abhilife2001

Its a relative thing I guess.. FWIW, $1000 is not worth it for me too, $400-500 would be something I would consider, but seems like its more of a simple price difference between the fare classes and not some discounted offers given by few other airlines.

Will check with CX directly too and see what they will offer.
Thanks for all the inputs provided here. appreciated.

LoveHateRelationship

I did ask the GA once about buying an upgrade from YVR-HKG on my V fare. She looked it up and quoted me $550 CAD up to PEY. Not sure if they dealt with that as a fare change. Anyways, it never hurts to ask.

Zacnlinc

I'm on the fence if I need to book two separate tickets online to get PE from SFO to ICN.

When I try to book such a reservation, I get error messages indicating that the class of service isn't available and it bumps me up to J. But if I book SFO-HKG and then HKG-ICN I get two options: purchase economy with the option to "upgrade on the pre-sale" or booking into PE initially. What's up with requesting PE on the same flights if I book identical flights but book it as SFO-ICN?

Too bad CX doesn't offer the option to "up-sale me".

ernestnywang

Is loading pretty tight on your flight? Perhaps there's no seat for W if you book as a connection due to Married Segment Control (MSC). Of course, it could also be a technical glitch. Try to call CX.

Zacnlinc

Thanks... I ended up just extending the non-PE departure date by a day (Fri->Sat) and it's all good.

Ended up working out pretty well. In the end it ended up costing just approx. $500 more to purchase PE vs. Y when I factored in the seat selection/extra leg-room fees per leg. Also the same cost as if I booked it directly with AA too. AA wanted that fare for just a FLEX Y tickets though. Also I'd have an over-night lay over in DFW on both legs too... Nope!! Now the speculations of how to get into J with OWE status, Wondering if upgrading at checking will be slightly better than just upfaring at this point since my departure to ICN is a mere five weeks away at this point.

QRC3288

Depending on the fare class, you can upgrade to J class with Asia Miles (no other currency). W and E eligible for upgrade, R not. WRONG; W and R are eligible, E not. Written later thx etkuo for pointing out my typo. Basically the 2 expensive classes are eligible, the cheap one no.

Otherwise your options are straightforward: pay cash fare difference, or hope for op-up. Op-up will only happen if PEY is oversold, which can happen both if PEY is oversold or Y is oversold by more than there are PEY seats. Obviously the odds are never high, and CX Diamonds and Golds are in front of you, but as far as low odds things go you're "at the high chance side of a low odds outcome". That's because PEY is probably the highest chance longhaul class to get op upped from, and because it isn't a heavy class with CX elites. CX elites particularly DMs and GO tend to be in J and F. Or Y. One reason is there are far better deals on PEY out of outports. Ex-HKG it has historically been priced stupidly expensive.

etkuo

Zacnlinc

@QRC3288 & @etkuo: Thanks... Much appreciate your inputs.

Now I'm just wondering how I'll fit into the possible upgrading scheme as a OWE. Am I to be treated like a CX Gold or after all CX elites have been dealt with. My work travels have me heading over to HKG a lot more this year and I'm growing tired of having to fly to LAX to get to HKG when I could depart with CX for the nonstop. Also am on the fence if I should just do a status challenge with CX or tough it out to maintain EXP for the OWE status as I do head over to Europe often enough that BA has been treating me very well.

Now I just need to decide if I want to put in a bit for J on the connection legs of my flight (HKG-ICN-HKG) for $850+ USD for it to be considered a good bid or just be happy if selected for the op-up if one (or two) come my way for these segments.

andersonCooper

I would say don't have your hope up as CX operates fairly differently from AA, who tends to fill premium cabins (especially for non-revs). Even with CX GO my friends don't get upgraded for the HKG-LAX route often. CX rarely upgrades when there was no oversold(or, CX mostly op-up because of oversold). Despite we saw a lot of BOS-HKG upgrade reports on FT, the overall probability is slim. The practical way might be to go with R or W fares and transfer some AMEX points to AM.

Zacnlinc

Thanks for this info too... As I've come to expect, any upgrades are to be considered with much gratitude. I booked PE and am expecting PE. Anything more is appreciated. Anything less, I'm thankful if it gets me to my destinations on time firstly. I'll have to explore the R and W fare route next time. Currently, I'm booked with E fares. Hoping that accounts for "something" as well as OWE status.

andersonCooper

You'll for sure get ISM greetings, if you end up at PEY. Sometimes FA will let you choose meals first among the entire cabin which could be embarrassing. ("Mr. XXX, would you like something to drink first? Any main course you would like?" while half of the cabin could hear it...).

CX's upgrade policy is to leave the J seats open rather than upgrading for no reason (birthday, MPC anniversary etc, if no oversold). I believe this is consistent with the majority of the airlines.

R and W fares, by the way, are similar to heavily discounted J fares (~$3.5k between NA and HKG), while AM sometimes could only waitlist you under capacity control. Recently my EWR-HKG flights J were all sold out.

cxfan1960

Birthday and milestone upgrades for MPC members only, possible SL or GO & above. That is not applicable for other OWEs.

R fare SFO-HKG-SFO is around USD2.3K while the lowest business fare is usually still above USD5K. @Zacnlinc If you don't have Asia Miles for upgrade redemption, there is no reason to try R & W. Higher fare will not increase op-up chance.

andersonCooper

Fully aware of this when I made the mistake last time

I was just reading through the May promotion and did a dummy. The quote was for summer NYC - HKG RT R fare for $3,456.12 (just did a dummy for SFO, July 17/24, $2,999). But in Zacnlinc's case, west coast is usually cheaper and summer time is usually more expensive, so the $3.5k from east coast/$3k from west coast might be an upper point. $2.3k sounds like E to me (a connecting segment to SE asia/China will most likely lower the price though).

cxfan1960

I usually book R fare SFO-HKG around USD2300-2500. It is much higher in summer. I tried booking a M (upgradable) fare for my daughter a month ago for her July travel. That was already at USD1700.

PEY R fare is USD2999 for 7/17-24. Business fare is almost doubled at USD5939.67.

andersonCooper

Yes indeed, that's why I am in the U.S. in summer and Christmas I also don't do really well with the humid hot in Hong Kong or Singapore (slightly o/t).

J (booked in I class) could be down to $3k range during Blackfriday sales or China mainland/other destination sales. $5k is consistent with UA/AA's range. To be fair, $1,700 for flexible economy is also consistent with AA/UA's price in summer/peak time. With fuel price going up I doubt it would go down in the near future (on top of CX's financial issues).