brunos

We all complain about high pricing from HKG. But CX is now quite competitive in pricing J and F fares from Europe.
They used to have periodic sales, but it seems that their new policy is to have a continuous sale with 30, 60 or 90 days advance purchase. What is also new is that the fares are now quite flexible.
For example, I can fly from CDG in J to Tokyo or Bangkok for about EUR2,200 tax included (around HKD18,000). Two stopovers are possible in HKG for EUR100, date change is 100, refund fee 200. 3 months validity.
Same in F for BKK at 4,029 (HKD33,300) with no stopover or change fees and only 100 refund fee. one year validity.

janwillem

Has been like this for a while. I have routinely bought AMS-PVG for around 1750 euros return in J in the last couple of years. Great value.

QRC3288

Oh man this is brutal to read. We just get hosed based in HK. 4K Euros for F class?!?! Did I read that right?

brunos

AMS has always been a cheap origin where "sales" were regularly available. But not so for CDG which is a very high-cost origin.
I have been regularly tracking CX France website and they only introduced their 30, 60, 90 discount in 2016. Also, the fare conditions were much more restrictive for their sale flights to Asia (like only one paid stopover in HKG or none). I wanted to use their discount F fare last summer. But it had a very short validity (max 2 months). Now validity for J is 3 months and 1 year for F.

In the past I could never use the infrequent CX sales from CDG because their fare conditions were too restrictive for me. Now they are fine and sales have been ongoing for months.
Also, their Life Well Travelled Pass (sold in conjonction with the longhaul) allows for cheap travel in business class throughout Asia with the same flexibility as the longhaul ticket.

Clearly CX is trying to win back customers in Europe. HKG origin is a very different issue as fares are so high ex-HKG and they have a dominant position there. If they offer attractive sales, it will push fares down for everyone. But note that HK corporate fares are much below public fares (again taking flexibility fare conditions into account). SO they are trying hard to attract corporate business.

rienhart87

I purchased a return trip DUS-HKG-PVG-HKG-DUS in PE for 889 euro net for departure in May. I think this is a very good price

dunflyer

Yeah would have costed you slightly cheaper to purchase miles elsewhere but this is revenue tic..... oh well...

QRC3288

my heavens!

i really didn't realize prices were this cheap out of europe these days.

gpia

A number of friends booked the ex-DUS promo end of last year for 349€ = ~2.900 HKD return, all in. 11 of them were on the same plane at this price, so it wasn't exactly limited to a couple of seats either.

brunos

Of course, fares vary a lot depending on origin.
In business class, AMS is very cheap EUR1,1695 (HKD14,000), but no F. Germany is currently expensive in F, but not in J. UK is quite expensive.

Ir could be that Paris is cheap because CX is adding frequency and AF is retreating (used to have 2 flights, then 1 A380 and now 1 77W).
But I used to fly primarily QR CDG-HKG and am now switching to CX. The mediocre CX food/wine is more than offset by the nonstop and fares are of the same magnitude.

sxc

When is this available? Only during sales? I couldn't see it for some dates that I'm looking at (August return December)

christep

As brunos noted above, the J fares are only 3 months validity.

QRC3288

regardless, i am very appreciative for the information!

And regarding AF, I agree the capacity cuts suck (CDG and ZRH are my top destinations in Europe these days), but the upside is Air France has this lovely F class on their 77W, which doesn't seem available on the A380. I am not an AF expert but I have done two F flights on 77W, and the cabin was definitely superior to the F I flew on their A380.

Regardless these cheap fares are good to know for CX ex-France or AMS. I doubt I can take advantage of them but something to think about no matter what.

brunos

AF A380 has first-generation F flat bed. No privacy, little screen, etc.. AF has retrofitted one row of 4 new F seats on 19 of its 777s. A380 has old non-flat J seats, Retrofitted 77W has new CX-like J seats. The problem with AF is equipment uncertainty. They frequently change ac schedule, so they could decide to replace a 77W by a 380 in the coming months. In the winter schedule they had a mix of A380 and 77W depending on the day (and on last-munite changes). When retrofit is complete later this year, the risk for a J pax is also that a significant portion of the 777 fleet will not be retrofitted. All Airbuses are currently with old seats and a possible retrofit has not started yet.

dodgeflyer

A few things. Ex-HK is not the same as ex-LON or ex-AMS. My last ticket to Pvg from Lhr was £12,000 (yes, in J) so it is not always cheap. Ex-HK to LON or AMS to HND is definitely not the same as ex-Hkg to a European city CX flies direct to.

Home carrier is nearly always more expensive. Ironically BA was £4K less on my trip however sold out.

Edit: a price for BKK is more normal around €1,400 from Europe so still makes CX expensive for that destination.

brunos

I think that we are all aware of the basics. No news that fares depends on the point of departure or that airlines try to see high fares from their home base. Similarly, one cannot globalize Europe and talk about a "normal" fare to BKK in J for €1,400. if you can find that from CDG "normally', I would be very pleased.

My point is that CX used to have high fares from Europe (let's avoid the scandinavian special market). They were not competitive and solely promoting their quality. I was just illustrating that they have changed strategy and becoming much more agressive in terms of pricing. I am not claiming that they are the cheapest from Europe to Asia (although their recent fares exCDG are close to cheapest).
But they have become proactive on pricing and that is good news.