I have booked two tickets in premium economy for HKG-DUB. (May 11)

It says only one seat is currently available to choose.

Does this mean the passenger who does not select a seat is likely to be upgraded? (i.e. PE overbooked?)

4/11 CX 872 - SFO - HKG. Didn't clear, J to F, with a Diamond BUD. Surprise surprise. Not looking any better for 4/22 either.

I don't recall this topic being thoroughly discussed, but my guess is that it was simply too complicated. Back in the old days, they issued paper-based MCO on 160 (CX) stock to be applied on the 125 (BA) stock ticket. There's a different record locator for the upgraded segment and all is good. Now, with e-tickets and PNR matching the e-tickets, as well as married segment and a lot of other things, it was probably too time-consuming to process these BA and AA upgrade requests. That's probably why CX stopped offering them.

I agree the T class-to-U class upgrade on BA was a bargain, especially given CX does not allow E class-to-U class upgrade. On the other hand, neither BAEC nor AAdvantage members could redeem CX upgrades, so it was a bit unfair, or at least not reciprocated.

Can anyone advise me about the availability of CX806 ORD-HKG on 5/11? I'm CX SL and I have a PE ticket trying to find out my chance of an upgrade. Thanks a lot!

What kind of upgrade are you looking at? If mileage redemption, I suggest you to try to put a waitlist. My experience in the past few months is that CX is very good at clearing upgrade waitlist for me, and I'm SL, too. If you are talking about op-up, I would not be optimistic.

TW POS:
US POS:

[QUOTE=MarCar;31033008]Can anyone advise me about the availability of CX806 ORD-HKG on 5/11? I'm CX SL and I have a PE ticket trying to find out my chance of an upgrade. Thanks a lot![/QUOT
Looking to upgrade with miles or op-up? Either way it's too early to tell. EF is showing - F4 A3 J9 C9 D9 I0 W9 R3 E0 Y7 B0 H0 K0 M0 L0 V0 S0 N0 Q0. If you're looking to upgrade with miles I would think you'd be waitlisted as no I class availability. If J cabin availability holds at these levels, I'd say good chance to clear waitlist or at least get instant upgrade but it's too early to predict. Opup scenario looks good as E cabin is almost sold out but still relies on J cabin availability and enough oversell to overflow PE cabin. But it's just too early to even try and predict.

Thank you very much! CX gave me SL status for free, so I'm gambling for an op-up lol
We'll see what happens.
I just noticed ORD-HKG is CX807 not 806, but you got it right

[QUOTE=synthkeys;31033377]Thank you! CX gave me SL status for free, so I'm gambling for an op-up lol
Considering mid-May is when college summer breaks start, the rest of the tickets may still be sold. We'll see what happens.

Regarding waitlist for upgrading someone in your redemption group... Are the miles deducted from AM account when you add to waitlist, or when upgrade clears? If it's the latter, what would happen if you didn't have enough miles in your account? Asking because I would like to transfer in enough miles only if upgrade clears -- any way to make that work?

Separate question: the AM terms indicate no upgrade awards on travel agency, bulk, discount tickets, etc. Does anyone know if this applied to Chase UR, Citi TYP, etc. redemptions that apply such that you're ticketed in an upgrade-eligible date class?

Thanks in advance for your help! Very unfamiliar with the program and hoping to have an additional person join during travel.

When the upgrade is cleared, CX will notify you. Sometimes, they keep the same deadline (from the waitlist deadline, which is all the way until a few days before the flight). Other times, they give you a couple of days from the time they notify you. You will then have to call MPO / AM to issue the upgrade award. The miles are then deducted when the ticket is re-issued to reflect the upgrade. However, if CX only gives you a couple of days, I'm not sure if the transfer will be deposited in your AM account in time.

I believe as long as the ticket is booked in J/C/D/I/W/R/Y/B/H/K/M/L/V class, it can be upgraded. I have upgraded myself on TA-issued tickets multiple times. However, I have no experience with the channels you mentioned.

Miles are deducted at the time the upgrade ticket is processed which is after the upgrade clears. When the upgrade clears, MPC will send you a message via email and SMS to your registered contact information. At that point there is an alloted time to do the ticketing which I believe is 48 hours (I am probably wrong about that, someone else can correct). To do the ticketing you need to contact MPC. If there is any fee to pay (airport tax, etc) the ticketing office will try to contact you on your registered phone number. Occasionaly, I have had to contact ticketing office myself when I am in HKG and my US phone number doesn't work. If there are no fees, the MPC agent will working with ticketing office and you will get an email within a day or so with your new e-Ticket. Also Manage My Booking will reflect the new ticket and you won't see the old ticket anymore.

