CX seat selection
 

Hi,

Is there anyway for me to book an Economy Save seat and be sure I would be able to get an aisle seat sometimes before the day of travel in late September?

I know Economy Save does not allow seat selection during booking. The issue is when I can select seat and how do I find out my chance of getting an aisle seat before travel date. I don't even seem to be able to see the seat map for full economy fare.

I have read the mention of T-48. Can I assume that a block of seats will become available at the minute for everyone with Economy Save? (and hope that they are not all middle seats)

I am comparing CX to UA. UA allows advance seat selection. For a 15 hour flight, this may be the tie-breaker for me.

Thanks.

Sometimes Economy Save puts you in V class then you can do advance seat selection

If you have oneWorld elite status then you can also call to get it pre-allocated

And I can tell you, not ALL seats will be open to you at T-48 if you don't have any status with CX / oneWorld... But usually sharp at T-48, usually there will be some aisle and window seats left, particularly aisle seats since there's quite a lot of it there (4 columns of aisle seats v. 3 columns of middle seat v. 2 columns of window seat on 77W) but don't expect them to be located in the forward section of Y...

Thanks for your insight. This is very helpful.

I don't have status with any OW airlines. So my best hope is for T-48. The flight leaves EWR after mid-night, hopefully not too many people stay up at that hour to check in.

The likelihood of all the way in the back was something I did not think about. I don't mind the bumpiness or the last to clear customs, but the aroma may be another consideration. :p

Online check in at t-48 usually works well. However, on booked out flights it is useless. So if you travel on Chinese national day or around Hong Kong public holidays, the seat selection may be disabled/all seats taken at t-48.

I've noticed that tickets bought through expedia.com.hk for ex-HKG itineraries allow a seat selection at purchase of the ticket (no extra cost). That is valid for core economy booking classes and fare buckets (incl. S and N). I'm able to "prefer" a specific seat (e.g. 39K). The preference is also visible on Cathay.com my booking. So far I've also gotten that seat at check-in.

Some TAs can select seats for their clients.

If you have any sort of status with any other airline, perhaps you can attempt a status match to CX?

Thanks all. I just tried Expedia.com.hk and had no luck there. Seat availability is not shown, perhaps because I am starting my trip at EWR? not sure.

I will ask my TA if she can make a seat selection for me.

It seems I will probably end up on UA if I cannot solve this seat selection obstacle. I can select my seats on UA and the seat map currently looks wide open for my dates.

I found that if you're CX GR (which is US$100/year or offered along some CC) and selected a preference of aisle/window/etc. seat in profile, upon booking S/N/Q (maybe other?) tickets the system will assign a seat based on the preference, which you can see after ticketed or even "pay later", but no further change possible until T-48. Some hidden enhancement?

I have a follow up question. There is no way for me (without any airline status) to see which seat is available before I purchase a CX ticket, even for a V fare, right?

I know I cannot pre-book for Economy Save, and I can Pre-book for a V fare. But where can I see what is available before I commit to a particular flight? If a particular flight no longer have aisle seats available, it does not make sense for me to book it and then find out. I just want to confirm this is how CX works. Thanks.

If you do a (dummy) booking for V fare or above on CX web, the currently available seat map will be shown after passenger details and before payment. Note that many seats seems blocked from non-status pax, so having no aisle seat now doesn't mean it's impossible you score one later (but chances are quite low). App may not work if the lowest fare class available is S/N/Q.

Alternatively, use third-party tools like ExpertFlyer.

Thanks. That makes more sense now. I stopped at the passenger details screen and did not realize there is still a chance to see available seats before payments. I will try that on my next trip. Thanks again.

I tried to seat my brother and his family (2 adults, 1 7yo child, 1 9mo old baby) in row 31 (behind the emergency exit seats) of KA A320, but it doesn't allow my brother (with baby) to be seated in that row. Was this for safety reasons?

I am trying to change the seats of my brother's family to the forward cabin (row 25), the system always gives an error:

"Due to internal system error, you are unable to proceed further. Please close the current browser and try again. Should this problem persist, please contact our Global Contact Centres. (err_mmb_100)"

What seems to be the problem?

I had an aircraft change (from A359 to A333) which caused my assigned seat to be dropped (naturally). The Manage Booking on cathaypacific.com would not let me choose a new set (it reads: "We were unable to process your previous request. No further seat change is allowed"). The CX call centre in TLV is not the brightest one; is there a way to do it online? I'm a OWE and had no problem choosing my seats after the ticket was issued.

When is your flight? Is it under airport control?