Chromie25

I think there are 2 critical things involved here: some status with MPC and a travel agent willing to work with you on this. It basically doesn't work if agent is not willing to hold the reservation or understand what you are trying to do. Also not sure if AM is as helpful as MPC call center. I've tried this last year and got it to work (partially). In my case companion redemption was only available on the outgoing flight but waiting list on the incoming. I was able to sit on it for 24 hours before I declined (both the redemption and revenue ticket). I'm only a MPC Green but I called during less busy times (i.e. after midnight), which may have helped.

fairhsa

I've done this and, like the other Diamonds, had no problem.
This is my 2 cents. The Diamond line gets the good English speakers, who therefore understand your actual request and typically are smarter than the ones who are not smart enough to have learnt English. Your issue is most likely not your status, its the fact that HK people are very good at enacting their roles "inside the box". If you ask for anything even slightly "outside the box" they get very confused and to save face will then say "cannot do this". It's all about saving face. So you can hang up, ring back a minute later and get a different person and have a totally different experience.....
(The above generalisation holds for far more than just Cathay in HK!) Or try ringing an overseas number so you don't end up with a HK person in the first place.....

Gongzuokuang

I call the USA number. Not sure where it connects, but they have very good English. BOTH people I spoke with very clearly understood what I was trying to do. We had a detailed conversation about it -- and the absurdity of it -- and there was no language barrier. I've actually had really good luck with the MPC line, and have never really had an issue. I just did a trip with 2 people (both redemptions) where I had a number of waitlists to multiple cities and had to cancel/consolidate the bookings. Multiple calls... multiple agents... no problems.

Sure, it could be "experience vs. rookie". But I suspect it has more to do with status.

catalyst2211

Anyways I'll update here guys. I transferred enough miles to redeem a companion award KUL-JFK-LAX-HKG-KUL. To my surprise, when browsing through CX website I see many dates are open (November-December), however when I call to check for companion availability the agent gave me only a few of the dates that I see have available standard redemption award.

I suspect that even though companion awards might have higher priority but the availability comes from a different bucket maybe. Either that or I got a lying agent (unlikely)

This trip ended up quite a bit longer than expected