Last minute upgrade using miles in HKG?
 

Hi all, I am looking to do an airport upgrade from Y to C in HKG as there is no U-class seat available on my flight!

My Econ ticket is in K class so it is upgradable.
At the airport, do they still need to look at the availability of U-class or will they just bump me up as long as biz is not full?

Cheers!

At the airport, everything is handled by flight control (correct me if I'm wrong). They will process on departure upgrades according to status. Of course, this is subject to availability in F/J.

if you request it then they check you have the miles to do it and put you on a list which then process according to status as kchika says. If it isn't booked full then they'll start confirming Diamonds etc before check-in closes, but if it's tight or over-booked then they'll wait until they close the check in before confirming anyone.

Thanks everyone.

But miles upgrade has priority over Op ups right?

I am only a silver (gonna be gold after this flight!!!). I hope they wouldn't op up a diamond or gold before turning me down.......

From what i've seen if you ask the check-in agent that you want to upgrade, they put the request in the system but wont give you the upgrade until the flight is not closed for check in, incase of any J class ticket holders showing up without a booking....

However unless the J class is very open, they might release a few seats at check in...best suggestion for the OP is to ask at checkin and then speak to the lounge agent when they arrive in the louge (provided they have lounge access). If not, chances are you wont know till the boarding gate.....

i do think mileage upgrade has priority over op-up
cuz mileage upgrade they are kind of receiving something (the mileage)
while op-up is just free upgrade

as well last time when i used mileage upgrade on YYZ-HKG during the Christmas time they immediately upgraded me when i requested that. guess they had a really over-bookded Y class so they bump people up to J if they request mileage upgrade, then they will go to the MPC op-up list

Can you request this upgrade at the regular check-in or in the lounge? Or do you need to go to a special service desk?

Can they process these types of upgrades outside of HKG, namely at JFK?

last time when i was in YYZ i just requested in the counter

Mileage upgrades always have priority over op-ups, except for op-ups that have already been handed out. I sometimes received op-ups at check-in, which I assume the flights were so overbooked and the higher cabins were empty enough that CX did not need to wait for instant upgrade requests to start op-ups.

I was once asked whether I would like to do an upgrade at SFO check-in (that was the only time I was ever asked). I declined and did not get an upgrade. Someone else probably got an instant upgrade.

I was asked once as well in TPE going to KUL via HKG. I was traveling with a friend who got my bulkhead seat after i got op-uped... thanks to the very nice check-in agent.

Two years ago I took the YYZ-ANC-HKG flight with my wife. During check-in I told the agent that we intended to use miles for upgrade. The agent reply was that "it may be possible to give both of you op-up because the flight was overbooked." Anyway, we are willing to use miles for upgrade because I wanted to make sure that I can secure two seats at J class. I even signed the form for the mile deduction.

At the gate, both of us got op-up. The gate agent returned the signed form to me. CX gave us op-up instead of taking away our miles.^

@ Flaps30
Wow! Nice of CX to do that ^
I wonder if that is commonly done and they still do it now :)