Agree. I call this the CX Mileage Scam. Waiting for my RT upgrade request to clear for my HKG-JFK roundtrip flights (CX840/CX831) this weekend. Travel Agent, Availability Tool and Seat Map says plenty of J seats open for both outbound and inbound, but yet CX Revenue Control loves to hold back the J seats until 48 hours prior to departure, hoping their dreams will come true with a sellout Biz cabin. If that doesn't happen, they can at least scam another 10K miles out of the AM/MPC members by breaking the upgrade into 2 seperate one-way legs. Also, we shouldn't forget CX is making even more money from the YBHK requirement, luring us into buying > K tickets but not releasing the U inventory. To be fair, CX should deduct RT mileage for this scenario, given the passenger is travelling to and returning from the same destination pair and the flights are in the same itinerary/booking reference.

The new upgrade requirements work differently for me. I got op-upped twice on SFO-HKG in my last four. For the other two, Y was not full on one of the them and J was oversold on the other.

I did not even recall if I ever got an op-up on that flight before the new upgrade requirements kicked in. What I think is that most people prefer to buy lower fare tickets if they are not sure whether they can get an op-up. That means they are not eligible for instant upgrades at the airport, leaving me a higher chance of op-up.

In regards to more miles with instant upgrades and the additional requirements, I personally felt that it is OK. My wife and kids do not have the priorities like I do. So they have to go through the same like other AM/MPC Green members. If I am CX management, I would like early commitments from passengers to fly on that day, instead of uncertainties on whether they will be using the upgrades on these days.

Has anyone tried to confirm themselves on random dates (maybe +/- 3 days)and then wait until upgrade inventory opens up on your dates you want later? Then people can do a return upgrade?

Right, this is the nasty business behaviors we talked about all the time.
In that sense, I'd rather count on my luck to be op-uped
remember the value of miles used, together with the > K ticket, you can get a discounted business ticket already.

MPC/Asiamiles is one of the best program worldwide in terms of benefits and services, but mileage redemption is virtually in non-existence (provided that major US programs offer much better earn-burn rate, and less inventory control)

This point is very true - here's some discounted RT biz fares ex-HKG-JFK for March departures for our comparison:

JL HKG-NRT-JFK roundtrip is HKD 32,900 (D Fare)
JL/CX/AA HKG-NRT-JFK is HKD 28,800 (I Fare)
CO HKG-EWR - HKD 29,000 (I think its C Fare, can't remember exactly)

This is compared with CX's HKD 79,000 J product.

I've contemplated on doing this - booking a RT Upg a few days before my actual departure where there is no U inventory - which I will waitlist for the outbound, and then arbitarily booking the return leg on a day which has U availability. Since the return leg is confirmed, once the outbound leg is cleared, the MPC agent should able to complete the whole RT booking and deduct the miles as a RT Upg accordingly.

As we are forced to buy a >K ticket anyways, we can change the departure date on the return leg for free, just pick a flight which has the most open J seats, call MPC to rebook/waitlist the upgrade or request an upgrade at check-in on the day. The agent can see you have miles deducted already and it should be fine.


Risk #1: CX requires both Y/B/H/K inventory and U inventory on the flight you plan to upgrade and your underlying YBHK ticket must be booked on the same flight. Even if there is U inventory, if YBHK inventory runs out on the day you plan to leave, then too bad. CX's system is too dumb to move your booking from YBHK to U. It must physically block out a seat in Y and another in J.

Risk #2: If you changed your return flight and there is no U inventory at check in, CX may forfeit the upgrade right of your return journey and your miles could be jibbed, and you'll be sitting in cattle class.

Risk #3: Do this only if you are very flexible with your travel plans since you're gambling with the chance that there's both YBHK and U availability on the same day.

MPC GO/DM members can always invoke the seat guarantee clause. So I suppose there should not be a problem forcing the availability of a K seat.

Unfortunately I've dropped to MPC SL this year (too lazy to update my FT profile ). And guess what, MPC just cxl'd my upgrade waitlist request! Thanks so much CX, I can't wait for the recession to kick in and lets see who's gonna pay for those empty J seats then.

Truth is, J is filled up before Y - at least on the LHR route.