Hi everyone, have a dilemma here, and would love to hear your opinions on this.

I'm currently holding a full fare Y ticket, scheduled for May 1, from YYZ to HKG.

I'm traveling again in Aug (HKG-YYZ) and was wondering what to do with regards to ticketing.

I have two options

1. cancel my current Y ticket, get $850 in refunds, and then buy a roundtrip L class ticket (ie May and August) for $750 more.

2. keep my current Y ticket, and buy a fresh roundtrip from HKG for Aug, and return for Dec (6 month ticket). price is unknown yet because it's still too early to tell, but agent said the published standard fare is 3000+ at this moment. (due to the period being in high season) but with current economy, what prices could we possibly see in aug?

what should i do? i mean, would keeping my Y ticket raise my chances of being op-uped, rather than holding an L class which gives me lowest chances of upgrade? i was holding a C ticket, which i believe is why i got op-uped, as i only had green status with MPC.

any opinions?

I thought the ticket class has nothing to do with chances of an op-up???

My wife was holding a V-class ticket (lowest mileage accruable fare) for CGK-HKG and she's only a Green...yet...she also got op-upped due to an overbooked Y.

The booking class of your ticket makes zero difference to your chance of an op-up as far as anyone has been able to determine. Your MOC/OW status is the key factor.

August ex-HKG is high season for HKG-YYZ-HKG fares. A 6 month ticket books into K and costs about HK$15000 + taxes currently. A 45 day ticket booking into V for the same high season is about HK$10000+taxes.

It's rare to see heavy discounting on tickets with validity greater than 3 months - I wouldn't plan on the basis of hoping for that.

No, I believe that either to keep your Y ticket or getting an L does nothing to your chance of getting op-up'd.

If I were you, I'd keep my Y and get a new roundtrip ticket. I don't know about HKG, but it's always been cheaper for me to get a roundtrip ticket from SUB than from YYZ (I usually travel on 826/7 and 780-1).

Why not get a J fare, I thought the OP said it was on promotion for $4500 roundtrip? (read it somewhere on FT just now)

CMIIW

yup it is on promo. but i'm a student, and i can't persuade my parents to buy me a biz ticket at this point because of the recession.

but you also have to keep in mind that if i buy my ticket now in yyz it's an off season ticket, where as if i buy my aug ticket it's high season (which christep mentioned), which probably means that the price will be higher in aug? don't know...

also, does anyone know what the fee is for L class if you change dates?

I am a student as well, and so I think we always have to fly during high season everytime we are going to/from YYZ. As I said, I always find it cheaper to buy ticket from SUB rather than YYZ. However, I don't know if this also applies to HKG.

Hope I'd see you in May

It depends on the exact fare rules. For US originated flights, it can be USD100-200 + fare difference before the first segment, and normally free after the first segment is flown (exception - changing from weekday return flights to weekend flights).

That is why I do not buy tickets until a few days before departure.

oh how i wish i can do that. but since i fly so many times during high season, plus i'm not cx diamond, it's impossible to get it a few days before.

but thanks for the help regarding fare diffs.

There are student fares ex-HKG to most longhaul destinations available from TA/CX res. They are usually cheaper and booked into a higher booking class compared to year-round fares of the same period of validity. Needs to be age under 30 with a copy of student ID.

Did a quick search... for YYZ departing in Aug, the student fare should be around HKD12K for a 9-month ticket (M class), around HKD13K for 12-month ticket (K class).