Upsell to "i" class?
 

Hi all

Say if my corporate travel agent issues a Economy class ticket. Will it be possible to pay the fare difference to upsell to "i" class ?

I.e. I know MH for instance doesn't allow upsell to "Z" class as they must be fresh booking only.

seeing some good KUL to HKG biz deals so thought of paying the fare difference with the airline directly after my travel agent issues the Econ ticket as I can't buy Biz outright.

It depends on the fare rule of your Economy ticket.

Wouldn't it be easier to just check with your corporate travel agent?

The Econ class will be issued in Q class, interestingly I spoke with Cathay and they can't verify if upsellable to i class without a confirmed ticket.

1) Has anyone successfully upgrade their ticket from Q to I class?
2) Does CX offer airport check in upgrades? If so, any estimate pricing for KUL-HKG/HKG-KUL route?

Thanks

Not sure about the rules for paying difference with cash, however, there are requirements about using miles to upgrade.
Upgrade and Airport Upgrade Awards are valid in eligible fare classes:

• Y, B, H, K, M, L, V (Economy Class) for upgrades to Premium Economy Class (for flights with Premium Economy Class)
• Y, B, H, K, M, L, V (Economy Class) for upgrades to Business Class (for flights without Premium Economy Class only)

I once paid for a M class ticket which costed more than a PEY ticket at the time of booking, just so that I could upgrade with my points (due to crappy company rules) =(

Of course CX wouldn't know since you are issuing this from a travel agency and the TA might use public fare, private fare, net fare, etc. Who knows what Q fare the TA will use?

Some Q class tickets can be upgraded to I class, some can't. Without knowing the fare basis, no one can give you the answer.

1) Corporate travel agent has no "provisions" to upsell ticket
2) Cathay can't touch ticket since it is issued by TA
3) Even upgrade via Asia miles not possible as tickets are N fare.

so I'm stuck in a situation where I'm willing to pay the fare diff but no one to accept it.

are there any workaround to force the airline to take control of my ticket? Cathay did mention I could pay a small fee to pre assign seats... will this force the airline to take full control of my ticket?

Try calling within 24 hours of your first departure, or if your first departure falls on the weekend or a holiday, maybe you can call the Friday night before or something. CX may be more willing to help. Seat selection fee would not make any difference.

I'm not sure what you meant by "Corporate travel agent has no 'provisions' to upsell ticket." If the ticket cannot be upsold (changes are not permitted), it cannot be, and no one can upsell for you. If the ticket can be upsold, your TA should be able to do that. Whether that is permitted by your company's rule or whatever the TA needs to follow based on your company's instructions, that's another story.

Q or N are very low fare classes, they did not even earn any asia miles few years ago. it will be a big price difference if you would like to pay fare difference + change fee (if allowed), similar or even more expansive than buying another discounted business class i fare.

So the questions is, why would like to do it if you can spend less by buying another ticket outright.

Umm...I think ex-Taiwan it is always cheaper to change from an existing ticket, even if it is a Q or N ticket, as the change fee is quite low and certainly lower than the fare itself. For O class, it depends... I don't know about ex-Malaysia tickets, though, or the specific provision that may come with this ticket bought from TA (e. g., IT fare, etc.).