view-with-a-room

No indication the Japanese airlines will be any less problematic in the near future; that is, unless you are concerned CX will cease to exist in May.

fgirard

The reason why we were permitted the PR segment was that our final was CEB, and CX is the only OW carrier to fly to CEB. Therefore we were given the option of a 17 hour connection in HND or a 4 hour connection in MNL, and since we had bags that would most likely be not permitted to enter Japan (medical/surgical goods for a mission trip), we elected for the 4 hour connection (all goods are allowed to enter Philippines).

On the return, we held off calling in, until the HKG-LAX dropped off of our itinerary completely. When we called in, the EXP agent said, "just tell me which way you want to go, and I'll book it." The return was easier to change was that there were more airlines out of MNL compared to CEB. Although, QR is going to be starting DOH-CEB on April 8.

quintic

It looks like cx846 today was cancelled. I have cancelled my return portion after CX527 was cancelled. I booked a nonstop award ticket instead.

dietevil

Any educated guesses on when CX will extend the special ticketing guidelines for flights ex-/to Mainland in April?

sbs2716g

There were reports that tourist arrival to HKG drop from 100000 daily in Jan to 3000 daily in Feb. no wonder CX is cutting up to 70% of their flights. (First press release mention 30% then become 50% n now should be around 70%)

Reply1984

It seems that situations in Japan are worsening rapidly...Maybe in May Cathay is much more reliable than JAL...

footastic

Well I just got a notice my YVR-HKG flight dropped first and I was downgraded due to virus. Anyone have any experience getting on a route with first as alternate ?

fakecd

those whatever millions they spent to convert to 10 abrests really worked well for them. At least in tough times had they kept their market edge with a roomier cattle class, they may have the marketing edge into U or V shape rebound if it happens. but so far they have nothing to offer the marginal buyers.

all these "it wasnt predictable" non sense is just excuses. CEOs and board are handsomely paid to mitigate all sorts of risks or plan for worst. but hey, it must have been an unforeseenable act of god so its not their fault

i guess liquidity problem will get hold of them before solvency problem. use up your asiamiles now, dont hold back. those fiat currency can go anytime for survival.

CruisingAltitude47

Agreed on this. I’m currently in JNB on my. Black Friday CX booking, but am flying BA the whole way because CX first cancelled and rebooked both my LAX-HKG and back segments. They were still workable on the return so I kept that and rebooked with BA for the outbound, and then the morning I was headed to the airport I got a text from CX that my return JNB-HKG was cancelled and I was rebooked on a flight TWO DAYS later. That didn’t work for me, so called and got BA for the rest of it. Honestly they were helpful once I got an agent on the phone (2 hr hold time), but that was late notice & now I’ll have to fight my way through the routing credit system when I get back. I have another of these fares to SYD in April, and when/if the waiver gets extended I’m pushing out to Sept to give the most time possible for this to get back to normal.

sbs2716g

It was reported that there is only 160 departures from HKIA on Wednesday. The normal number is around 500 daily departures.

Rami Tamimi

Slightly off-topic, but I hope it helps the folks who are being disrupted these days. There is a myth that the airline can not touch bookings made via OTAs until 24 hours before the first flight. I, myself believed that this was the case as well until 2 of my itineraries got involuntary reroutes.

1. RJ LCA-AMM-HKG and return
RJ reduces frequency from 4 to 2 weekly on the AMM-BKK-HKG route and shifted my outbound to a day later. My trip was booked via OTA and the RJ Cyprus office proactively called me and started offering various options. I asked them to reroute me on QR (they said no way), or CX via BKK (they checked with AMM and said this was authorised). A few days later, they also cancelled my HKG-AMM and I got rebooked on CX again. In both cases, RJ did not even try to send me to the OTA and performed all changes themselves.
2. MH HKG-KUL-PEN and return
MH cancelled my KUL-HKG and HKG-KUL flights and protected me on flights that would not work for me as I would miss the connection from HKG (on a separate ticket). This trip was booked with trip.com and I could change my flights directly on the website, but only to MH ones. I asked trip.com if they can ask MH to protect me on direct KA. They said MH will automatically reject this request and then I can try contacting MH directly.

I called MH who initially told me to contact trip.com, but after I told them that trip.com asked me to contact MH, the agent said "okay, but any further changes should be performed via us directly than". In the end, the agent spoke to someone in another department and told me they can work with me to protect me on any other MH flight, but they will not rebook me on KA. I cancelled the MH ticket (full refund due to invol reroute) and booked a KA one, which was like 50USD more expensive.

The moral of the story is that the airline can touch your booking at any time. The question is whether they wish to do that.

percysmith

It helps you’re an RJ elite - RJ and MH are willing to override their SOPs.

The majority of OTA customers aren’t elites and have to suffer when events like these happen.

percysmith

I only see two markets:
i) The captive market: us lot that have to suffer 11-abreast on peak days if they can manage it
ii) The transit market: the dirt cheap lot (and the lot expecting the earth when the slightest things go wrong https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cath...s-thereon.html and https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cath...s-thereon.html)

I don't see the discretionary premium travel market much. Or even it does exist, it's so small and/or so hard to pursue, CX gave up trying.

Also 10-abreast is only uncomfortable when full - I reckon it'd be great for travelers now, with the refreshed seats and more than less likely chance of scoring an empty adjacent seat. If they weren't so focused on trying to get voluntary refunds out of Special Ticketing Arrangements they'd enjoy the journey.

suziemay

Dilemma; I’m trying to book flights for my parents to visit in May (KUL-NYC area). Was all set on booking KUL-HKG-EWR but with all the potential cancellations, do folks think I’m better off booking them through another airport? They are elderly and like what they like, and for such a long flight they are most comfortable with Cathay transiting through HKG. I’m not sure what to do.

What would you do?

ernestnywang

Airlines can always take over (and they certainly do in case of mileage upgrade, etc.). They usually choose not to. That's it.

Once the airlin takes over, further changes should be made by the airline to prevent the PNR from being out of sync. In reality, if the PNR is still in sync or if all parties are on Amadeus (TA or OTA and airlines), reservation changes can still be handled by TA or OTA, but ticketing changes can only be performed by the airline.