PovertyStrickenFlyer

As my username suggest I'm looking to fly back and forth on the cheap, I need to fly back and forth between Hong Kong and New York 8 to 10 times a year for the next few years but only have a budget to spend about 200k-ish HKD on it. Definitely not talking business class there but it doesn't have to be back of the bus either. Would it be best to split this between business and bog standard economy or would it be better to fly premium economy. Both cases I think I'm going to be hoping for upgrades most of the time so hence the question, would there be any chance and would there be a way to improve it? The goal would be to appear somewhat fresh to give presentations. I'd buy Marco Polo green and self importantly wave it around if it'd help at all.

Regrettably increasing the travel budget is not an option; when she realises the loss of income the missus will probably make unhappy noises as is!

G-CIVC

PEY to J op up is relatively easy (OK, not so easy for MPGR but there's always a chance). So you can buy PEY roundtrips HKG-NYC, which I think is around 21k HKD/30k HKD for E/R class. In addition, for R class you can upgrade using Asia Miles at a rate of around one roundtrip upgrade per 2.xx roundtrips.

Business class within the 20k-30k range is not impossible; but you will have to start from an outport, I think TPE/ICN/CAN/BKK/KUL are good candidates, in descending order. Of course, you can opt to fly HKG-DFW-LGA or HKG-LAX-JFK with AA, the latter which I think is a good idea with good timing, product and lounge options.

Rami Tamimi

The poor CX staff should expect a DYKWIA very soon then.

PovertyStrickenFlyer

Does that mean it actually helps? I'd rather hope not but am not sufficiently familiar with the airline to tell.

PovertyStrickenFlyer

Will have to check out your suggestion of a stop at DFW or LAX, I only looked at the 10-across, 31" pitch seats and assumed they'd not be too healthy for someone of my size.

garykung

Regardless of airlines, op-up are rare. Most of the time will be impossible unless you spend your miles.

The ultimate way to improve your chance is to become a DM.

Keep in mind - you will have to earn SL first, and then GO, and then DM.

It won't. But CX does not mean taking your money at all.

QRC3288

Hoping will not help you. Green will not either. You will need an op-up, but they are indeed rare. We talk about them all the time but in nearly 9 years as a CX Diamond, I'd say my long-term op-up rate across a massive # of flights, classes and routes is perhaps ~15-20%. If you're a Green I'd bet your rate is <5%. It varies based on the macro economy, which routes / flight times you frequent, and so many other factors. For example if you were to solely fly HKG-MNL in Y class as a DM, I'd say your op-up rate would be much higher. Even as a Green or SL I bet you could get regular op-ups on that route. Whereas if you're flying HKG-SFO in J on the daytime flight....which has no F....you will never get one (because F doesn't exist!) You get the point. It can vary massively.

To/from JFK, the op-up rate from PEY to J is reported on here to be quite good. That sounds like the best strategy to me: Buy PEY. Some posters have reported 30-50% op-ups rates on that route. Not to mention, you'll be accruing ~18k Asia Miles each round trip...so every 5 sectors you buy you can effectively upgrade 2 sectors. If you are really flying this heavily, you can have nearly guaranteed (provided you have a little schedule flexibility, to ensure availability) 40% in J class just buying PEY and upgrading to J. And the other 3/5 times I'd reckon you could score at least one op-up, especially because you'll be SL soon enough with that type of flying pattern. Does this make sense?

Unless you're willing to start at an outport (you can count on fares ex-TPE for say 3.5-4k USD), you will quickly blow your budget flying J and it's not sustainable. At the absolute cheapest I thought I once found a 5k USD fare ex-HKG to JFK, maybe? In reality the fares are more like 7-10k USD. I would pay for PEY if I were you.

Review this https://www.asiamiles.com/am/en/redeem/charts, and do some searching around here. Good luck.

Other resources are our FAQ (top, sticky thread in this forum) and this website which we maintain CX Fleet, Routes and Configuration Types. 77H is the 77W variant that serves JFK exclusively, while 77G is the 77W variant that serves EWR exclusively. The main differences are no F on 77G, but subtly I think 77H is better for op-ups because 77H has way more premium seats vs basic economy seats. So CX has more "wiggle room" if the premium PEY, J and F classes haven't sold. 77G has fewer premium seats.

mxr

If I were you with that budget I would probably look into flying with UA and become a regular on HKG-EWR instead.
You will be 1k in no time, get 6 confirmed upgrades Y to J and you can regularly upgrade with ~500$ and about 30000 miles every two roundtrips basically.

fakecd

some Y are more bearable and humane than others. check out Japan air Y class.

buying ex hkg PEY at 20-25k hkd is the biggest ripoff of all times and you are exact Prey CX is trying to cannibalize on. dont fall for it. dont forget you need R or W class which are more expensive PEY subclass that allows points upgrade. you can get JAL PEY or even J on sale for it.

skyscanner.net offes quick view of fares. you see why i hate CX pricing policy.

1010101

Upgrades are rare on New York flights. Planes are full and lots of businesses pay J and F.

If you know your advance dates now you can book AA business for ~20k. CX is EXTREMELY expensive ex-HKG to anywhere in the USA.

rienhart87

i was extremely fortunate (and grateful of course) that I got upgraded 3x on PVG-HKG-SFO and JFK-HKG-PVG itinerary (i flew AC between SFO and JFK with a transit in YYZ). HKG-SFO was from premium eco to J, JFK-HKG was from premium eco to J, and HKG-PVG was from eco to J

in conclusion, I think my experience is more an outlier / luck than a general practice when flying CX

sscywong

So basically you have only around HK$20K per trip... I'd also go for PEY route if I'm you....

Or, if you really do want to fly business and don't care about status / miles etc, you may consider to buy from those award ticket seller

Since the legality is doubtful I'll stop discuss further... You can search for those sites by searching discount business etc...

Herostratus

Fly American Airlines via Dallas. As long as you book decently far in advance a ticket in J is HKD20-25k round trip ( currently HKD21.5k if booked more than a month in advance) and you earn aprox 22k Asia Miles per roundtrip although it may be better to join the American frequent flyer program if you are going to purchase 10 of these trips. The seat in J is exactly the same as the CX J seat and the food is much better (gobsmackingly so!) The overall flight time is about 5-6 hours longer but the flatbed makes this bearable plus there is a break in Dallas. A mattress and Pyjamas are given to J passengers which does not happen on CX. Also there is no extremely annoying mid-flight lights-on meal service. The mid flight snack is done in the dark (decent beef sliders were served on my last flight) With the other meals being served after takeoff and just before landing. Bar the shorter flight time I can’t think of any benefit to flying CX on this route especially at four times the price of a J ticket.

If you do decide to book this flight make sure your flight from DFW to NYC has a different flight number to the HKG-DFW otherwise you will only earn miles for HKG-NYC direct, ignoring the DFW stop. (costing aprox 4k miles)

AC340-541

In my experience, JFK is one of the hardest routes to get an op-up to J from PEY (I've never had one). I've had much more success through YVR and LAX. I've not flown via YYZ but have heard a high success rate for that route also. For JFK flights, I've resigned myself to be happy with what I've paid for

hl176

I've had a friend who get's upgraded from PEY to J about 30/70 times as a non-elite CX pax. IIRC, she doesn't even have AM registered and is a AF frequenter.

Travel time on CX is usually a roundtrip during winter holidays and a one way to HKG in June annually. She travels on AF from CDG to JFK when school resumes.