sounds like a fair deal ?? a normal roundtrip business class HKG-JFK is more than the HK$46,880 already ??

from http://www.cathaypacific.com/hk/offe...45257,00.html/

Visit 3 of our favourite destinations with our new World Pass

Ever thought of taking a vacation and visit all those dream places? From now until 20 December 2001, we're offering a special World Pass at just HK$11,880 for Economy Class (HK$46,880 for Business Class). You can even choose to pay a surcharge, and fly one or more sectors First Class to enjoy our impeccable service.

With our World Pass, you get 3 return tickets to a choice of more than 30 global destinations in 20 countries. This includes a maximum of 2 long haul round-trip tickets and 1 short haul round-trip ticket. What's more, you can also enjoy an extra 10% discount on booking Cathay Pacific Holidays' Stay-A-While hotel packages.

Do you know if Japan (Sapporo/Tokyo) is part of this offer? They say "30 destinations", and CX fly to 51... they don't say which city is part of this offer.

Anyways, it does sound great at first, and I was looking at the rules to see if I or my family members can make good use of this ticket. But I figured this deal is filled with nasty fine prints.

This world pass is very difficult to make a good use of. First of all, 3 of your reservations through next year must be confirmed by the ticketing deadline of December 20th 2001. This sounds rather ridiculous to me, because who can finilize their travel plans so much in advance? And although you can change the reservation at later time, you have to pay nasty penalties. HK$300 for date change per transaction, and HK$1000 for route change per transaction. (in Y class)... Simple math tells me that if any of my schedule screws up, I will end up paying more than buying 3 seperate tickets! (so this is risky business)

Then there is nasty miminum/maximum stay restrictions. For short haul, ticket validity is 2min/7max max, and long haul is 2min/30max days. humm... so this adds lots of restrictions. Overseas student like myself will not be able to make good use of it, because we often stay abroad for the duration of school term. On the other hand, 7 day is too short for family vacation to the regional destination, so once again, this does not work.

Booking class will be "A", "D", and "S" respectively, so it does earn Asiamiles. But with the minimum stay condition, this will not be suitable for a good milege run. My conclusion is that Cathay simply wants to plan ahead for next year in this time of uncertainty, so it wants to fill up some seats in advance. This product might look attractive, but in fact isn't....

PS. If someone has different opinion, I'd love to hear!

I just checked the destinations that are not included in this offer. I have to say, that I am very disappointed with what I found.

First of all, Japan is NOT a short-haul destination. Secondly, any cities in Canada is NOT a destination either. The reason? They have enough business on japan routes, and since there are many Chinese living in Vancouver/Toronto, they do not need to offer any incentive to lure customer.

I am very irritated with Cathay. If they call it a "WORLD pass", why don't they just include all destinations? This just shows CX's arrogant gesture; what they are doing is picking up some businesses from deserted routes...

On the other hand, New York is included in the destination... so does that mean you fly on CX888/889, but only allowed a transit in Vancouver?

This would only earn AA mileage if you are a resident of Canada. S class does not accrue AA mileage if you are a US resident.

And since Canadian destinations are not included (according to fakecd's post), this is not very attractive at all...

FewMiles..

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To add to the frustration, these trips MUST originate from HK as 3 seperate trips. You can not just fly JFK-HKG-LHR-HKG-JFK, instead, you have to somehow get to HK, and make 3 trips.

Also, although it's not clear in the rule statement, I think you HAVE to fly on ALL 3 trips... I was wondering if it will be possible just buy 2 long-haul roundtrip, and not bother with short haul. (come on, hotel cost due to min stay will cost more than the air ticket!). HOWEVER, the rule say "3 bookings MUST be confirmed". (Of course unless you schedule your short haul to be the last of 3 itinanries, and just forfeit this segment... but I don't know if that's allowed).

Conclusion: Maxminum stay condition makes it impossible for nearly 50,000+ HK students who study abroad. Date change penalty makes it unattractive for business travellers whose schedule is always uncertain. All travel must originate in HK, so foreign travellers will not be able to enjoy this offer. (not to mention they exclude Japan and Canada, and various others ahhhhh)

Who is CX trying to market this product to??? Do they really think that there are demands for this product amongst the retired wealthy HK residents whose schedules are flexible? (That's the only market I can think of...) Shame on CX

About Japan-bound routes, CX is not offering anything much for BKK-HKG-Japan this winter (yet). Last year, they had a two-business class-tickets-for-the-price-of-one promotion around this time.

The only thing I could find was a business class (booked under 'I' but with a shorter validity period), priced a bit lower than the regular discount booked under 'C'.

From the airline's point of view, it's a promotion to get people to basically buy 3 r/t tickets by offering them a (small) savings. The restrictions obviously mean it is not a great deal for everyone. For non-HK residents for example, it means they'd have to fly to HK to take advantage of the deal, which probably means more business for CX, which I'm sure they don't mind.

Three trips means three bookings. Bookings are what they want right now (and all other airlines too).

FewMiles..

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united has responded to this cathay world pass offer by offering discounted business and first class fares from HKG to anywhere in USA and canada...HK$20,000 for business and HK$40,000 for first...

more discussions at: Great New J / C-class Rates from Hong Kong

tedhl, thanks for info. Yeah, that's what I call "customer oriented" business tactics. I've never really liked Cathay's marketing tactic, (it's rather "cheap" if you know what I mean), and hopefully this will be a little wake up blow to CX.

well...while some aspects of UA's offer are more attractive (e.g. all US/canadian destinations)...i really don't quite agree that in general UA is more "customer oriented" than CX...for example, about japan routes...i don't think you'll usually see UA offers discounted business/first fares HKG-NRT either...these are lucrative routes for them (UA/CX/others) and they just don't need to offer deep discounts on them...

so frankly i am not happy either that japan, korea and canada destinations are not included...but i think it makes perfect business sense and at least it's nice that i can probably have some cheap trips to europe and australia...since usually CX does not offer very competitive fares out of HKG to most destinations, probably the "home airline syndrome" that applies to most airlines anyway...and, i think the other reason this offer is ex-HKG only is that most fares ex-outports are much more discounted compared to ex-HKG anyway...

Long Haul Destinations - Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Auckland, Vancouver, Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Rome, Johannesburg


Short Haul Destinations - Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok, Cebu, Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Singapore, Denpasar Bali, Jakarta, Surabaya, Mumbai, Delhi, Colombo, Bahrain, Dubai, Riyadh.

according to
http://www.travel.com.hk/

so canada and japan are both included, and all asia are shorthaul, even india!

Nope's that's not correct. Here's official information from CX Website:

Long Haul destinations
Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Auckland, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London, Paris, Rome, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York

Short Haul destinations
Taipei, Bangkok, Cebu, Manila, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Denpasar, Jakarta, Surabaya, Mumbai, Delhi, Colombo, Bahrain, Dubai, Riyadh

Except: Canada, Japan, Korea, Karachi & Istanbul

more at

http://www.cathaypacific.com/hk/offers/local/

and click on "world pass"