helloguys

Looking to fly a few days before Christmas from JFK-Asia and back after New Year.

Seems like flights are priced cheapest at around 2k for outbound around Dec 18-22 right now. When I look at outbound early December, flights are about 1.3k for V-class. Is it possible to book a V-class early December, pay change fee and get a seat with MPC seat guarantee on flights right before Christmas? That way, it looks cheaper than having to buy outright for the peak travel period...

sscywong

Beware. Usually low season discount tickets have blackout days which you can't get around even you pay change fee

hanahiro

Be very aware. Most likely you will not only need to pay the change fee, but also the ticket price delta of the dates you change to and from.

CrazyJ82

Is the 2k fare you see on your dates a V fare? If you can use a seat guarantee there's no point in paying the change fee. They'll already sell you the lowest V fare that's published for your dates and I don't think you can get around that the way you envision.

77W_12A

I agree with the previous responses. If that's the case where you book the V fare for say 8.12 and then decide to change it to 22.12 to avoid the higher fare, then everyone would be doing that.

DieselYVR

I aksed this question when booking an "I" fare HKG<>YVR over Christmas for this year. I was specifically told that, even if another day had "I" fare open, if I wanted to change it there would likely be a fare difference. Difference in this case was around HK$6000.

pvgman

I had (a lot of) luck in buying last minute tickets, but if you really need to be there for your dates and can't afford to pay what can also potentially be an higher price than now, Then buy it now.

Changing ticket before departure will always involve a recalculation the fare to the one available the day of you change, even if in the same bucket (V) prices could have important spread.

kaka

riding on the replies above, look into using miles. you might be able to score one.

helloguys

I am looking to fly around 18-22 Dec. How likely are award J seats (JFK, BOS) are gonna open closer in?

CrazyJ82

I've had J space open (for an upgrade award) before in that period. I've had it not open.

If you must go, I'd advise looking for cash tickets whether on CX or another carrier if they're cheaper and cost is an issue. Others might be less risk averse but it's really up to each individual.

GE90-115B

CX decided to send a 77H instead of the usual 77G to operate CX829 on December 20th, meaning there is now a 50% increase in capacity being sold as J class as a result of the 77H's 13 additonal J seats and 6 F seats up front being sold as J class. Yet prices on Dec 20 are raised compared to other days of the week. The demand is clearly at Y and Y+, especially since business travel demand lowers during Xmas.

Meanwhile at the back, Y is being shown as overbooked and Y+ is close to being full. This flight will just become at opup heaven if CX can't fill the additional J capacity. Wonder if CX will wake up to this realization and change the flight back to 77G.

But back on topic, despite the 5x daily flights out of NYC, the days leading up to Xmas is always tough on waitlists. CX always has the mentality that flights will eventually fill up with money despite the actual loadings suggesting otherwise. You may be better off expecting waitlists to not clear and just attempt an instant upgrade at the airport. I was able to snag an award through wait listing once for a flight around Xmas, but I would consider that datapoint to be an anomaly.

Carrie So

Change fees aside, the price of a Dec 0X V-fare would be different from a Dec 1X-2X V-fare already.

One's shoulder season, one' peak season.

cxfan1960

Correct - not all Vs are equal. Different seasons, weekends and weekdays are all different.

sin3386

Last year I booked on to the CX254 on the day that the term finishes. The flight was overbook because of far too many home sick kids wanted to see their parents in HK. CX was offering few hundreds pounds for each passenger who was willing to take the flight on the following morning instead. If I have taken it, I can get to HK for the price of a low season return ticket.

wrldtrav2013

i agree, when flying from LHR to HKG for Christmas on the 23rd, J and Y+ were quite empty. I got op-ed up from Y, knowing that it was going to be overbooked.