Oct 29, 2013, 4:27 am
Last edit by: ZZ100
Is it possible to buy a (cheap) upgrade on Cathay Pacific upon check-in?
The short answer is no.
Cathay, as a general rule, does not allow you to purchase last minute upgrades if there are empty seats in Y+, J or F. The only way to upgrade a ticket is to pay the fare difference between your current ticket, and an available fare class in the higher cabins. Note that if your current ticket has restrictions (cancellation fees, non-refundable) these still apply.
There are been stories of people who have been offered cheap upgrades by Cathay, but this is more an exception than a common occurrence.
If I upgrade my ticket using asia miles, do I still earn miles?
Yes, you will earn miles for the original fare class that you booked, not the upgraded cabin.
How do I get a free upgrade / operational upgrade (op-up)?
Cathay Pacific does not upgrade passengers just because there are empty seats in higher classes. Upgrades will only occur where there is overbooking in lower classes.
The order of upgrades when required is believed to be:
I am travelling on an award ticket. Will I still be considered for a free upgrade?
Yes - there are many stories of passengers on award tickets, or who upgraded a class using miles, getting (additional) upgrades.
What happens if the aircraft has 4 or 3 cabins, but is only selling Business and Economy seats?
It is likely if you have Marco Polo status, and to a lesser extent oneworld status, you may be able to sit in either First Class seats (if booked in J) or Premium Economy (if booked in Y) with service of the original cabin. There doesn't appear to be consistency yet as to how these semi-upgrades are allocated. Some people have been able to choose seats in the higher cabin during online check-in, or some will get them on request at check-in. However, there is no entitlement to these seats.
Will I get an upgrade on my Birthday, or for my membership anniversary, or for reaching xx number of lifetime club miles?
Please see this link for members' experience with these kinds of upgrades: Marco Polo Anniversary Upgrades
I want to use Asia Miles to upgrade a BA flight. How do I do this?
As of 22 June 2018, it is no longer possible to upgrade BA flights with Asia Miles.
How do I upgrade a CX flight using miles?
If you already have issued your original ticket:
If you have not made any booking yet, and you want to check availability:
If you don't receive a new e-ticket before departure, call up Marco Polo club to double check if the upgrade has been issued.
The short answer is no.
Cathay, as a general rule, does not allow you to purchase last minute upgrades if there are empty seats in Y+, J or F. The only way to upgrade a ticket is to pay the fare difference between your current ticket, and an available fare class in the higher cabins. Note that if your current ticket has restrictions (cancellation fees, non-refundable) these still apply.
There are been stories of people who have been offered cheap upgrades by Cathay, but this is more an exception than a common occurrence.
If I upgrade my ticket using asia miles, do I still earn miles?
Yes, you will earn miles for the original fare class that you booked, not the upgraded cabin.
How do I get a free upgrade / operational upgrade (op-up)?
Cathay Pacific does not upgrade passengers just because there are empty seats in higher classes. Upgrades will only occur where there is overbooking in lower classes.
The order of upgrades when required is believed to be:
- VIP (Heads of State, Government Bodies, or Canto Pop/Movie stars)
- CX Diamond Plus
- CX Diamond Invitation, Diamond
- CX Gold
- CX management staff on travel duty
- oneworld Emerald
- CX staff on duty nominees , other airline staff nominees, CX staff on personal travel
- oneworld Sapphire
- CX Silver
- oneworld Ruby
- CX Green
- Asia Miles
- Non status
I am travelling on an award ticket. Will I still be considered for a free upgrade?
Yes - there are many stories of passengers on award tickets, or who upgraded a class using miles, getting (additional) upgrades.
What happens if the aircraft has 4 or 3 cabins, but is only selling Business and Economy seats?
It is likely if you have Marco Polo status, and to a lesser extent oneworld status, you may be able to sit in either First Class seats (if booked in J) or Premium Economy (if booked in Y) with service of the original cabin. There doesn't appear to be consistency yet as to how these semi-upgrades are allocated. Some people have been able to choose seats in the higher cabin during online check-in, or some will get them on request at check-in. However, there is no entitlement to these seats.
