fuzzy_logic

My first post and sorry if this is a newbie question. Want to get some advice on redeeming business class tickets:

- I'm trying to book year-end holidays for the family (2 adults and 2 kids) from HK to Aussie and return
- Right now there's obviously zero availability for business class redemption in December. However, from experience, unsold business class tickets will be released for redemption 48-72 hours prior to the flight. For example, as I type this post, there's availability for 4 business class tickets tomorrow
- Obviously we can't take our chances. Traveling on purchased economy tickets is better than no traveling at all. So the question is, which of the following should I do:
(1) Buy economy round-trip tickets and wait till just before departure. If business redemption is available, (a) redeem business departure tickets (b) cancel economy round-trip tickets (c) buy economy one-way return tickets. Repeat for return trip. OR
(2) Same as above except for instead of buying round trip tickets to begin with, buy two one-way tickets instead for departure and return. The advantage is that I don't need to rebook the return tickets if I manage to redeem business class tickets for departure. Downside is that two one-way is more expense than one round-trip.
(3) Any better solutions?

Cheers.

littlevoices

My perspective: It is very unlikely that you will find any redemption tickets at Christmas for any airline around Asia, even if quarantine is removed and Cathay resumes 3-4 flights a day to Sydney, compared to the 3-4 times a week, so the current last minute pattern you are seeing is unlikely to persist, this is as Australia will be a very popular destination this winter!

Cathay's flexible ticket changes means you could book economy tickets and if there is some miracle and a ticket opens up, you could just change the economy tickets (or destination) for later in the year/2023. In theory your "two one way tickets" plan is better than a return, as once you've taken the first leg it will be more difficult to change (And you can't cancel the outbound flight only, if you miss it then it will cancel), the Cathay unlimited changes promise is only good till 31 December 2022 as well (to change, you can change it till December 2023). However got to be honest, it's not a very good chance, and for 4 seats as well on a single flight, very unlikely.

Hence, book the return economy tickets and plan on taking them. If you want to save money you need to start outside of Hong Kong (e.g. Bangkok) or go via another popular destination, such as Singapore or Malaysia. This is the only way to save money, rather than getting redemption tickets, which won't likely exist. A flight from Bangkok to Australia in business, with a stopover/transit in Hong Kong is about 30k HKD, which you may consider a reasonable price. In your case, given a choice between no flight or a flight, I would book the economy tickets, and hope they're in an upgradeable class, or check out if there is a premium economy option that you could then upgrade, if really lucky, but it isn't likely so I'd try and get on the day flights so you don't have to sleep without a "bed".

davidghk

For what it's worth, my wife and I have flown back and forth from HKG to SYD a couple of times recently with PE Flex tickets (which was the only PE available).

Both times showed no availability for redemption seats in business, even just before heading to the airport.

At the counter we asked to upgrade using miles and got them both ways both times. The lady at the counter said it had to be PE flex, and of course subject to availability.

Agree that the chances of any redemption around Christmas are slim.

Hope that helps,
David.

percysmith

CX understood Pavlov’s dogs on last minute artistry pre-pandemic. Like HK Coliseum scalpers, they rather let some seats fly empty.

fuzzy_logic

Thanks. It’s frustrating because I’ve got over a million miles still from the pre-COVID days and my Cathay credit card and just can’t seem to find a way to redeem any tickets. Obviously there’s the cash + miles option but the value there is just so offensive that I can’t bring myself to actually using it… Anyway, thanks again!

fuzzy_logic

That is good to know - fingers crossed! Thanks!

littlevoices

Unfortunately you are not alone in this, many Hong Kongers have huge numbers of miles from credit cards. If you are keen to use them, once you are in Australia you will find some domestic availability, even over Christmas. It may not be the best value you've ever seen, but a few domestic flights definitely did have availability when I was glancing to go between MEL/OOL/BNE/SYD in December. Alternatively if you were to book for European or US flights you will also find seats, its just Asia that, still not living with COVID, has relatively fewer flights available which reduces the chance of redemptions. As long as your miles aren't expiring you can just hope for the best in the future.

Personally I got very lucky and managed to get some flights from UK - Maldives for my family, and joined them there, which reduced my miles from some 700k to less than 150k. Really not the best value flights, but better than a personal exposure to Cathay. I now use and store in the Amex Explorer so the miles can be converted into multiple schemes.

PS: Glad you think the Miles + Cash are terrible value, I agree... but someone at work was saying what a great deal they were as they'd reduced his economy flight from HKD13k to 7k.... I dread to think how many miles were wasted!

percysmith

Around 103K, if HK$0.058/AM

There are worse uses:
- iPhone: HK$0.0338
- dining offset: HK$0.0333
- AM --> Moneyback --> cash rebate: $0.033 Credit card Asia Miles earning opportunities (HK) 2020

kaffir76

LOL ... those good ol' days are coming back soon; with the added challenges of reduced capacity + higher fares & fees!

kaffir76

And speaking of redemption, I cannot redeem any flight awards on Cathay Pacific's own website for JFK-SIN @ June 2023
The only redemption I can do is JFK-HKG and yes, I even tried the multi-city tool.
There are still flights from HKG-SIN (non daily) so not sure what the problem is.
Have messaged them on Whatsapp but still waiting for a non chat-bot response.
Ho hum '

ernestnywang

See A Fix for the New "Elevated" Award Booking Engine