Companion Award - how does it work?
 

Hi all,

Did a search, but can't seem to find anything ... I've just spent nearly an hour checking for availability of the JFK-YVR awards (in F), but can't find anything at all over a period of 2 months (June/July) :mad: !

I've seen that CX has something called a companion award, but I'm not sure how it works - it appears that you actually need to have a valid ticket purchased before you can try to reserve the award in question.

Basically I'd like to fly from JFK-YVR with CX in F with my girlfriend sometime in the summer and am prepared to pay for one F ticket ... have a ton of AsiaMiles and am super-flexible on dates. Any creative suggestions/ideas (and a 411 on a companion award) would be GREATLY appreciated! :)

Phil

hiya

The companion ticket basically works like this: You pay for a full fare (dont know the exact classes, or if it is just Y J, F), use your miles to redeem for a companion ticket. Then "peg" it to your existing booking and a companion gets to fly in the same class as you for free. Most likely have to pay fuel surcharges and applicable taxes for the companion ticket.

Do you have any Plat cards? the AE offers 2 for 1 fares for F and J.

Amex Plat IAP has CX, but YVR is not a destination.

Re: paying for it ... yeap - I know it's pretty extreme (about $5,200 USD or thereabouts, I believe), but it's something that I'm opened to.

As far as the companion ticket goes - that sounds almost like what I'm looking for, but am still not 100% clear on the process. Do I basically book a full-fare ticket and then as long as there's space a companion ticket is available or does it still come as an award seat (which would be a problem, since I didn't see ANY) ?

I do have a Canadian AMEX Plat, but CX is not a member of IAP anyways for Canada (Canadian Plat AMEX benefits are horrible compared to the USA ones), so that's prob not an option.

I suggest you calling AM. (or unless someone here can be sure on the answer). I have been told its FA/JCDI by am AM agent, but it was quite a while ago so surely it is worth to call and ask.

I've called a month ago and they still said FA/JCDI are eligible, may be you can double check and post again.

In the past I have used companion tickets against D and A segments from RTW tickets; I believe the rule is basically that if the revenue ticket earns miles then it can be used for a companion ticket.

It is also possible to ticket a single RT companion ticket when the two paid segments are on different tickets.

OK, but if it is FAJCDI that are eligible for the paid ticket, does the companion book into the award bucket (in which case what is the "companion" part - that to me is just a ticket) or does it book into the same bucket as the paid ticket, or some third bucket? It surely couldn't book into a revenue bucket and earn EQM for $0 paid?? If it does then there is some serious MR exploitation potential.

It books into the award bucket, although empirically I seem to recall that it somehow had a higher priority than a straight award or upgrade ticket, so there's quite a good chance of getting the seat even if the system is showing no availability.

I have previously deduced from this that they have seperate "buckets" among F/A and J/C/D/I base ticket. Not sure about this tho.
but surely what christep said is true according to what I've asked to an MPC operator.

Thanks all!
 

Wow, definitely lots of good info here, thanks everybody! I'm probably going to give it a shot in January and see how I fare with it - will provide an update on how it went.

Thanks again! ^

- Phil

sorry to dig up an old topic.

Someone said it's possible to use companion on RT for 2 seperate legs of a paid ticket. Now is it possible to issue a companion ticket on portion of a longer routing? Specifically i'm looking at TPE-HKG-SYD return, and want to issue companion for HKG-SYD portion only, is that possible? Some of the bargains to be found ex-TEP is of no secret, not I want to extend this bargain to my lovely Mrs.

Yes, I believe so - I previously (some years ago) issued a companion round-trip ticket where the two sectors I was using where actually on separate OWE RTW tickets.

(Edit - just realised I already said that several posts - and over 3 years - earlier. Apologies for the duplication.)

Yes i just realized it was your comment from 3 years ago. ;)

Just got an response from MPC confirming the above also. IT's Easter and took me too long to wait in line. Apparently only criteria is (1) same day (2) same flight (3) same class.

I wonder if any of the above repliers actually booked any companion award tickets or not?!?!

Here's some information from my experience;

1. You don't have book "FULL FARE" Biz or first to qualify for companion eligibility. Even "I" fare will do.
2. All you have to have is a reserved reservation to start the process.
3. Once you've booked your companion seat, you'll have 1 week to pay for the primary ticket and issue the award.
4. Nobody mentioned miles... you do need Asia miles you know? Just not the full shebang. Roughly half. For instance, HKG-LHR-HKG in biz requires 75,000 miles
(instead of the normal 140,000)
5. You pay airport tax - same amount as you would for the primary ticket.

Using Amex Platinum, you don't need miles, just pay full fare. However, flights have to originate in the US.

Hope this helps.

KK

Really? I thought all awards now are "issue on confirmation" with no waitlist allowed. So does it mean for companion award only, you can hold the award for a week? :confused:

Really! I once made a reservation but didn't have enough miles but I knew miles would be coming in, the agent was very nice to extend the ticketing deadline to more than a week! However, that's was an exception, not the normal. In the end, I let the reservation expire. I did, book a companion ticket on the HKG-LHR routing though, the (Asia miles) agent told me I had 1 week but I ticketed right away. It was a relatively painless process and with 3-4 flights/day to LHR, there's plenty of seats. Oh, and you don't wait forever for a live agent! (call the local HK number, they are available 24/7)

KK

May I ask about anyone's experience actually redeeming a companion award ticket? I've purchased a CX business class ticket and have wait listed my companion's award ticket.