Regarding required miles, I believe the rules have changed recently and waitlisting an award requires a minimum of 70% of the miles needed for the award. As part of the ticketing process, the miles are deducted from your balance. If you are short, within 70%, you can top off your balance, see Topping of Asia Miles,

I don't really understand your second question. I convert upgrade awards on travel agent purchased tickets all the time and there is no restriction as long as the ticket is within the required fare class for upgrading, for PEY that is R or W class. If you are talking about using Credit Card points for upgrading, the only currency available is Asia Miles, so those points need to be converted to Asia Miles. Very frequently MPC will give you a few days to transfer miles into your account. However with the new rules, you still in 70% in order to apply for the upgrade award.

If you are speaking about tickets purchased with points on Chase or Citi travel websites, I don't see an issue with that provided that tickets are in the appropriate fare class for upgrading. However for AA codeshare tickets, I don't believe those are upgradeable. I have colleagues who buy AA PEY tickets to HKG from the US on AMEX travel where they sometimes get a very good rate, but those are AA tickets on CX metal and are not eligible for upgrade.

Thank you both synthkeys and ernestnywang! Given the small time window, it sounds like I will need to transfer in enough AM before upgrade clears. To make sure a PEY ticket issued in W/R via credit card point redemption can be upgraded, I'll try to call within the first 24 hours so that refund is possible if they say no (even though it seems like it should work).

Bought ticket as an AA marketed flight, flying on CX metal... is this eligible for an upgrade using AA points? It was available for purchase when I bought the ticket (premium economy), however I have a bunch of AA miles to burn and was hoping to use them for my upcoming flight from SFO-HKG. Is this a possibility?

No. On CX metal you must use Asia Miles to upgrade only. No other currencies allowed regardless of codeshare.

Also note, only W and R (not E) sub fare classes are eligible at that.

Finally, there might be some difficulties even if you're on the correct fare class, due to the codeshare. But this last point I am not familiar with. Just flagging it as a possible issue others will know better.

If I put in a PEY->J upgrade request for myself. Can I change my FF# to AS after the upgrade is cleared so that I can credit the flight to AS?

Could one use Asia Miles to upgrade to J but credit the flight to AS? Would appreciate if anyone could confirm. Thanks.

I did this last year. I was upgraded from J to F at the transfer desk in HKG. I changed to my AA number in the Pier F lounge with no issues. I was going to change to AA whether the upgrade cleared or not, but kept my AM number in while on the waitlist. On my outbound to HKG my upgrade cleared several weeks out and I changed to my AA number online.

CX881 30 May LAX-HKG J->F UG
 

OK so purchased an upgrade to Y+ via AA (codeshare flight for cheap) on cx sfo-hkg A350. Went to log onto Cathay's site for seat selection and everything is greyed out. Is op up possible as I am an OWE? Are they holding back seats? What should I expect

Op-up is possible (prioritized behind CX DMs, GOs). But you should expect to sit in your ticketed cabin.

So I should expect to sit in Y+, even though currently can't select a seat. Just wanted to confirm as not having a seat would kinda ruin my travel plans, lol.

Have you tried calling CX or AA and asking them to assign seats? I suspect your issue may be that it is a codeshare.

it's grayed out on cx as well. but plenty of J and regular coach...

Tell us the date of your travel, flight number, etc and I can check EF for loads. Likely scenario is the only seats available require some status to choose or are currently blocked. For some reason, CX has been blocking the last row, 33, of PEY on the 359s. Row 30 seats are usually premium which can easily be selected by pax with status.

You're inability to select a seat could be for this reason or for overbooking scenario. Either way, if you are ticketed for PEY (Y+) you will fly in that cabin or better if you happen to get lucky with an operational upgrade (op-up) to J due to overbooking. Calling AA or CX ticketing to try and get an assigned seat might work, as you are seeing everything "grayed out", as you say. I would try this, while PEY is more generally more comfortable than Y, being assigned a middle seat is not ideal.

travelling on CX SFO-HKG 5/22 01:15 AM departure. If you could check loads and see if there are seats in the 2 sections of the 2-4-2 arrangement I'd really appreciate it. If there isn't do you suggest not calling in and having them assign me a seat in hopes of an op-up?

You can't call for an op-up. If you win the op-up lottery, either your name will be called by a gate agent or in the lounge or you when the agent scans your boarding pass and the system tells the agent to check. The other scenario is extreme overbooking where either during online check-in or at physical check-in you're given a new seat assignment with an upgrade.

