VLJ

Hi all- new to Cathay as we are hoping to get Qantas FF seats for a white Christmas next year and have opted for Banff.
When searching QF the option comes up Perth-HKG-Vancouver in Business on Cathay Pacific - A330 to HKG and 777 to Vancouver.
Would love any recommendations or observations re flying this class on Cathay - have only heard good reports about the airline. Have viewed a video on youtube of the 'new' business class - does that apply to all planes and are they all fully lie flat beds in J?
Unfortunately there is an 8 hour stopover in HKG - this will be a seriously long haul for us - but would assume we have access to the Lounge - however still a long wait for connection.
If anyone has flown this route would love to hear.

SQ421

Both PER-HKG and HKG-YVR should have the new business seats, and as is your impression, the seats are bloody great.

8 hours in HKG while long, need not be boring. You can either duck out into the city/kowloon for a look see around and a bit of a feed, or enjoy the CX lounges on offer in Hong Kong, which you will have access to.

CrazyJ82

You seem to be an experienced FTer, but welcome to our little sandbox here at the Cathay forum.

As SQ421 says, you could be assured of the newest lie-flats on all legs on that route. Once you make your booking, have a search around here for advice on seating. We have an enormous amount of discussion on this issue so reading some of those threads will be helpful.

Also, the Hong Kong city forum on FT has a thread for what to do in the city for a layover of your length. I'd highly recommend getting out of the airport. Unless you're an absolute lounge junkie, you'll start going out of your mind with boredom no matter how much hopping you do.

VLJ

Fantastic, thank you - excuse my ignorance but I did not realise you could leave transit to look around the city? How does that work - do we leave cabin bags in a locker, is there a special pass to leave the terminal as a transit passenger or do you go through customs and immigration and return again?
Also - from experience - do the airlines restrict FF allocations over the Christmas period? We are starting to plan and everything crossed the allocations will be there.
Can only try but if we can't get the award seats in J it will change plans.

TalkFlyer

Y not stopover couple days in HK before heading to a cold country without extra mileage! Fr HKG airport to the colorful city is very convenient by train but hotels in HK is expensive.

Don't worry, CX J seats & services are good!

VLJ

Would love to stay a day or two but QF awards will only offer the seats in J on searches from Perth to Vancouver - not from HKG to Vancouver.
The other option for us is via Mel-LA on Qantas with award points and connecting paid shorter flights Per-Mel and LA-Vancouver where we can break the trip up but it's a bit disjointed.

I have heard so many good reports of Cathay it would be good to have the experience.

TalkFlyer

I'm not sure about QF award but try if there is multi-city stopover selections or talk to a real person may help.
In my mind : PER-HKG 6hrs + 8hrs layover in HKG + HKG-YVR 10+hrs = tiring even in J seat!
Happy travel.

CrazyJ82

You should ask in the QF forum for advice on whether stopovers are allowed on QF redemptions (even though the flights would be on CX, Qantas's rules apply on this kind of thing) and, if they're allowed, whether they can be booked online or on the phone.

As it happens, we have a thread going at the moment about left luggage on layovers. Should be on the first page of the forum. Consensus seems to be that you could leave your carry-ons at the Arrivals lounge, to which you'd have access as a J pax. You would pass through immigration and customs to enter HK and drop your bags at the lounge. But you'll find more info on this in the other thread.

Regarding availability, CX definitely does restrict award availability and it can be hard to come by at peak times. From recent experience (this year) I've found that redemption space, if it opens, is either bookable quite far in advance or quite close in. So in March, I was able to book J awards to/from North America for travel in October and a reasonable selection of dates were available. But applying for upgrades in August for December travel, I sat on a waitlist until just under two weeks before departure. See our "when will award seats become available" thread.

Two disadvantages you'll face redeeming QF points are 1.) AsiaMiles members can waitlist for awards if no space is immediately available, whereas other oneworld members can't, and when space does become available, CX will clear the waitlist first; and 2.) there are reports that when award space does open up, sometimes CX holds it for AM members before opening it up to partners.

