But..but..but didn't I read that it was an A-class ticket, i.e. an OWE or some such discount first-class ride? My understanding of the OWE contract is that if you have an A-class ticket and there are no A-class seats available, they can put you in coach (assuming the business cabin is also full), take it or leave it. You're free to adjust your schedule to a day when an A seat is available, or ride in the seat that's there.

There certainly have been segments where there was no A inventory left and I booked D, waitlisted for A, and one time dear old AA confirmed me in "A" on a two-class domestic segment, and sprang the news at checkin that there were already a bunch of people with swifter running shoes than I wear filling all the seats. Too bad, enjoy coach. They gave me 8000 miles when I asked, which is more than I expected.

Granted it's more of a disappointment when they spring it at check in than if you know at booking time that you're wait-listed, but it sure seems to me that Cathay was being really, really kind.

Firstly, as Guy Betsy pointed out, CX doesn't oversell in F unless a recent policy change has been made, so it is very unusual for downgrades to happen (sometimes on regional sectors where a three-class aircraft is changed to a two-class one, but this is not - yet - an issue on long-haul flights). So it seems you were rather unlucky to have this happen to you. I've never had it happen to me, even on award tickets.

Go ahead and write a letter to CX asking about the circumstances that led to your downgrade. I'm not sure if you can expect any more compensation but it'd be interesting to know their reasons for departing from a longstanding tradition.

Finally if the F cabin to JNB was full then it doesn't seem very logical to be chopping it in a few months...

But I had CONFIRMED seats in F - I even had the actual seats allocated - and had confirmed them the day before, so I didn't even have a chance to change my schedule at the last minute.
If only Cathay had warned me in advance I might have been able to take a flight the previous day!

The only time I've heard of such incidences when people have been bumped off First Class in HKG, are mostly on Dragonair.. and that was when Mr and Mrs Tung Chee Wah are travelling!

BAloyal, had you refused to fly that day in Business Class abeit downgraded, you may have been able to demand more from CX but you chose to be taken to your destination that day. From personal experience and as a Diamond member, people in F class rarely check in 2 hours prior to departure and it just seems strange that when you did that 'all 8 people have already checked in'. It could have been a codeshare problem with the seats with SAA and both airlines double booked. But then again, I have never heard that of F being overbooked. J, Y yes. But never F.

I was told the 8 seats were all coming from China and had already checked in...
I have just been given 2 upgrade vouchers (only based on availability at check-in) - valid only on Cathay Pacific for 12 months... I am not travelling on Cathay in the next 12 months so they are not worth a penny!

Oh, sorry, I thought you said your confirmed seats were in A class. If you had gotten USD1000 out of CX for bouncing you down on an A-class rtw fare, that would have been something. I wouldn't be surprised if, given a typical mix of carriers on an rtw, CX's total earnings from their participation in a first-class rtw are less than $1000, especially if the passenger bought it in one of the cheaper countries.

Do you have an Asiamiles account, or a BA account? If you have the former, one can then 'exchange' the upgrade vouchers for points. But be forewarned that the exchage is going to be low.. approx 30,000 points per upgrade. But unfortunately they can't be credited into another FF account.

Did you get 2 upgrade vouchers per person or total? If you won't be flying CX within the next year, you might ask CX extend the validity of the vouchers indefinitely for the inconvenience. The upgrade vouchers may not be worth 'a penny' to you, but they are worth a lot more than you know. Though you said that these vouchers can only be requested at time of check-in, it's only because you don't have an Asiamiles account. Normally if you do, Customer Relations will put a 'memo' on your account for Confirmed Upgrade certificates. These special upgrades have no capacity control and can be upgraded to next classs of service at time of ticket issue.

I do have an Asia Miles account, although never use it as I am BA Gold...

We have 2 vouchers per person... "This voucher entitles .... to a one-class, one-sector complimentary upgrade, based on seat availability at the time of check-in."

If I can extend them or turn them into Miles, I'd be much happier! I have asked Cathay for Asia Miles instead, so am waiting to hear from them.

Bear in mind... if you ask for points, that the points will expire.. and in exchange for the 2 upgrades for 60k points, that will not even get you a return upgrade say between HKG and LHR.. whereas your 'confirmed' upgrades will be stored indefinitely on your account until you use it.

I beg to differ : my source at CX here in LA...the person is in charge of
"seats control" told me that it's not a common practice , but under some
circumstances , they even overbooked the North American flights by 2 seats
in First.
You have to understand , sometimes a reservation is "perfectly" booked : meaning all pertinent infos are entered ( tkt nbr , FF nbr..) but when some agent(s) from high volume agency call CX Sales Office directly , CX will try
their best to accomodate their request on sold out flight in F .
CX will try to "flight firm" : try to call all FC pax on the flight and just pretend to reconfirm their flight for them , hoping that they will take the opportunity
to cancel . And sometimes , they "study" the PNRs and deem that some of the FC pax might be good prospect for no show , so they go ahead and over
book the flight in F .

BTW: Was your BA # in the record locator, meaning... Was a OW status in the PNR. CX will use this as a guide to see who will get moved around sometimes.

If they are transferrable, I might be willing to trade with you...

They are generally not transferable because each upgrade cert has a reference to the cause of the problem. Anyway, BA loyal might switch these for indifinite upgrade memos on their Asiamiles account.

Those would be better, or perhaps BA Loyal could exchange them for transferrable certs. It doesn't seem that CX is going to offer much else in terms of compensation, so it would be good if he could trade them for something he actually can use.

That is not the meaning of the AONE fare rule. The point is that if you CHOOSE, when booking, to travel in D, either because there is no A availability on the date or because the route doesn't have a First class, you aren't entitled to a refund. As soon as you are confirmed on your flight, the same conditions of carriage apply to everyone (even award pax), and involuntary downgrade compensation must be offered if you can't be accommodated in your ticketed class of travel.

That said, I think US$1000 and a systemwide upgrade is a more than appropriate compensation for a F->J bump on a discount ticket. These things do happen. The compensation for a single mishap on a 20-segment OWE will, even at these levels, mean that the airline won't be able to make ANY money off the whole ticket. And while you may think that's fine, I'm afraid the airlines aren't going to like those odds.

To me, the continued existence and availability of the AONE fare is much more important that lavish compensation in the case something goes wrong.