Premium CX awards from HK to Australia
Apr 6, 2011, 3:00 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: USA
Programs: AA Platinum DL PLat, CO Gold,US Gold Avis Chairman, Centurion Amex
Posts: 11
Premium CX awards from HK to Australia
I have been trying to book premium award C or F seats without success from HK to Sydney the day they are "supposedly" released. I have been using the KVS tool and find lots of Y seats but no F or C on CX. I do see C and F seats on other CX routes , just not down under. Any suggestions or similar experiences? Does CX hold these for a later date or just make Y seats available as awards to Australia?
Thanks
Thanks
Apr 6, 2011, 4:24 pm
#2
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 19,589
For some routes CX holds high-demand seats and releases them upon request (usually that means you need MPC status and use Asiamiles; I'm guessing your are redeeming via AA). Closer to the date if there is soft demand then they will be released. This can vary from 6 months before travel date to the day before, so you need date flexibility. Alternatively, you could go HKG-SIN-SYD/MEL/BNE/PER or via BKK or NRT, these will have more availability on some flights.
Apr 6, 2011, 9:39 pm
#4
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Portland OR Double Emerald (QF and AA), DL PM/MM, Starwood Plat
Posts: 19,589
CX did bring back F to AKL of all strange places and has seasonal F to JNB, so maybe SYD will get F again "any year now". MEL already does via QF MEL-HKG service, strange that SYD-HKG cannot sustain F, it has come and gone over the years.
Apr 7, 2011, 4:43 am
#6
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Sydney, Australia
Programs: MH Enrich, VS FC, HH Gold, PC, SPG Gold, Marco Polo Gold, Accor Plat
Posts: 1,104
Yeah I logged into Asiamiles and very difficult to get SYD-HKG-SYD in J reward. Need to be VERY flexible with dates. I think they mainly open up last minute which won't suit my holiday plans!
Apr 7, 2011, 6:47 am
#9
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: SYD and (sometimes) MEL
Programs: QP Silver; CX MPC Green; Virgin AusRed
Posts: 694
Originally Posted by k3nnis
Is the syd-hkg-syd ALWAYS on the new config?
From 1 June, three CX110/111 services per week and two CX162/161 services per week will have the new J product (with CX110/111 going daily and CX162/161 increasing to four services per week from August 1st).
Apr 7, 2011, 7:05 am
#10
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Sydney
Programs: QF WP/LTS
Posts: 133
I have booked redemption SYD-HKG-SYD in J a number of times in the past year with no real issue, though use QFF points, so not sure if that's the reason.
I generally book 4-10 weeks prior to the trip, and have noticed that at a point in that period CX seem to release a load of redemption seats. If you look around the time of that release choice of date and even flight is pretty good. I have done bookings for 2 pax as well which indicates the number of available seats.
The only time that I have never found seats is when you have a public holiday falling in school holidays - obviously a peak. But other than those times, as long as I've been reasonably flexible (say +/- 3 days) I've been fine, and generally been able to get my preferred day if not flight.
I generally book 4-10 weeks prior to the trip, and have noticed that at a point in that period CX seem to release a load of redemption seats. If you look around the time of that release choice of date and even flight is pretty good. I have done bookings for 2 pax as well which indicates the number of available seats.
The only time that I have never found seats is when you have a public holiday falling in school holidays - obviously a peak. But other than those times, as long as I've been reasonably flexible (say +/- 3 days) I've been fine, and generally been able to get my preferred day if not flight.
Apr 7, 2011, 8:07 pm
#12
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: CX Green, QF Platinum, BAEC Silver, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 10,780
The only time that I have never found seats is when you have a public holiday falling in school holidays - obviously a peak. But other than those times, as long as I've been reasonably flexible (say +/- 3 days) I've been fine, and generally been able to get my preferred day if not flight.
I guess I can't go during school holidays
Apr 8, 2011, 3:01 am
#15
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,802