Don't despair, but you'll need a great deal of flexibility and perhaps some spare time to devote to regularly checking availability. For Christmas 2014, if your dates are flexible you might stand a decent chance since you'll be able to book quite early.

stephem

I just booked for US Thanksgiving 2014 with BA miles and was able to get 5x business class seats on YVR-HKG on the outbound and LAX-HKG on the return. BA (and I understand QF too) allow you to book CX inventory about 2-3 weeks earlier than the some other OW carriers. So while you may not have first cut at the inventory, you are not at the end of the line either. I look segment by segment, line up my stopovers and then call to make sure I get it done right. I think booking for Dec 1, 2014 is open now, so Christmas bookings are still a few weeks away. Not sure at all about how many award seats they make available over that holiday, we've always had good luck getting 4 or 5 for late November Thanksgiving holidays. Good luck.

VLJ

Thanks so much that is promising.
We have to fly out Dec 15 and arrive home Dec 30 - not very flexible, I know but it is due to work engagements. We may move a day or two either side but this is our wish list.
I will be checking online every day!
Difficult thing is I will have to book one journey two weeks before the other in the hope we manage the return flights as well - but if we wait until both dates are up will miss out altogether. It's a gamble and could lose 5,000 points each if we can't get the return but worth a try.

stephem

That is absolutely what you have to do. A leap of faith as you wait for seats to hopefully open for the return.

BTW- learn the routing and ticketing rules for QF and then be flexible. For example, Alaska Airlines is a QF partner, can you book a mixed CX/AS ticket? If so, you have tons more options, you can fly HKG-SFO or HKG-LAX and use Alaska to connect to Canada. I can tell you it's easier to get multiple seats on HKG-LAX and that's why we have to fly back HKG-LAX instead of HKG-YVR.

bensyd

I'm currently in transit SYD-LHR and on a 9 hour (voluntary) layover in HKG. I met up with friends in town for dinner. Depending on which way/where you're flying breaking up the trip can work very well. I find flying to Europe I like a layover (early AM flight ex-SYD, late PM departure HKG) and coming home I prefer to fly straight through. Don't ask me why but it just seems to reduce the jetlag for me. Can't help Tpac as I always fly straight through on QF.

IMO, on an 8 hour layover get out of the airport if at all possible. You're going to be sitting on your bum for a long time, so take the time to go and stretch your legs and 8 hours really is a very, very long time to be in a lounge, even though they are excellent. HKG is one of the places you can literally just take the train into town and be in a sea of humanity.

As others have said, CX is excellent. I do a few flights up to Europe/year and tend to rotate between SQ/CX/BA depending on pricing. CX is what I prefer though.

kaka

Since you are flying J (assuming you're australian/canadian by passport, you can just enter as a visitor - the immigrations dont care if you are on a flight transit or not, as long as you are passport eligible to enter HK), you could go to the Arrivals lounge and try store your bags there, take a shower then head into town. see HK forum on what to do, but try take the AEx and go to Central to have a meal (or 2) and walk around HK. head back into the airport 2-2.5 hours before flight departure, pick up your bags and head back into the sterile area.

PS. yes, you can access all OW-operated business lounges in HK (CX and QF).

VLJ

All your comments are very helpful, thank you.

I managed to secure two seats in J, PER-HKG-YVR on QFF redemption. We will do as suggested and go into the city for the evening and return to continue the journey.

However in the QF Manage My Booking section - there is no option to select seats on these CX flights and when you click on the aircraft type all wordings say 'null' even though the flight numbers, departure, arrival and flight times are there and confirmation of booking etc. I would like to see the aircraft and seat arrangement - and that they are all the newer arrangement and lie flat for the entire journey, I feel fairly confident they are due to earlier comments about being the newer aircraft.

Will now be waiting to book seats for return leg, hopefully YVR-HKG-PER however the avails don't seem to be there so much for the return - and may have to look at LAX-MEL-PER on QF which will cost us an extra day in travel to get to LAX.

IanFromHKG

If you are a golfer, there is a fabulous little 9-hole course on the airport site. http://www.nine-eagles.com/eng/

Well worth it ;-)