Nicc HK

Thanks and appreciate the response, it is just under this new system chaos seems to reign supreme and the former normal rules seem no longer to apply hence the question. It was 22K mileage which is why I took the chance, and then afterwards thought about it.

ermen

so far have not seen any waitlist clear on NEW system.

may have to bite the bullet and go CHOICE i feel.

otherwise keep on monitoring loads. as mentioned if Q is available close in, standard shld clear, otherwise seems to have more CHOICE awards.

but nobody knows at this stage when waitlist clears under new system.

percysmith

I'm flying my mum's maid in business from Songkran 2019. BKK-HKG on Avios. Pre 22/6 obviously.

Cheaper than if I ponied up cash for it (well I could've bought cheaper on Thai Airasia FD, but my mother said no DMK, no transits via SIN and no making the maid overnight in Bangkok when her home town is outside it so arrival time must be 3pm on earlier. Mum ended up buying one leg and having me redeem for her in J on way back.)

percysmith

Toplayer said he saw 5 MH J seats on KUL-HKG-TPE on BAEC for 4/1/19, I added I only saw 1 MH J seat on that route.

I can't run your 18/8 search on Qantas ATM. Will try again tonight.

Corp Travel Owner HK

Thanks for the welcome!

I am tied in to Asia Miles in HK with a Standard Chartered Mastercard, and 2 Amex cards, all of which accrue AM. Quite high spend via our company every month with the Amex's, so for me I certainly don't want to pay cash for any flights, as since having these cards for around 2-3 years, I've managed to use AM for every single overseas trip I've done for myself and my family, both short haul and long haul.

Also with wanting to fly business or at least prem econ long haul, I certainly don't want to pay cash for 3 tickets for myself, wife, child, it's a huge outlay with CX prices, and even when using indirect airlines it's still not cheap. Besides any extremely good special offers that only appear at certain times, the average business class flight to the UK is maybe HKD 25-30k.

That's why I'm quite nervous now about how this new system will pan out in the long run, as I've tried quite a few random routings including ones I actually want to book, and I can't seem to find any availability that I used to find easily.

Out of principle I also don't want to pay anything other than the standard amount of miles, as this worked fine until the recent change.

Nicc HK

Thanks and this is why I had some suspicions and thought it might be good to ask.

Jimgotkp

For awards booked before 6/22 under the old prices, what's the change policy? I have a flight with EI and am thinking about changing the date but not sure if I have to pay the difference in miles (old/new) and the change fee.

kaka

percysmith

percysmith

kaka

i think u'll be fine if you dont insist on LHR. I've seen MAN and LGW with some availability

abielp

HKG-KIX is plagued with TPE married segments. Any chance for me to get approved on Econ if flying Nov 5 onwards?

percysmith

I am still able to characterise the short-haul married situation as a IT mistake.

With the long-haul no-availability situation I believe it's either an price-discovery exercise by CX to see how far they can make redemption customers switch to revenue (their revenue, as opposed to some other airline which will only result in lower passenger numbers for them) (again slot hog comes into play here)
Or they've probably made up their minds to go for gold and not go back to redemption.

The latter is irreversible as customers bad-mouth the program (the program is opaque - we can't run flightplan all the time and so our willingness to earn miles is determined by the last time we managed to make a meaningful redemption) and abandon all AM-earning means over time, necessitating a new program to be built.

Changes to redemption availability will necessitate a change in our travelling habits.

Only those who can always paying the going cash rate is entitled to an inflexible premium travel expectation.

percysmith

They've already claimed "We are increasing the number of available redemption seats on Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon by 20% or more" for the 22/6 change. They can't cry wolf twice.

Nicc HK

I speak to a lot of SME owners in the FinTech and information services sectors. These all used to be devoted MPC programme members. They pay for travel out of their own pockets for work and rely upon MPC to use the mileage accrued for family breaks and holidays.

Many left after the introduction of Club Points, being Y/PEY flyers. Now the feedback from Remainers, not being able to book redemptions in addition to guesting family into lounges, is to look elsewhere. Interestingly these guys work means mostly flying regionally which I guess means these they will go to CX's regional competitors.

Have a good weekend.