former but the latter is zeroed out on BA award search right now.

According to the chart http://www.asiamiles.com/am/en/redeem/charts, you can only do one-way full redemption but not one-way upgrade on BA. In fact, one-way upgrades can only be done on CX & KA flights.

So I'm booked on LAX-HKG roundtrip in R (PEY) and trying to use Asia Miles to upgrade to business. My inbound upgrade has been confirmed but I'm waitlisted for my outbound flight. I've been calling Asia Miles every day to see if there's availability but nothing so far. I'm confused as to what happens now that my waitlist is expiring today (T-4). Some agents have told me to keep calling, while others have told me that since my waitlist is expiring, not to even bother calling back because I have no chance. Anybody with any insight?

BTW, here's the load for my flight:
CX 883 0 LAX
03/18/16 11:35 PM HKG
03/20/16 6:00 AM 77W
Daily
55% / 29m F1 A1 J6 C6 D6 I3 W2 R1 E0 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L6 V1 S0 N0 Q0 O0

aaydemi I've seen J6 load before and very likely a J redemption/upgrade will be available at T-82 hours.

Thanks percysmith. I'll give Asia Miles a call at T-82 hours and see what happens.

F2 A2 J4 C4 D4 I1 W1 R0 E0

Maybe you should consider changing to CX885?

Definitely call in to confirm the one-way upgrade. Also continue calling and checking for the outbound flight. AM will charge you mileage for two one-ways if you end up getting the outbound so you will need to request that this be corrected.

CX 883 0 LAX
03/18/16 11:35 PM HKG
03/20/16 6:00 AM 77W
Daily
55% / 29m F2 A2 J0 C0 D0 I0 W4 R4 E3 Y5 B5 H4 K3 M3 L1 V0 S0 N0 Q0 O0