Waitlist is not an option for upgrade from premium economy to biz?
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2019
Programs: Asia Miles
Posts: 6
Asia Miles Upgrade from Premium Economy to Business
My flight CX 841 from JFK to HKG upgrade was unavailable upon booking (I called Asia Miles to confirm availability before booking this flight and they said yes, there is availability). This flight is leaving on August 24, which is still half a year away, but I'm just concerned what are my chances of upgrading to business using miles? Should I try giving Asia Miles a call and see what I can do? And how often should I check back on the portal to see if the upgrade button is available? Thank you!
#2
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: YYZ
Programs: CX GO, AC Aeroplan 25K, AMEX PLAT, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Titanium, IHG Spire Amb
Posts: 464
Aug24 is a long way away and the JFK flight is a popular flight for business people and hence sees lots of later/last minute purchase in business class.
Nonetheless, still put your name down on the waitlist for the upgrade, if it clears you will get an automatic email/text asking you to ticket the upgrade.
Nonetheless, still put your name down on the waitlist for the upgrade, if it clears you will get an automatic email/text asking you to ticket the upgrade.
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2019
Programs: Asia Miles
Posts: 6
Hi! Thank you for the quick reply. I'm just wondering how would I put my name down on the waitlist? There wasn't a button available on the upgrade page. Should I give Asia Miles customer service a call? The hotline is a bit challenging to reach, and it keeps saying that the number is not available/not reachable.
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2019
Programs: Asia Miles
Posts: 6
Waitlist is not an option for upgrade from premium economy to biz?
Hello! I booked a flight today, which is not departing until late Aug 2019. I spoke with an agent regarding using AM miles to upgrade from premium economy to biz, and they told me there will be availability on the date I wanted to fly out. I got off the phone and booked the specific flight they told me there is availability. When I got to the upgrade page, it was saying that "upgrade unavailable" for my flight departing from JFK to KUL. I called AM again, which I tried SO MANY times because everytime I called, I either get a message saying the number you have dialed is not available or simply was not reachable. Finally, I spoke with an agent, she basically told me that there is no availability, and cannot be waitlisted as well. I was however able to upgrade my returning flight from KUL to JFK.
I'm just wondering if anyone experienced something similar, and how did you overcome the situation? The agent also told me to check the site everyday to see if there is availability, which I'm not sure if this is something I should be doing. Also, what time does CX usually update the page/release upgrade seats if applicable? Thank you for all your help!
I'm just wondering if anyone experienced something similar, and how did you overcome the situation? The agent also told me to check the site everyday to see if there is availability, which I'm not sure if this is something I should be doing. Also, what time does CX usually update the page/release upgrade seats if applicable? Thank you for all your help!
#5
Join Date: May 2015
Location: WAS, SZX, HKG
Programs: AS MVP Gold 75K, CX Green
Posts: 735
JFK-HKG is a popular route, so I wouldn’t be surprised the upgrade got grAAbed between your first call and second. You can certainly waitlist for an upgrade, just try online or call AM again for a more competent agent.
Next time you can give CX a call to hold the booking you want for ~1day, call AM to book the upgrade, and then call CX to ticket the flight. This way you don’t end up with an expensive R ticket that isn’t upgraded.
Next time you can give CX a call to hold the booking you want for ~1day, call AM to book the upgrade, and then call CX to ticket the flight. This way you don’t end up with an expensive R ticket that isn’t upgraded.
#7
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 19,802
hold revenue
hold upgrade
ticket revenue
ticket upgrade
Upgrade calls are to AM who understandably take forever
Alternatively a TA can do all four
#8
Join Date: May 2015
Location: WAS, SZX, HKG
Programs: AS MVP Gold 75K, CX Green
Posts: 735
I am not sure if this would work for an Asiamiles member, but if you first log into your asiamiles account on Cathay Pacific.com, click Marco Polo Club, and select redeem flight awards. Under "more awards" there is an Upgrade award section, click into it the system would search your eligible bookings, and you can select your booking and click upgrade. If seats are unavailable it would show "waitlist". Like this:
#9
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: HKG
Programs: CX DM, SPG Pt, Le Club Accor GO, Shangri-La GC Jade
Posts: 1,327
Alternatively, have CX.com open, call AM and ask if redemption is available, if yes, ask the agent to hold for a minute and immediately book via CX.com, then ask the agent to ticket the upgrade
#10
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: DTW - Rochester Hills, MI
Programs: Cathay MPC, IHG Diamond Ambassador, Domestic Airline Nobody
Posts: 715
This was covered on another thread. That might work for a DM. It doesn't always work for us peasants.