Will I get an upgrade on my Birthday, or for my membership anniversary, or for reaching xx number of lifetime club miles?
Please see this link for members' experience with these kinds of upgrades: Marco Polo Anniversary Upgrades
I want to use Asia Miles to upgrade a BA flight. How do I do this?
As of 22 June 2018, it is no longer possible to upgrade BA flights with Asia Miles.
How do I upgrade a CX flight using miles?
If you already have issued your original ticket:
- Try upgrading using Manage My Booking on the website (not always successful)
- If self-service doesn't work, try calling Marco Polo hotline to check availability
- If there is availability, you will need to issue the upgrade immediately to secure it. They may give you a few days grace before isssuing the upgrade, but this is now rarely given.
- In a few days, or longer if they are busy, your miles will be deducted, and you will be emailed a new e-ticket with the upgrade class details on it, and your online booking for your original booking class will disappear.
If you have not made any booking yet, and you want to check availability:
- Call Marco Polo club to check for availability on the flights/dates you want, or check for normal redemption availability on the website.
- Book a revenue ticket in the class of service for which you will be paying. Do NOT do this via the website -- call a CX telephone sales number/travel agent.
- Put the booking on hold.
- Call the Marco Polo/Asia Miles Service Center. Have them book the upgrade and give you a deadline to have the ticket issued. (It's usually about 72 hours).
- Have telephone sales/travel agent issue your revenue ticket.
- Call Marco Polo/Asia Miles back. Give them the revenue ticket number against the PNR and ask them to issue your upgrade.
- In about two or three days, you'll get a new ticket with the upgrade showing.
If you don't receive a new e-ticket before departure, call up Marco Polo club to double check if the upgrade has been issued.
The Ultimate Upgrade Question thread
Oct 1, 2023 | 12:18 pm
#1276
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 141
Am I just missing something with upgrade awards...? I have spent now 3 hours trying to accept a confirmed upgrade.
First, decided to open an online chat - and they had no clue what I was talking about. The rep eventually just said, "we apologize for any misunderstanding about your award upgrade, but it is currently waitlisted". Tried to HUCA with chat... then got someone who asked how they could help, and then just didn't respond ever again. Finally, a third time, got another rep who eventually transferred me to some sort of higher-up/other department, and they processed my upgrade, saying I'll receive a new ticket confirmation within 1-2 hours.
We're now about 12 hours later, and still nothing received. Upgrade tickets are showing as not issued still in the account. Called in again, and the agent was also absolutely clueless. Eventually, we got to "processing the upgrade" (again), and she said I would have to pay taxes, but wasn't sure how much. Eventually settled on me receiving some sort of e-mail within 24 hours for everything to process.
Really not sure why this is so damn difficult. Should I just wait the 24 hours and see what happens?
First, decided to open an online chat - and they had no clue what I was talking about. The rep eventually just said, "we apologize for any misunderstanding about your award upgrade, but it is currently waitlisted". Tried to HUCA with chat... then got someone who asked how they could help, and then just didn't respond ever again. Finally, a third time, got another rep who eventually transferred me to some sort of higher-up/other department, and they processed my upgrade, saying I'll receive a new ticket confirmation within 1-2 hours.
We're now about 12 hours later, and still nothing received. Upgrade tickets are showing as not issued still in the account. Called in again, and the agent was also absolutely clueless. Eventually, we got to "processing the upgrade" (again), and she said I would have to pay taxes, but wasn't sure how much. Eventually settled on me receiving some sort of e-mail within 24 hours for everything to process.
Really not sure why this is so damn difficult. Should I just wait the 24 hours and see what happens?
Oct 2, 2023 | 12:42 am
#1277
Join Date: Feb 2023
Posts: 33
What does a confirmation of a successful upgrade through miles look like? I received the following in my mailbox but "Manage Booking" still shows a waitlist status for my upgrade request. Thanks.
