zhaobao

- Redeemed CX points on QR to fly from Doha to Hong Kong. Somehow when reservation was confirmed, got the note that "seat assignments are not free". Did not think too much about it.
- Looked up booking on QR. Forced my way through the seat assignment (in even selecting extra legroom seats), as one of us is Gold / Oneworld Sapphire.
- Got kicked out of seat assignments hours later.
- Repeated the cycle multiple times.
- Called QR. It seems that the issue is Cathay has not paid for the right to free seat assignment (even for Oneworld Emerald/Sapphire) when redeeming points to fly on partners' airlines. The agent said all seats on the plane (even regular seats) were chargeable.
- He also said that this is a known issue with CX redemption tickets. I told him that 6 months ago, I redeemed AA points to fly Doha to Hong Kong and seat assignments were not an issue; he specifically said that yes AA redemption tickets are fine; specifically says that CX redemption tickets do not come with seat assignments no matter what tier one is in.

Need I say more ? Fuel surcharges on CX redemption tickets are already huge compared to AA. Could have just spent HK$4,000 MORE to buy the tickets as revenue tickets (for the 2 of us) and would have got the seat assignments for free. The fuel surcharge and seat assignment fees are not worth it, when using CX points for airlines other than CX.

CXFlyerBoy

Don’t complain. Fly AA. They codeshare with QR too

zhaobao

I did last time using AA points. Totally different experience. Though AA redemption has a totally different problem - the baggage allowance is not spelled out correctly on the ticket ! And nothing to do with codeshare. it is whether you can use the miles of one airline to claim award on another airline that happens to be in the same alliance. Funny last time, I can find availability on the flight using AA, but not on CX.

JordanWalker

Pay cash and you won't have problem with CX nor AA

kkl

Redeem QR tickets on AM in Jan. Had no issue choosing seats.

Cambo

Do we want to call this CX cheapskate or QR greed? Only the low-cost economy entry-level tickets do have a seat reservation fee at CX, whereas QR does charge a seat reservation fee across the board in all cabins unless purchasing over-expensive tickets. On CX metal, seat reservation fees are waived for Silver+ members, whereas QR does not even properly recognize OneWorld elites.

When booking on QR metal be aware, QR does have the habit of (nearly persistently) changing the airplane last minute, also implying, your paid preferred seat will change, potentially into something you don't like. When happily booking a ticket for a flight using the famous suites, the factual airplane presented for your flight can easily have a dirt old and uncomfortable cabin interior.

ernestnywang

Just letting you know I've seen the same happen to a friend of mine's DONEx ticket, and that's a revenue ticket. I think QR has system issues.

I highly believe this is a system issue, not whether or not CX needs to pay extra to QR for seat assignment. You said you have status, too, and even as a status member, you are experiencing issues.

zhaobao

The very intriguing thing is that when I looked up QR816 4 to 5 weeks ago, the flight was only operating 3 days a week. Now it's going 7 days a week and it's being operated by a leased 777 of Cathay Pacific. I do expect them to swap aircraft and in fact, if they can get away with not operating using a leased aircraft, I'm sure they would. So part of me wants to hold off getting/paying for any seat assignment. Theoretically if you pay for a seat and the aircraft gets swapped and that category of seat is no longer available, one would get refund. But who knows.

I also don't have an opinion as to whether this is a CX issue, QR issue or "system issue". CX says it's the issue of the operating airline, QR says there is something in the annotation of the CX ticket that is preventing me from getting a free assignment (while openly saying there is no issue with AA Issued redemption reward.) I have heard others mention that CX issued redemption tickets in Y for OneWorld airlines in general - no free assignment despite status. Just appreciate if anyone can come up with more data points. (The other example of CX redemption on QR ticket with free seat assignments in Y in January - I note that example.)

zhaobao

In hindsight should have done that. 70000 miles for two seats in Y ends up saving only HK$4,000 if I pay for seat assignments....

ernestnywang

What do you mean? Y cabin or Y booking class? If you redeemed for Y cabin, of course it is in Y cabin. Y class is the highest booking class, so partner redemption tickets will NOT be in Y class.

jj_lgkr

I've got a (paid) ticket on Economy (L, on CX-stock, all flights with CX codeshare numbers) that includes a few flights on QR. I can select any seat (as OWS) on the QR website, seats get "confirmed" and I can see them occupied on Expertflyer, but a few hours later they get de-selected. I called QR, they selected them for me as well, but they still get de-selected a few hours later. I'm guessing it's a QR IT issue.

ernestnywang

Very similar to my experience last time with a friend's booking. QR ended up doing an A/C change afterwards, so not sure if that's related or not.

triplefives

Had the baggage problem with AA paid ticket on CX metal. Baggage was ambigious. CX insisted on charging me as they were playing by the AA rules according to them. AA said I could check in 3 bags per person as AA EXP + companion. Every indication is that CX was wrong but they insist they were followign the marketing carrier rules. CX stopped responding to my emails after I filed a DOT complaint which didn't get resolved.

ernestnywang

You said baggage [allowance?] was ambiguous, but the allowance should be clearly marked. If it were 1PC on your ticket, you are entitled to 2PC as Emerald, not 3PC. AA might allow 3PC on its own metal as a frequent flyer benefit. USDOT rule is that the first marketing carrier's rule applies, but that is without considering frequent flyer benefits.

brunos

Indeed, I believe that ernestnywang is right, as well as CX.
You have to play by the ticket rule. If the ticket allows 1 bag, then you can get one more by OW status on OW airlines.
Whatever extra perk AA gives on its own metal is irrelevant.