FlyerTalker7654

It is so sad to see all the haters on here. It is actually pathetic. Banging on like you are a major shareholder in CX or a major VIP because you have some sort of status. Jog on people....

Jane's Addiction

As a very frequent ex-SGN flyer, it looks like D and I class has been decimated on the SGN to HKG route (which impacts pricing for everything ex SGN). Flights I priced a 10 days ago at 4k and 5k respectively are now 12k and 16k. Flights that last year were reliably 1.2k are now 2.5k. I desperately hope this is just temporary while they figure out their issues out, and not that case that they have depleted D and I for better part of a year.

iadisgreat

If you select the Ticketing Date on EF as 12/31/18 the fare shows meaning it wasn't deleted from history.

brunos

You have my full sympathy and appreciation for your comments.

Luckily, I seldom fly from HKG to USA, but I believe that CX decision will seriously backfire. In exchange for a brief (and extremely expensive) publicity stunt, they are going to inconvenience a lot of regular customers in the coming months. I doubt that there would have been much complain tif they cancelled the tickets issued on the error fare, as this is a common occurrence (HX case seems to me irrelevant as this is a small airline facing tremendous issues). But the impact on regular customers to USA will be muted but potentially damaging.

One major impact affecting me is flights to/from VN. I often go to DAD (and SGN/HAN). No more discount I, D or even C, nor awards.

BTW: I feel that some comments from HKG-based posters have been misinterpreted. I believe no one accused anyone who took advantage of this error fare. I, like others, am happy for them that they could take advantage of the US blogs to book these tickets. Similarly, you cannot fault CX frequent flyers (e.g. holding high status in MPC) based in HKG from being upset with CX.

PacificSunrise

Have been following the discussion on the sidelines but besides the mentioned impact on redemption and upgrade certs, to add salt to wound for elites like us, I suspect some people who bought multiple tickets will obtain the same hard earned statuses as ours, enjoy same benefits and potentially further lowering our waitlisting chances.

greendx

You're not really competing for status based upgrades with people that don't normally have said status because you know, they don't fly as much as you do.

CXZRHaddict

I was among the first to discover the mistake fares while looking for some other fares / destinations on New Year's Eve. I tried to make two bookings and accomplished - as a Marco Polo Club member the booking are still on hold for the next two or three hours. In the meantime I have done some research about flights getting to and from Hanoi around my two dates, getting through visa regulations, checking possible ways to transit through HAN-airport without applying for visa etc. I have found out that the regular fares in economy class from ZRH to HAN have risen steadily over the past two days. After all I let my two bookings expire without issuing the tickets. It is not worth the nuisance. My goal is to fly to Boston or JFK to visit my relatives. Just doing this flying from ZRH via Vietnam does not make any sense. Although First Class on Cathay is nice, no doubt about it, I finally decided to book a cheaper BA-ticket (roundtrip economy class sells for under 300 USD) and spend a bearable 6.30 hours in a cramped seat than spending more than 40 hours for the entire journey (one way) of which only a fraction will be in a comfortable bed. So there will be four more seats available over March and June which can be redeemed by hard-earned miles or full-paying passengers. Cathay is playing fair so I will do the same. Eventually I am going to be in a situation myself where I am glad to redeem miles for a nicer seat on a CX-flight. And if it turns out that there will not be any availability for a loyal customer like me, I would be puzzled as well, to say it nicely. And yes: I guess lots of other ticket-holders will cancel their purchases as well, just because of the same reasons.

Visconti

I suspect that before making the decision to honor the fares, CX, like all major companies, crunched all of the numbers and felt the benefit (goodwill) exceeded the potential losses. Whether or not they're correct, is another issue. Given this company's history with hedging, they appear more like a contrarian indicator, when it comes to placing the future into the service of the present. However, given the mistake, either choice would be a bad (wrong) one; but, what's important is that they make a decision quickly, and without any hesitation or backtracking. Either way, CX would be criticized, and, with hindsight analysis, whatever they do will prove "wrong."

However, two things can be true at the same time: (1) those who bought these fares got a great deal, and should feel good about the value they've captured; (2) those HKG flyers who are "captive" or those who (like myself) may have their HKF - JFK routes adversely affected, while bearing NO ill-will towards the first group, may rightfully feel a tad aggrieved. In either case, it's only for a part of 2019, and there are other options, though, admittedly, none as convenient as CX from HKG to NA.

AJ747M

Helpful information, thanks.

Thunderroad

Indeed, good to know. Hope you're right. Thanks for sharing this.

Platy

So...folk may need to be patient and resist the temptation to make bold conclusions about forward availability on the immediately available inventory data and perhaps be less believing of some of the high estimates for sales on the heavily discounted fares...

AJ747M

Interestingly, there is A class availability when booking from other outports (BKK, CMB) on days when the direct HKG > N.A flights only have F class. I'm quite interested in the logic behind that - I can't make sense of it.

PacificSunrise

Some Q2 outport J fare and availabilities are messed up - hopefully it will be sorted soon. Fare basis also seem slightly higher than previous if not mistaken.

jona970318

I'm not too familiar with how the gating logic works on married segments (or at CX for that matter), but I imagine it to be the same as I described upthread: the process picked up on unusually high demand HAN/DAD/SGN-USA -> a protection mechanism kicked in to push the inventory upwards (towards J and F), making A/D/C etc. unavailable -> as time progresses the process will realize the lack of true demand at the full fare level and the gate will be removed, thus allowing inventory to drop down again

sxc