Your redemption booking on Business Class of xx has been confirmed under booking reference yy
Last edited by mach9103; Oct 2, 2023 at 1:00 am
Oct 2, 2023 | 12:51 am
#1278
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Philippines
Programs: MPC Gold
Posts: 167
Last edited by dmatthew; Oct 2, 2023 at 1:41 am
Oct 2, 2023 | 5:29 pm
#1279
Join Date: Feb 2023
Posts: 33
Update: resulting from this mail, I had a chat with the service team over WhatsApp yesterday. They indicated the upgrade request was successful and that they processed everything on their side yesterday. Still shows as "waitlist" under Manage Booking, though.
Oct 2, 2023 | 7:55 pm
#1280
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,041
Issuing tickets for upgrades have not been entirely hassle free post COVID. For my most recent mileage upgrade, I had to go through below procedures to issue the ticket.
Day 1: Called agent to check availability upon purchasing revenue ticket. Agent advised upgrade available and helped me reserve the seat in the upgraded class, ticket will be issued in due course. Perfect! I thought.
Day 2: The old ticket in the underlying class is still appearing under Manage My Booking along with the new ticket in the upgraded class. I called CX to ask what's going on. After digging into the history of my ticket, they told me I still had to pay $70HKD of taxes to issue the ticket for the upgrade. The whole call took 20 mins including a wait time of around 3 minutes.
Day 2 continued: Couple of hours later, there was still no payment link in my email so I called again to ask. They told me payment link will be sent within 24 hours
Day 3: Still no payment link yet and we are hours away from the 24 hour mark.
My previous mileage upgrade experiences have not been entirely different to the experience detailed above. I am surprised at how much hassle it takes to do something as simple as confirming a mileage upgrade. Hopefully one day we would be able to get this done entirely online under Manage My Booking and not have to involve calling or chatting with agents upon receiving the "your waitlist has been confirmed" notification.
Day 1: Called agent to check availability upon purchasing revenue ticket. Agent advised upgrade available and helped me reserve the seat in the upgraded class, ticket will be issued in due course. Perfect! I thought.
Day 2: The old ticket in the underlying class is still appearing under Manage My Booking along with the new ticket in the upgraded class. I called CX to ask what's going on. After digging into the history of my ticket, they told me I still had to pay $70HKD of taxes to issue the ticket for the upgrade. The whole call took 20 mins including a wait time of around 3 minutes.
Day 2 continued: Couple of hours later, there was still no payment link in my email so I called again to ask. They told me payment link will be sent within 24 hours
Day 3: Still no payment link yet and we are hours away from the 24 hour mark.
My previous mileage upgrade experiences have not been entirely different to the experience detailed above. I am surprised at how much hassle it takes to do something as simple as confirming a mileage upgrade. Hopefully one day we would be able to get this done entirely online under Manage My Booking and not have to involve calling or chatting with agents upon receiving the "your waitlist has been confirmed" notification.
Oct 3, 2023 | 9:54 am
#1281
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: HK
Programs: CX Silver
Posts: 182
Quick note, am slightly displeased with CX for pulling a fast one. My waitlist was supposed to expire on 14 Sep (according to the email) but stay alived anyway - fine I thought. A short haul intra-Asia to Cebu, J was all but empty so I was sort of expecting it to get done eventually. However, it just so got approved.... on 1 Oct; which means I got the new mileage upgrade cost deducted. The original ticket was booked on 31st August, and the return leg on the 321neo was confirmed upgrade award straight away.
How convienient for them to charge me a bit more!
How convienient for them to charge me a bit more!
Oct 5, 2023 | 12:58 am
#1282
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 141
Issuing tickets for upgrades have not been entirely hassle free post COVID. For my most recent mileage upgrade, I had to go through below procedures to issue the ticket.
