Happy

I have seen 7/9, or 8/9 on the SFO-HKG route. This actually got me worry that it would go the way YYZ-HKG did, or at least one flight would be J/Y+/Y flight.

Ragnarok

Make sense to book F using AA miles, not so much with BA Avios (2x Coach miles for Business, 3x miles for F) , especially with CX's nicer new J product

fflyer1

unfortunately I am neither able to find seats on either the SYD or the FRA route

gemino

First of all, nice info everyone.
I encountered same problem, how much they charge you for taking both J/Y?

my plan is
1. HKG > LAX > YVR > HKG or
2. HKG > YVR > LAX > HKG
I can see lot of seats are now open for redeem in both cities.
But normally only F for YVR and J for LAX
if I claim HKG > YVR in F
and then LAX > HKG in J
how much miles will they charge me per person? if you mix your classes.

Orwaid

The real answer is not to plan specific dates but to plan a specific time period within a larger time period. For example, one week between October 1-15.

This has actually worked very well for me in years past. If I am visiting friends, I just find out a 2-4 week period that they will be home.

CX F or J will open up at least 2-3 days a week 5-10 days before departure, except for prime time (Christmas, Ramadan, etc).

ernestnywang

Are you using AM to redeem? In your case, one-way J + one-way F (175k mi) is slightly less than round-trip F (180k mi). You can also include the AS segment into the award.

jamienbaker

Completely agree. Last nights 0120 departure JFKHKG had 4 available. I'm planning to redeem awards this September for next August, I certainly hope JFK doesn't go the way of YYZ and see F cabin(s) withdrawn. Not terribly worried about it, but your exact thought passed through my mind as I realized what a mistake it was to go to Europe instead of Asia this month.

Btw, August 2013 strategy is to book 2 in F, 2 in J, then start monitoring for additional F awards at T-14.

gemino

Yes using my AM
Thanks for the info, hope I can nail the tix in last 48hrs

Happy

It also depends on gateways.

Take US gateways, LAX does not see much last minute release. YVR also is hard to come by. ORD is a hit or miss also. However JFK is fair game, and SFO is downright unbelievably available.

If one can fly at the drop of a hat, one can always find F from JFK or SFO - the issue actually is more about HOW to get from your home airport to the gateway when there often has no Saaver award seats for the domestic route(s).

Orwaid

Yes, that is true.

I am a west coaster,so I usually used AS and AS miles to get to a CX west coast gateway.

jamienbaker

I'm JFK based, and usually fund with AA miles. My decision is whether to book JFKHKG nonstop and obsess over whether additional F seats will be released, or book JFKSFO/SFOHKG with significantly greater probability of F on the 744. Issue with that is it introduces connection risk in the summer (weather, not to mention 767-200s), and extends elapsed time (flying with kids who are comfortable with the JFKHKG nonstop though I've never pushed their travel day longer than that). It also slightly reduces caviar time

Considering I routinely hire a chase van to follow me on the drive to JFK in case we have an accident, the idea of building in a gratuitous connection seems pretty high risk to me.

Safe travels - Jamie

gemino

Just a quick follow up.
I nailed 3x J class HKG>YVR for 9th Aug just 2 hours ago. (36hrs before flight depart) I've been checking website like every 20mins since Monday morning

... crazy experience.

percysmith

I listed every J seat on the outbound and return last night:

HKG-YVR 1 seat in J for the next year

7 Aug
8 Aug
10 Aug (F)
11 Aug (F)
12 Aug
14 Aug (F)
19 Aug (F)
26 Aug (F)
13 Sep (F)
14 Sep (F)
18 Sep (F)
20 Sep (F)
9 Oct
10 Oct (F)
11 Oct (F)
12 Oct (F)
27 Oct (F)
7 Nov
9 Nov
14 Nov (F)
17 Nov (F)
19 Nov (F)
21 Nov (F)
24 Nov (F)
4 Dec (F)
18 Dec (F)
17 Jan (F)
18 Jan (F)
29 Jan (F)
30 Jan (F)
13 Feb (F)
18 Feb (F)
27 Feb
3 Mar (F)
4 Mar (F)
5 Mar (F)
7 Mar
8 Mar (F)
12 Mar
14 Mar
19 Mar (F)
20 Mar
21 Mar
22 Mar (F)
28 Mar (F)
29 Mar (F)
31 Mar (F)
2 Apr (F)
3 Apr (F)
4 Apr
6 Apr (F)
8 Apr (F)
9 Apr (F)
10 Apr (F)
11 Apr
12 Apr (F)
14 Apr (F)
16 Apr (F)
17 Apr (F)
18 Apr (F)
20 Apr (F)
21 Apr (F)
23 Apr
24 Apr (F)
25 Apr (F)
29 Apr (F)
30 Apr
1 May
2 May (F)
6 May (F)
7 May
8 May
9 May
11 May (F)
13 May (F)
21 May
22 May
23 May
28 May
29 May
30 May
2 Jun (F)
3 Jun (F)
4 Jun
5 Jun
6 Jun
8 Jun (F)
9 Jun (F)
10 Jun (F)
11 Jun (F)
12 Jun
13 Jun (F)
15 Jun (F)
16 Jun (F)
17 Jun (F)
18 Jun (F)
19 Jun
20 Jun (F)
22 Jun (F)
23 Jun (F)
24 Jun (F)
25 Jun
26 Jun
27 Jun
28 Jun (F)
1 Jul (F)
2 Jul
3 Jul
4 Jul (F)
5 Jul (F)
6 Jul (F)
7 Jul
8 Jul (F)
9 Jul (F)
10 Jul
11 Jul
12 Jul (F)
14 Jul
15 Jul (F)
17 Jul (F)
18 Jul (F)
19 Jul (F)
20 Jul (F)
21 Jul
22 Jul (F)
23 Jul
24 Jul
25 Jul
26 Jul (F)
27 Jul (F)
28 Jul (F)
29 Jul (F)

percysmith

YVR-HKG 1 seat in J for the next year

7 Aug
8 Aug
9 Aug (F)
10 Aug (F)
11 Aug (F)
12 Aug (F)
5 Sep (F)
21 Sep (F)
25 Jan
28 Jan
29 Jan
31 Jan
6 Feb
28 Feb
6 Mar
11 Mar
12 Mar
13 Mar
17 Mar (F)
19 Mar
20 Mar
21 Mar
22 Mar
25 Mar
26 Mar
29 Mar
31 Mar (F)
1 Apr (F)
9 Apr
10 Apr
11 Apr
12 Apr
16 Apr
17 Apr
18 Apr
19 Apr
20 Apr (F)
22 Apr
23 Apr
24 Apr
25 Apr
26 Apr
27 Apr (F)
29 Apr
30 Apr
1 May
2 May
3 May
4 May (F)
6 May
7 May
8 May
9 May
10 May
11 May (F)
13 May
14 May
15 May
16 May
17 May
18 May (F)
20 May (F)
21 May
22 May
23 May
25 May (F)
27 May
28 May
29 May
30 May
1 Jun (F)
3 Jun
4 Jun
5 Jun
6 Jun
8 Jun (F)
10 Jun
11 Jun
12 Jun
13 Jun
14 Jun
15 Jun (F)
16 Jun (F)
17 Jun
18 Jun
19 Jun
20 Jun
21 Jun
22 Jun
24 Jun
25 Jun
26 Jun
27 Jun
28 Jun
29 Jun (F)
1 Jul
2 Jul
3 Jul
4 Jul
5 Jul
6 Jul
8 Jul
9 Jul
10 Jul
11 Jul
12 Jul
13 Jul (F)
15 Jul
16 Jul
17 Jul
18 Jul
19 Jul
20 Jul (F)
22 Jul

percysmith

There's good availability in this and 12th month, with spotty availability in between (very spotty if you don't have the miles for F).

BTW is there an easier way to do this than to play with Marco Polo site week by week? Is EF or KVS any help with year-long one-seat searches?