CX First timer - Advice please

Hi,

I�m a regular visitor to the FT BAEC Forum and I�ve not ventured here before, so please be gentle!

I�m going to be flying to flying LHR-HKG in December 2008. I�m looking for some additional flights for my trip and CX look like they could help.

I�m looking to fly HKG-BKK on 22/12, then BKK-HKT on 24/12 and finally HKT-HKG on 04/01/09.

I�ve found CX to be quite expensive if booking direct on their website. 600 GBP, 1200 USD, 37,630 THTB for two people HKT-HKG in economy. Is this fare typical, or do you think it is seasonally high? Does anyone know what the loading is like for this flight? I couldn�t find Business availability to compare the cost, is this an all economy flight?

Before I go ahead and book, I just wanted to make sure I was missing a trick and felt this was the best place to ask the question.

Should I be considering other another airline? Ideally I would like to earn BA Miles/Teir points, but only if it financially makes sense.

I�ve a BA Exec Club Silver Card Holder which I believe is equivalent to oneworld Sapphire.

Any help would be gratefully received.

Regards

Chris

Well you are booking a one-way fare so the price is often going to be half the price of a full fare ticket.

In this case, you should probably ask a travel agent or check the oneworld.com website for some of the visit Asia or Circle Asia passes or similar products like that. If you search the CX website you might find some references to the Visit Asia passes.

Your best bet is to book your roundtrips from LHR to BKK return, and just do a side trip BKK-HKT-BKK on Thai Airways.

CX doesn't fly HKT -HKG but uses sister carrier KA. CX fares are cheaper if you just stick with CX flights, and for fares do not book on cx's website. They do not necessarily have the best fares, and neither does it offer you to book in a particular class. Call cx directly in london or go through a High St travel agency such as Trailfinders who would have great consolidator fares.

Note that many CX fares do not earn miles. The very cheap ones anyway. And the ones that may earn miles on asiamiles, may not be the same valid class for earning on BAEC.

The problems are BKK-HKT is not on CX/KA and the time of travel is around Christmas. Fares will be high.

I live in SFO. If I fly to Asia, I normally fly HKG and then add CX/KA segments. That is a lot less expensive. I normally do it with a TA, as my itinerary is too complicated for CX.com to handle.

Also BKK-HKG-HKT can be less expensive, but the travelling hours will be very inflexible.

Thanks for the responses� exactly the sort of valuable input that makes FT so great!

I tried Cathay and they weren�t able to help with the Visit Asia pass as I would need a minimum of 2 OW sectors. They told me that the HKT-HKG sector is on Dragon Air, which has only recently joined OW and as such, isn�t part of the Visit Asia scheme.

Interestingly, the OW site does mention that HKG-BKK and HKT-HKG. Could anyone recommend a Travel Agent who may be able to help with this kind of booking?

I tried Amex Platinum travel services and they quoted �559 GBP which included the HKG-BKK in Club on CX. Trailfinders quoted a very similar fare.

The BKK-HKT sector is on PG � Are they good/bad?

Point taken about the time of year, I know it�s peak season, so I guess I should just get on and make the booking.

I have to stick with my LHT-HKG routing as I�ve booked in F, using miles.

Thanks again & any more suggestions gratefully received. I�ll probably book in the next 24 hours.

Regards

Chris

Have you thought of HKG-BKK-HKT-BKK-HKG on 2 rtn tickets? Might make fares more reasonable...

Becomes USD 800 on CX (per Orbitz). So about 40% drop just by booking return instead of one-way construction. The time of year does cause much higher fares, you could cut it to about USD 500 if flexible on dates -- which you are not.