Day 1: Called agent to check availability upon purchasing revenue ticket. Agent advised upgrade available and helped me reserve the seat in the upgraded class, ticket will be issued in due course. Perfect! I thought.
Day 2: The old ticket in the underlying class is still appearing under Manage My Booking along with the new ticket in the upgraded class. I called CX to ask what's going on. After digging into the history of my ticket, they told me I still had to pay $70HKD of taxes to issue the ticket for the upgrade. The whole call took 20 mins including a wait time of around 3 minutes.
Day 2 continued: Couple of hours later, there was still no payment link in my email so I called again to ask. They told me payment link will be sent within 24 hours
Day 3: Still no payment link yet and we are hours away from the 24 hour mark.
My previous mileage upgrade experiences have not been entirely different to the experience detailed above. I am surprised at how much hassle it takes to do something as simple as confirming a mileage upgrade. Hopefully one day we would be able to get this done entirely online under Manage My Booking and not have to involve calling or chatting with agents upon receiving the "your waitlist has been confirmed" notification.
Day 1: Called agent to check availability upon purchasing revenue ticket. Agent advised upgrade available and helped me reserve the seat in the upgraded class, ticket will be issued in due course. Perfect! I thought.
Day 2: The old ticket in the underlying class is still appearing under Manage My Booking along with the new ticket in the upgraded class. I called CX to ask what's going on. After digging into the history of my ticket, they told me I still had to pay $70HKD of taxes to issue the ticket for the upgrade. The whole call took 20 mins including a wait time of around 3 minutes.
Day 2 continued: Couple of hours later, there was still no payment link in my email so I called again to ask. They told me payment link will be sent within 24 hours
Day 3: Still no payment link yet and we are hours away from the 24 hour mark.
My previous mileage upgrade experiences have not been entirely different to the experience detailed above. I am surprised at how much hassle it takes to do something as simple as confirming a mileage upgrade. Hopefully one day we would be able to get this done entirely online under Manage My Booking and not have to involve calling or chatting with agents upon receiving the "your waitlist has been confirmed" notification.
Please update if you are successful. I will likely call them if there's no progress in the next couple of days.
Oct 5, 2023 | 4:43 am
#1283
Join Date: Feb 2023
Posts: 33
Having the same issue for a recently approved upgrade a few days ago. This is mind-numbingly frustrating. I've been back/forth with agents about 4-5 times now, with no progress in sight. My upgrade is still sitting as "ticket not issued", despite being "confirmed", and my previous ticket is still showing as well.
Please update if you are successful. I will likely call them if there's no progress in the next couple of days.
Please update if you are successful. I will likely call them if there's no progress in the next couple of days.
Oct 5, 2023 | 8:04 pm
#1284
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 1,041
Having the same issue for a recently approved upgrade a few days ago. This is mind-numbingly frustrating. I've been back/forth with agents about 4-5 times now, with no progress in sight. My upgrade is still sitting as "ticket not issued", despite being "confirmed", and my previous ticket is still showing as well.
Please update if you are successful. I will likely call them if there's no progress in the next couple of days.
Please update if you are successful. I will likely call them if there's no progress in the next couple of days.
Oct 6, 2023 | 12:53 pm
#1285
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 141
Despite being confirmed, the status showing as "Ticket Not Issued" is what is raising an eyebrow for me. Based on their e-mail, it seems the upgrade may expire if the ticket is not physically issued by a certain date. This is the first time as being part of this process, so cannot confirm if that's actually true or not.
Oct 9, 2023 | 7:20 am
#1286
Join Date: Aug 2023
Posts: 2
Just to add another DP: the same as some of the posters above me, my upgrade status says award upgrade confirmed but ticket not issued. Previous tickets along with upgrade tickets also still showing in manage booking online. If it matters for DP, I purchased RT cash fare for tickets in Y and called in to upgrade with miles after confirming PE award availability. Heres how my calls went:
1. first call agent said theyd process the upgrade and to have miles in my account for the upgrade. They said in 72hrs Id get an email updating me on the confirmation of my upgrade. At this point manage tickets already showed upgrade tickets confirmed but ticket not issued. I transferred miles into account immediately after hanging up.
