I'm sure my wife can learn to like J

Date of travel? I booked 5 F awards JFKHKG last summer. One datapoint doesn't make a trend, but I'd concentrate more on getting 3 F awards then fretting about your wife sitting in row 11 (assuming you have status) or row 12 (if you don't).

FWIW - we started splitting parents F/kids J around the time the kids were 6 and 8. Never had a problem.

I am aware of airlines that will release more than 2 seats in F. Was asking as a hypothetical.

Thankfully i have a healthy award balances i can use, was interested more in the logistics.

Example: Qantas had a ton of F availability open to MEL, but only two seats in F. Was curious to know if an option existed that could work for that scenario, without leaving the kid.

Definitely appreciate the responses.

I'm sure she can, just as you can learn to accept the loss of half of your assets after the flight

I may be heading that way after sending her EWR-LHL-EWR in Y.

You might be needing just the two seats on that CX flight after all...

Wow, I'm impressed and jealous! Mine will be 9 and 5 for a flight next winter that I'm already stalking, and there's no way we'd be able to get away with being in a different cabin. It will probably be a different story in a few more years when they won't want to sit with us.

I'm contemplating trying to find one if F for my wife with me in J with the kids for the outbound overnight JFK-HKG. 3 in J and 1 F seems potentially doable booking 331 days out with AA miles. If I can't swing it, we can do 4 in J or even 2 on 889 and 2 on 845.

A lot depends on the kids, obviously. Why do you say "no way"? In the case of my kids, they actually enjoyed the independence and being able to order whatever they want to eat. Keep in mind, if you're booking row 2 and row 11, you're only about 3-4 feet apart from one another.

Start with 1F/3J if you can find it, then just keep working higher. In our case, we booked 4J at day 330 (snagged 11DG/12DG thanks to my status). We got the first F seat about 9 months out, the second about 11 days out, the third and fourth (same time) 3 days out and a fifth (which I subsequently returned day of departure) about 30 hours out.

On the return, we were 4J, snagged the first F about 5 days out, and the second (and final) the morning of the departure (flight was F2 at the time). Keep in mind if you have Emerald status, you should NOT book yourself in F until/unless you've gotten everyone else up there. F pax get better lounge access, as do Emeralds. If you book an Emerald in F, you basically shoot yourself in the foot, and you also lose access to row 11 (if you don't already have it).

So on our return, I actually booked my son up in F and then took his seat, so as to hold on to row 11 for him and his brother.

Jamie

My experience as a data point: A few months ago I flew BOS-HKG in F accompanied by the 21 year old daughter of one of my friends in Y (we'll call her Susie). She had never been outside the U.S. before. I was the only one in the F cabin (which meant that they were happy to set the temperature where I wanted it, -- 17� ^^).

As I was getting settled after boarding and before pushback, I told the cabin crew member who was helping me about Susie. Didn't ask to have her join me at all; because I know that it's neither appropriate nor allowed. Didn't ask for any special treatment for her, either. Cabin crew member got a CX duffel bag and filled it with various goodies, including snacks, F pajamas, extra blanket, etc., then walked it back to her in the Y cabin. She came back and told me that she also moved Susie from a center seat to an aisle (which worked out just fine, as Y was nearly full and Susie was up and down to the lavatory, spending most of the flight being sick to her stomach), as well as alerting Y cabin crew that she was traveling with a One World Emerald pax.

Consistent with upthread reports, Susie was brought up to 2A when the landing sequence started (I was in my favorite seat, 1A), and for the duration of the flight so we could deplane together. Walking off the plane, Susie told me that the cabin crew in Y was incredibly solicitous of her, which she especially appreciated given that she spent most of the flight sick to her stomach.

All-in-all, it was a great experience for both of us, and cabin crew couldn't have been nicer.

Urgh, brings back memories of good old days as DM: extra care by cabin staff, moved up to front just before landing so we can depart early. Those were the days....

I'm not sure what you mean by the "good old days". I've not noticed any change over the years to the way I or indeed others seem to be treated as a top-tier member. CX do a wonderful job of looking after all status holders - far more so than other airlines around the world.

I am afraid this may start a new topic in this thread. Let's return to the topic "Inviting non-First passengers into First Class". Shall we?

cxfan1960
CX CoMod

I'm with you. Shocking that posters over on the Alaska board are encouraging F pax to ask for non-F pax to visit on CX flights, I've taken my share of barbs for being against it. Makes me wonder if it is something cultural...

Yea, I think it's cultural. Americans have been trained by FF programs for two decades that premium cabins are basically available to elites and anyone clever enough to talk their way in. There is just zero understanding for premium cabin integrity in the US. If you actually paid for domestic J or F, you were a moron. Delta is changing things, but it will take time.

I remember moving to HK many years ago from the US thinking - without reading the MPC program details - after I started flying CX for a few months of course I would inevitably start flying exclusively in premium cabins (without paying for it, of course). It's just a US thing because the carriers totally eroded the concept of premium cabin integrity with the insanely generous FF programs.