How long before your flight did your award ticket clear? It's the first time I'm availing of an award ticket and am a bit worried that it might not clear.

If that happens, I may have to buy another ticket the day before our flight.

You'll have to wait until award inventory (in your case U class I believe) opens up for the flight. Award inventory opens up usually a few days before the flight if there's space.

What I did on a recent flight was to book two full fare J tickets, waitlist for the companion award (which cleared around 4 days before departure) then cancelled one of the tickets I'd originally booked. That way I wouldn't be stuffed if no award space was released.

since you can use companion award for tickets down to Class I, this would be an expensive way to work around! YMMV, but I might suggest at least getting 1 ticket in cheaper bucket; and the other in the cheapest bucket where cancellation is free (or if you think it's worth the bet, go for the cheapest cancellation even with canx charge)

Haha that was just in that one case- I didn't mean to imply it was necessary to book a flex ticket. That trip was booked about a week before departure so by that time the only availability was in Business Flex. I'm fairly surprised that award space was released, someone else must have cancelled or rebooked since J was pretty full.

The BIG danger here is that they wont release anymore companion seats. I have been duly advised they have reduced a lot the availability of companion awards. This is a real pain because you pay for your ticket and are left in the hands of CX to decide whether to let your companion fly or not. I have had this three times this year for my wife and each time end up paying for her to fly on a I or D class ticket.

is it true I need either a TICKETED booking in J/D/C/I to be able to request a companion award? Before buying my I-classticket, I asked MPC to waitlist my wife for companion award (phillipine based guys). Then I called my trusted HK guys they tell me even if my waitlist clears, the booking was initiated as an award redemption so even if U-bucket clears and I buy a ticket, they will still deduct a full-J-redemption miles.

whether companion awards have priority U-class over the normal award I'm not sure. however if the waitlist clears only to find out they can't "convert" this U-confirmed booking from a full redemption to a companion will annoy me to the extent I will most likely cancel the flight.

alternatively, is it possible to initiate an COMPANION award to start off even if I have no bookings or tickets?

WHAT!? i read you've waitlisted for a companion award. what happened afterwards!?
back when i last booked a companion award it's possible to waitlist for a companion award...

long story short I asked for "companion award" which Manilla staff booked as a waitlist on an ordinary redemption ticket (50k vs 80k needed). Apparently as a result even if the U-class waitlist clears and I buy my ticket, they will STILL DEDUCT FULL 80k Asiamiles (well, so they say)

it's a joke so I just cancelled all my bookings. I will call the Japanese speaking staff later tonight to start from scratch. What a waste of time.

The MNL staff made a mistake, and you should have demanded MPO to resolve it for you. Even though redemption, UG, and companions all booked to Z and U, there are internal differences (and in some cases even slightly different inventories). Therefore a U booked for full redemption cannot be changed to a companion award. However, if you specified that it is companion award that you wanted to the MNL staff, the MNL staff were supposed to book it as such.

I'm guessing the answer to my question is no, but I'll ask anyway b/c it would be so awesome if it were yes. With the purchase of one Business fare ticket, can I get more than one companion award?

No, you can find the answer in AM T&C:
http://www.asiamiles.com/am/en/site/terms#17

Thank you, cxfan. I feel dimwitted now. :roll eyes: Obviously I could've looked at the terms. Thanks for the link!

Wanted to check if someone has recent experience with booking a companion award.

I am especially interested if the award space comes from the same 'bucket' as regular redemptions or from a different 'bucket'?

Looking esp. at HKG-ZRH-HKG in July/ August if that helps. Currently not showing any 'normal' award availability but could potentially route via DUS or FRA. I only want to book CX if companion award is possible. Thanks!

It comes from a different bucket (which typically has more avail than the normal award availability). Why don't you just call in to ask them if there is availability? That's the only way to know for sure.

I personally find if there is a lot of "I" availability, you stand a pretty good chance... though there was this once where I managed to snag a HKG-LHR companion award with not a lot of I seats left...

No. CX's system is not that advance :p

Yes you need to call AM... If I remember correctly it won't work even you call the 3333 revenue booking hotline as they can't (or won't maybe...) move your U class ticket... On the other hand AM can change your I booking so you'll be better off calling AM and ask them change all stuff for you...

Hmmm... I wonder what will happen to the companion ticket if I don't call and change the date of return leg? Will the companion ticket be invalidated now that the date of the purchased ticket is different? Perhaps CX system indeed isn't smart enough and the companion effectively may fly separately?

I think there will be a risk as the T&D of AM mentions: "If Members purchase a First or Business Class ticket for travel, they can also redeem a companion ticket. The companion must travel on the same flight, date and class of service. Companion Tickets are only available on round-trip flights."

The companion ticket will void. Even if the system is not smart enough the ground agent is as there's remark on the companion ticket