2. second call 72hrs later, agent said upgrade was already confirmed and miles will be deducted from account and ticket issued, no estimated timeline on events. Miles still sitting in account.
3. 1 week later, agent said there was an issue on the ticketing office side of things but not to worry, the upgrade is already confirmed and miles will be deducted at time of ticket issuing. However when asked for timeline, they said exact timing unknown but likely a couple weeks before check in date (which for me is Feb 2024)
1. first call agent said theyd process the upgrade and to have miles in my account for the upgrade. They said in 72hrs Id get an email updating me on the confirmation of my upgrade. At this point manage tickets already showed upgrade tickets confirmed but ticket not issued. I transferred miles into account immediately after hanging up.
2. second call 72hrs later, agent said upgrade was already confirmed and miles will be deducted from account and ticket issued, no estimated timeline on events. Miles still sitting in account.
3. 1 week later, agent said there was an issue on the ticketing office side of things but not to worry, the upgrade is already confirmed and miles will be deducted at time of ticket issuing. However when asked for timeline, they said exact timing unknown but likely a couple weeks before check in date (which for me is Feb 2024)
Oct 10, 2023 | 3:03 am
#1287
Join Date: Feb 2023
Posts: 33
Only concern would be the following:
Despite being confirmed, the status showing as "Ticket Not Issued" is what is raising an eyebrow for me. Based on their e-mail, it seems the upgrade may expire if the ticket is not physically issued by a certain date. This is the first time as being part of this process, so cannot confirm if that's actually true or not.
Despite being confirmed, the status showing as "Ticket Not Issued" is what is raising an eyebrow for me. Based on their e-mail, it seems the upgrade may expire if the ticket is not physically issued by a certain date. This is the first time as being part of this process, so cannot confirm if that's actually true or not.
Oct 10, 2023 | 4:28 am
#1288
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Singapore
Programs: Cathay Diamond and Singapore Gold
Posts: 261
Hello..
Could i ask if availability of redemption class (U for example) is shared across full redemptions and upgrades?
I was looking at a KULSYD on CX and redemption in U is available, but the call centre agent said the upgrade from R to U on HKGSYD is not available (waitlisted). KULHKG is open.
Could i ask if availability of redemption class (U for example) is shared across full redemptions and upgrades?
I was looking at a KULSYD on CX and redemption in U is available, but the call centre agent said the upgrade from R to U on HKGSYD is not available (waitlisted). KULHKG is open.
Last edited by Microtat; Oct 10, 2023 at 9:16 am
Oct 11, 2023 | 9:47 pm
#1289
Join Date: May 2020
Posts: 141
Last edited by Denguin; Oct 13, 2023 at 8:12 pm
Dec 11, 2023 | 11:40 pm
#1290
Join Date: Jan 2021
Programs: AY
Posts: 73
Been trying to read through all the replies on wait-listing. Have a early Jan flight from SFO back to HKG currently booked in Economy. We have been wait-listed for PE for 3/4 months now. From all the answers I see two categories:
1. It clears around this time 1-2 months before departure
2. It clears just before departure
And there is not much point in calling Cathay to try to push the waitlist to clear? As last option quite often at the check-in counter one can request upgrade successfully.
Is all this correctly understood? Currently there are more than 9 PE seats available for purchase on my flight, seems likely there will be available seats then, as its not really business travel season just after NYE..
1. It clears around this time 1-2 months before departure
2. It clears just before departure
And there is not much point in calling Cathay to try to push the waitlist to clear? As last option quite often at the check-in counter one can request upgrade successfully.
Is all this correctly understood? Currently there are more than 9 PE seats available for purchase on my flight, seems likely there will be available seats then, as its not really business travel season just after NYE..