|
Upgrade with Asia/Earn AA
Good Morning,
I am planning a trip to the Maldives on Cathay Pacific and am having a little trouble determining if my flight strategy will work. I was hoping to get advice. I am planning on booking a round trip flight on CP/Dragon to MLE from JFK through HKG. The flight will be Premium Economy Flex (Class R). On the way home I plan to use a stopover to spend 3-5 days in Hong Kong. I would like to use 55,000 Asia Miles to upgrade my round trip seat to business class. I plan to transfer some Thankyou points or MR points to do this. I would also like to receive credit for the flight on American Airlines as that is my primary airline and I need the EQM's and miles. My questions are: -Will I receive the AA miles? (CP's site says no even before the upgrade even though AA seems to say yes. Will the upgrade disqualify me? Can I receive AA credit while using Asia Miles to upgrade the seat?) -Is the stopover allowed on an upgraded seat? -Can I just call and book this whole process at once with CP? (I assume I need to confirm upgrade availability before paying for premium economy.) Thank you for your help, Ryan |
Originally Posted by ryanNY
(Post 26575629)
Good Morning,
I am planning a trip to the Maldives on Cathay Pacific and am having a little trouble determining if my flight strategy will work. I was hoping to get advice. I am planning on booking a round trip flight on CP/Dragon to MLE from JFK through HKG. The flight will be Premium Economy Flex (Class R). On the way home I plan to use a stopover to spend 3-5 days in Hong Kong. I would like to use 55,000 Asia Miles to upgrade my round trip seat to business class. I plan to transfer some Thankyou points or MR points to do this. I would also like to receive credit for the flight on American Airlines as that is my primary airline and I need the EQM's and miles. My questions are: -Will I receive the AA miles? (CP's site says no even before the upgrade even though AA seems to say yes. Will the upgrade disqualify me? Can I receive AA credit while using Asia Miles to upgrade the seat?) Yes. Just put in your AA FFP number on your booking -Is the stopover allowed on an upgraded seat? Stopover depends on your original fare rules. You can choose to only update your middle sectors. -Can I just call and book this whole process at once with CP? (I assume I need to confirm upgrade availability before paying for premium economy.) Yes. You can even upgrade it before paying for the ticket. The best way o do so would be to use the pay later function on CX website, then call into MPC for the upgrade. Once you have paid for the ticket, they will issue the ticket with upgrade in the matters of hours. Thank you for your help, Ryan My answers are in the above quote. Hope you will have some great flights with Cathay! P.s. The abbreviation is either CX or CPA for Cathay ;) Regards, |
Thank you very much. The below made me a little nervous as I'd have to use an AA FFP for booking and then Asia Miles for the upgrade. I don't really have a need for excess Asia Miles and didn't know if I'd be forced to only use one or the other.
"-Will I receive the AA miles? (CP's site says no even before the upgrade even though AA seems to say yes. Will the upgrade disqualify me? Can I receive AA credit while using Asia Miles to upgrade the seat?) Yes. Just put in your AA FFP number on your booking" |
Originally Posted by ryanNY
(Post 26575848)
Thank you very much. The below made me a little nervous as I'd have to use an AA FFP for booking and then Asia Miles for the upgrade. I don't really have a need for excess Asia Miles and didn't know if I'd be forced to only use one or the other.
"-Will I receive the AA miles? (CP's site says no even before the upgrade even though AA seems to say yes. Will the upgrade disqualify me? Can I receive AA credit while using Asia Miles to upgrade the seat?) Yes. Just put in your AA FFP number on your booking" First of all, your original booking needs to be booked into an upgradable fare class, which is W or R for PEY to J. If so, you can upgrade your ticket to business any time from after booking the ticket until up to 3 hours before your flight, providing that there is upgrade award availability. For crediting your miles, you can choose to credit to any of the oneworld partners. Just make sure to change your FFP # to your desired one at lounge/at gate before your flight. You'll receive the miles of your original booking fare class, no matter which FFP you decide to credit to. |
On the CX website it appears there is only waitlist available for business class upgrades. Am I taking a big risk booking the premium economy flights and hoping something opens up for the both of us? I see a lot of award availability opens up for first class closer to the flight date but I do not know if that applies to business as well. I think I'd rather fly discount economy if I cannot upgrade.
Thanks, Ryan |
Originally Posted by ryanNY
(Post 26576652)
On the CX website it appears there is only waitlist available for business class upgrades. Am I taking a big risk booking the premium economy flights and hoping something opens up for the both of us? I see a lot of award availability opens up for first class closer to the flight date but I do not know if that applies to business as well. I think I'd rather fly discount economy if I cannot upgrade.
Thanks, Ryan You should only be able to see straight up business redemption availability on CX website. In general, upgrade award and companion tickets should have better availability / higher priority than award redemption. So I'd suggest you try my method in post #2 to find out. Not sure about the chances of clearing the wait list, I guess the normal regulars here would be better positioned to answer you on that. Good luck! |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 12:45 pm. |
This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2026 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.