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Old Mar 1, 2016 | 4:43 am
  #1  
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Paying for empty seat?

I was wondering if it possible to book an empty seat on Cathay Pacific flights?
I mostly travel in PY, but recent CX PY fares ex UK are double Y.

I would be travelling with someone else.
Has anyone tried to book an empty seat? for example 2 people using 3 spaces.
Can we collect the miles and use the luggage allowance?
Discount on ticket price? (since its an empty seat 80kg less and tax)

Would 2 people sharing 3 Y seats be more comfortable then 2 PY seats?

Did a random day search on Kayak
LHR-HKG 8th May- 22nd May
677GBP Y
1331GBP PY

2xPY= 2662
3xY= 2031

Would welcome any opinion and ideas

Thanks in advance
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Old Mar 1, 2016 | 6:15 am
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http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_HK/travel-information/travel-preparation/need-an-extra-seat.html
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Old Mar 1, 2016 | 8:43 am
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Didn't know CX has a policy of allowing extra seat purchase for "personal comfort" reasons.

Would be interesting to know if it indeed does come with extra luggage allowance.

I doubt you get to collect miles, mainly because there wouldn't be a named person and FF account associated with that seat?
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Old Mar 1, 2016 | 10:01 am
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As seats need to be assigned (booking class or status), OP may like to check if the extra seat can be purchased with this fare. (I haven't done that before.)
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Old Mar 1, 2016 | 9:50 pm
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My opinion is the extra width of the PEY seat and the extra pitch is more comfortable that 3 Y seats for 2 persons. I get a much better sleep with the PEY seats than Y.
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Old Mar 2, 2016 | 2:52 am
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Paying for empty seat?

you also risk that the seat will be finally not empty because you need someone (a real person) to check in for that seat and in worst case CX will sell this seat to someone else if no one checks in...
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Old Mar 2, 2016 | 3:24 am
  #7  
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Originally Posted by Christian2011
you also risk that the seat will be finally not empty because you need someone (a real person) to check in for that seat and in worst case CX will sell this seat to someone else if no one checks in...
Not if you have specially booked the extra seat via reservations. That extra seat is attached to your reservation and guaranteed.
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Old Mar 2, 2016 | 7:12 am
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Hmmm...would make MR easier if the extra seat accrues club miles/sectors.

Agree with others saying 2 PEY seats are better than 3Y ones though.
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Old Mar 2, 2016 | 9:10 am
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PY armrests cannot be raised. Not sure how we are going see 3 seats being shared.
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Old Mar 2, 2016 | 10:14 am
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Originally Posted by CXFlyerBoy
PY armrests cannot be raised. Not sure how we are going see 3 seats being shared.
I thought the discussion was about buying three ECONOMY seats to share. I don't think the OP wants to buy three PREMIUM ECON seats to share.
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Old Mar 2, 2016 | 11:57 am
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Originally Posted by CXFlyerBoy
PY armrests cannot be raised. Not sure how we are going see 3 seats being shared.
I thought someone mentioned before the middle seats in PY can be raised
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Old Mar 2, 2016 | 4:44 pm
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Originally Posted by JohnGreat
I thought someone mentioned before the middle seats in PY can be raised
Yep. IIRC just the ones between E and F though.
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Old Mar 4, 2016 | 9:46 pm
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You can buy extra seat but you cannot earn mileage. Some guy tried to do that by signing up his cello for a frequent flyer program.
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Old Mar 5, 2016 | 2:51 pm
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Originally Posted by JohnGreat
I thought someone mentioned before the middle seats in PY can be raised
Originally Posted by chfshifter
Yep. IIRC just the ones between E and F though.
They can (at least on some aircraft like the 747). It's actually possible to lay down flat using three seats (torso in the EF seats, knees raised over the armrest, legs in the D seat) - I had a snooze on a HKG-PVG sector that way. It wasn't the best, but wasn't terrible either.
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Old Mar 9, 2016 | 7:44 pm
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2 PY is way better than 3 Y seats. You can purchase the extra seat though providing at the time of booking there are available seats. DM can block seats as well. I've had 3 seats blocked once, and it was funny as another passage tried to move to my blocked empty seats and FA asked his to go back to his own seat.
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