jgold

I’m sorry if this has been asked before, but I’ve searched and haven’t found the answer. I’m flying in economy HKG-PEK and PVG-HKG on a CX codeshare, with Dragonair as the operating carrier. Since I’m OW Sapphire, am I entitled to check in on the business class line and use the (Cathay or Dragonair) lounge? Also, since I gather that Dragonair is owned by CX, do I check in on the Dragonair line or the CX one? (The ability to use the business class line for check-in matters to me here since I have fairly tight connections, which may be a problem if I have to use the economy check-in line for Dragonair.)

Many thanks.

Kiwi Flyer

Dragonair is a Oneworld member airline and so normal Oneworld status benefits apply.

1) Yes business check in.
2) Yes Cathay/Dragonair business lounges
3) As ever, check in is with the operating airline.


[mod hat on]

These questions are specific to Dragonair, so moving the thread to the CX forum for future reference.

Kiwi Flyer
OW moderator

QRC3288

I'm not sure if it's regularly checked, but I wrote a recent post and suggestion about this in the "questions for the CX faq". Specifically, many fliers are

a.) Not aware to even go to the CX forum for information on Dragonair
b.) Once they get here, not aware Dragonair is a fully-owned affiliate of CX, and basically all rights entitled to OW and CX status pax are given to them when flying on KA metal, just as with CX.

Yes yes, if people go to websites and such and such they can figure it out, but if the problem is routine (as it seems to be, just talking informally with US/Europeans travelling through Asia many seem to have no idea about the connection and ask similar questions as the OP) then I think we might be able to engineer this in a more user-friendly way. Dummy-proofing, so to speak.

mosburger

One thing to be aware though are the separate IT systems at CX and KA. I have had some issues with that when booking seats on both airlines within the same itinerary.

scubadu

Technically speaking, I don't believe that Dragonair is an actual, official, Oneworld member, but is rather a Oneworld affiliate.

See here: http://www.oneworld.com/ow/member-airlines

and here:
http://www.oneworld.com/ow/member-ai...ine-affiliates

Agreed that status benefits apply and I suppose the distinction might seem meaningless, but it must mean something (if only behind the scenes) or the Oneworld organization would simply call everyone "members" and they wouldn't bother with the term "affiliate."

Regards

jgold

Many thanks to Kiwi Flyer and others for their help. Part of why I posted this question was that I went to the OW website and got a bit stymied by the OW "member"/"affiliate" distinction. Anyway, I appreciate the very quick response (I'm even okay with being alluded to as a "dummy"!). Thanks.

frequentflyerupfront

why does OP not check in on line to save time if running tight connections ?

UncleDude

Perhaps there has to be a Visual check to ensure OP has correct Visa for China.

jgold

Thanks very much for the suggestions everyone. I will definitely look into checking in online to save time, if that's possible. Thanks again.