Looking at this flight, EF shows - J9 C9 D9 I9 W9 R9 E9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V7 S4 N0 Q0. W, R, E are the PEY fare classes, the number after the fare class indicates the number of tickets for sale, if 9 means 9 or more. J, C, D, I are the biz fare classes. So they are still selling tickets in PEY, however the seatmap shows absolutely full PEY section, with only 33 H/K showing as blocked instead of occupied. Looks like CX is looking to overbook PEY. J Class seatmap is showing lots of empty seats. I would say the chances are high for an op-up. Whether you win the lottery it's hard to say. CX status pax (DM, GO) are higher in the food chain.

Currently 33 H&K are showing as blocked. By calling CX you might be able to get a seat assignment for one of those.

would you take chances at hopefully winning the op-up lotto?

Yes, I would but I'm a CX DM and I would certainly hedge my bet by calling CX Marco Polo Club and snagging 33H as I wouldn't want to seated in a middle PEY seat on a 14 hour flight to HKG in case I don't win the lottery.

I'm a AA plat (OWE) so not sure how to play it. Will CX assign 33h/k if they are blocked or reserved for say special needs pax?

I don't really understand what you're trying to do. You can't influence your op up chance with what you're describing or not.

Overall my understanding is PEY is the best class to score op ups from, so thats going for you. What's going against you is obviously CX DMs are ahead of you, and according to recent reports here so are CX GOs and even SLs. But on some flights Y is super oversold and J isn't, and they go down and op up everyone and their brother. Anyway, I don't think it's worth obsessing over. Your odds are decent, but admittedly not amazing and just roll with it. Not much you can do.

The question was weather to select a seat via calling CX, (to see whether they will assign me one of the blocked seats), or not and if that would have any impact on getting an op/up. Appreciate the feedback on the op/up procedure. Just wanted to give myself the best shot.

Long-Shot Upgrade . . .
 

I purchased a Premium Economy (Class W) ticket on American Airlines for my flight to HKG from PHX. I have requested an upgrade for my AA Legs (PHX-LAX-NRT.) However, the last leg of my flight (NRT-HKG) is operated by CX and has me in Regular Economy! Is there any way, anyway at all other than paying to upgrade my entire itinerary that I can purchase or upgrade with miles just that CX leg to Business class?

Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

All -

Hoping someone can point a new CX traveler in the right direction.

Booked ORD-HKG in discounted business class (booked into I). Outbound flight is in early-june, return is in mid-july.

I'd like to take a shot at upgrading to first. Outbound shows F4 and return F6 in expertflyer - obviously way too early to tell.

I have an AsiaMiles account with no miles in it. I have TY points and MR points I can transfer in. OW Emerald if that matters, which I assume it doesn't.

I guess my question is: what's the best way to play this?

Specifically:

1. Can I/should I call and waitlist for an upgrade? Does it matter when? Do I need to have miles in my account to do so?
2. Assuming it doesn't clear a week out, and assuming the numbers look ok, is that the right time to transfer miles in? I understand transfers take 1-4 days and I assume I want to make sure I have miles in my account in case something opens last minute - is that accurate? Fully recognize that I'm gambling if I do this and that I may very well lose.
3. Any sense of when CX has been releasing space lately? Is it 7 days out? 48 hours? 24?

Feel free to point me to other threads. I searched and only found one thread, two years old, that didn't address these questions. I may very well have missed one and if so apologies for cluttering up this thread. Similarly, I haven't read all 72 pages of this thread - but if there are posts in here that address this, I'd welcome being pointed to them.

And finally - many thanks.

So, I've read most of this thread now and have a pretty good understanding of upgrades on Cathay, but a few questions persist. Stil a newb obvi.

I bought two CX tix fare class "E" direct on their website for an IAD->HKG RT for 7/5->7/16 (we have an add-on to fly HKG<->HKT). I checked EF and still plenty of availability in all classes except PE on both legs from/to IAD.

I bought the tix knowing I couldn't upgrade on miles which I decided against and figured I'm completely okay with PE if that's all I end up with. Both of us are OWR. Pretty far down in the pecking order but at least not at the bottom.

Can I still bid for an upgrade? And, if so, what's the typical min-bid to upgrade?

Am I still eligible for an op-up with fare class "E" to business?

Still WAY too early to tell loads at this point... but am highly considering bidding up to business if I can for a min-bid.

You can find out if your itinerary is eligible on a dedicated CX page for that (google Cathay Upgrade Bid or similar).

Yes, eligible for op-up.