#11
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 409
I recently flew JFK-HKG-KUL. The online waitlist for upgrades doesn't seem to be working. I called Marco Polo Club and they waitlisted for me. Are you a Marco Polo member or just Asia Miles?
Another issue is apparently because I purchased the HKG-KUL leg through Cathay, it's a "codeshare" flight with Cathay Dragon so I was informed this wasn't upgradeable. I was really confused by this but didn't really care that much to upgrade this leg so I gave up talking to the rep and hung up. Not sure if this happened to you but wanted to mention in case it helps clear anything up.
Another issue is apparently because I purchased the HKG-KUL leg through Cathay, it's a "codeshare" flight with Cathay Dragon so I was informed this wasn't upgradeable. I was really confused by this but didn't really care that much to upgrade this leg so I gave up talking to the rep and hung up. Not sure if this happened to you but wanted to mention in case it helps clear anything up.
#12
Join Date: May 2015
Location: WAS, SZX, HKG
Programs: AS MVP Gold 75K, CX Green
Posts: 735
I recently flew JFK-HKG-KUL. The online waitlist for upgrades doesn't seem to be working. I called Marco Polo Club and they waitlisted for me. Are you a Marco Polo member or just Asia Miles?
Another issue is apparently because I purchased the HKG-KUL leg through Cathay, it's a "codeshare" flight with Cathay Dragon so I was informed this wasn't upgradeable. I was really confused by this but didn't really care that much to upgrade this leg so I gave up talking to the rep and hung up. Not sure if this happened to you but wanted to mention in case it helps clear anything up.
Another issue is apparently because I purchased the HKG-KUL leg through Cathay, it's a "codeshare" flight with Cathay Dragon so I was informed this wasn't upgradeable. I was really confused by this but didn't really care that much to upgrade this leg so I gave up talking to the rep and hung up. Not sure if this happened to you but wanted to mention in case it helps clear anything up.
In addition to the codeshare you mentioned, if this is a mixed class (KA probably doesn't have PEY on HKG-KUL) booking, you will need to claim two separete awards for upgrade, which is a pretty bad value IMO.
#13
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 409
Just checked... maybe this is a married segment issue! While my oHKG-DAD portion is upgradable and able to waitlist, my outbound DAD-HKG booked in Y, which is a connection to JFK, is not upgradable online. So I guess Cathay website is not smart enough to process an upgrade request on one portion of a connection.
In addition to the codeshare you mentioned, if this is a mixed class (KA probably doesn't have PEY on HKG-KUL) booking, you will need to claim two separete awards for upgrade, which is a pretty bad value IMO.
In addition to the codeshare you mentioned, if this is a mixed class (KA probably doesn't have PEY on HKG-KUL) booking, you will need to claim two separete awards for upgrade, which is a pretty bad value IMO.
#14
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2019
Programs: Asia Miles
Posts: 6
Oh my.. thank you so much for all your help! Yep, it was a codeshare situation actually. I spoke with four different AM agents that same day trying to figure out the situation. The first two basically told me no availability, and the third person I spoke with told me it's most likely the codeshare flight I have from HKG to KUL could have impacted my upgrade eligibility (but she wasn't able to help because I gave them my wrong email for verification purpose) and told me to call again. So, when I got the the fourth person, she told me there is no availability on the day I requested, and I had to explain to her about the codeshare situation, then she finally was able to put in a request to "sort of" separate my flight and upgrade my JFK to HKG ticket.
I think many of the agents isn't aware of the codeshare situation so it's certainly worth mentioning to them when you call AM (which takes forever to reach them because the number doesn't seem to work), which could be a reason why everytime they pulled up my record, they basically just told me there was not availability the day I requested.
I think many of the agents isn't aware of the codeshare situation so it's certainly worth mentioning to them when you call AM (which takes forever to reach them because the number doesn't seem to work), which could be a reason why everytime they pulled up my record, they basically just told me there was not availability the day I requested.