Cathay route 'change'
 

Hi,

I need some regarding the flights that I have already booked with cathay pacific.

Currently my journey is:

London > Hong Kong > Phuket > Hong Kong > London.

Due to a business trip, I will be in Hong Kong already and therefore will not need to fly return London Hong Kong leg of the flight anymore. (I still want to keep the HK to Phuket return).

I called up Cathay and they told me that it would be a routing change if I didn't fly London to Hk and my flights would be cancelled if I did not show up in London.

Please can anyone help and advise if this is correct and if there is anything I can do please.

I have checked the class of my flights and it is Q and N. I can understand if I need to change days/times/destination, but I simply do not want to not fly the Hong Kong to Phuket part. I cannot see what loss cathay would suffer if I did not fly that part to waste the whole ticket that I have booked. Seems a bit carbon unfriendly to fly all the way back London just to fly back to HK to keep that flight!

THanks

If you skip a segment, all subsequent segments are also gone. This is a common practice. It is analogous for a passenger buying an I fare TPE-HKG-SFO-HKG-TPE, for less than half the price for HKG-SFO-HKG on business, and try to throw away the TPE-HKG segment.

IIRC, hidden cities were allowed in the early 80s until the airlines found that people were taken advantage of it.

I'm confused by the original post.

You have a ticket that is LHR-HKG-HKT-HKG-LHR
What is it that you actually wish to fly now using some segments of this ticket?

Looks like you just want HKG-HKT-HKG.
Can you cancel your original ticket (yes, there will be some fee) and buy a new HKG-HKT return ticket? I'm assuming that your company is buying the LHR-HKG-LHR return ticket for you. If they are really generous and you are changing your vacation plans to accomodate them, then you should be able to get them to pay for the change/refund fee.

I think you are merely adding to the confusion ;)

lumlumah: if your ticket is booked in Q/N then it is unlikely that you will get any refund. Ex-LHR deeply discounted fares are non-refundable, and sometimes the out-bound sector(s) is non-date-changable. Do you need the HKG-LHR segment of the LHR-HKG-HKT-HKG-LHR ticket?

I am aware that I cannot got a refund(as it states on the ticket). Also as my company is paying for my LHR to HKG return flights, so I won't need the HKG - LHR part.

MKE-MR you are right I should see if the company can pay for me. I am paying extra £500 for booking another flight!

All else fails, do you think that it is worth making a fuss with cathay to see whether they would budge on their 'condition's. (which I can't see anywhere that you have to fly all legs of the journey). The price I am paying for HKG-HKT is about £450 at the moment and my original ticket was about £550, so I am paying more than if I had just booked HKG-HKT anyway. Airlines are money grabbers!

Thanks for all your help,

Ooops! Edited.

Don't understand why you could or should make a fuss with CX. Any airline would do the same. This is a nonrefundable ticket and you knew quite well when you bought it. Your travel plans have changed and you cannot use the ticket anymore. Too bad; but your ranting about money grabbers seems to me totally out of place.

Why don't you just change the dates on your LHR-HKG segments and ask your company to pay you for them? If its cheaper than the flight they will book for you anyway, they might go for it...

ex-LHR deep discount ticket does not permit date change of outbound flights, but 50GBP change fee for inbound flights.
Furthermore, this ticket is non-refundable.
So, IMHO, there is no solution.

Do you work for an airline?! The point is I do not want a refund. I do not want to 'change' any flights. I am paying more for the flight than the journey that I would like to do. I simply just want to fly a part of it! Can you not understand that it is very frustrating for a consumer??

welcome to the weird world of airfares - this may make things a bit clearer for you - an oldy but a goody

http://www.netjeff.com/humor/item.cg...rlinepaint.txt

If all else fails (no refund, no date change, no company reimbursement, etc.), then just do a MR - use the company's ticket to go to HKG and back to LHR and accumulate RDM and EQM. Sounds like free RDM and EQM since the company pays for the trip. Then start out your HKT trip fresh. The deeply discounted fare probably does not earn you any miles, but at least you get to spend some time enjoying the in-flight entertainment, away from the family, etc. Again, this is based on if none of the alternatives works.

Sorry that it seems everyone here is against you. However, that is the way airlines work. The limitations are put in place to differentiate travelers who do not change the travel plans (normally vacationers), and business travelers. It is also there to avoid people flying to the hidden cities (higher intermediate points). While your case is different, airlines cannot change the rules because it is difficult to differentiate your case from others.

I have two suggestions:
* Fly back, and take the flight out again.
* If your company forces you to change your vacation plan, they should pay for the new ticket including HKT.

Yea, this is probably the best advice out there. You bought a non-refundable, inflexible ticket for your personal vacation (very understandable)....but if you must be in HKG for business, then I'd say the company owes you the value of your original vacation (LHR-HKT) ticket.