Cathay Pacific Economy Super Saver Seating
 

Hello,

I was preparing to purchase a CX economy super saver round trip ticket from LA to HK. I noticed I now have the option of purchasing a seat in advance in that fare class and was contemplating doing so. However, my simple requirement is to have an aisle seat. I travel alone and don't care where it is on the plane. I noticed that seats in the last ten rows are not available for purchase. Are those seats held until the 48-hour online check-in time? Either way, if I check in around that time, is it likely that I will find an open aisle seat? It seems so and have had no issue in the past when the rules were different but am just seeking feedback from more seasoned CX travelers. Thanks much.

CX likes to block entire rows in the back of the plane, both long and short haul. They sometimes open up earlier than check-in though and I do not know the underlying rules. You could continue to monitor the seatmaps to see if they have been opened up. If they don't until check-in, chances of securing an aisle seat at check in should be high enough.

Having said that, I would personally NEVER risk being stuck in a middle seat for a 15 hour flight. Some folks couldn't care less where they sit but you already have that (IMHO very reasonable) requirement, please do make that reservation and consider it part of your ticket cost.

If you don't care about the exact location of the aisle seat, then as soon as you do OLCI the moment it is available, you should be fine.

However - at this time, I will worry about measles rather than the seat.

That's not the issue. The problem is there is currently an outbreak at HKG, with a significant portion of patients related to CX. Give the current process, it is my estimate that it is only a matter time that CX passengers will be infected, although there is none for now.

Beside, vaccination does not completely prevent you from getting the diseases you are vaccinated. So even you have vaccinated in the past, you still have a chance catching it.

Yes, in looking closer, it seems they block off the last 10 rows until the better seats start to fill up well and then release those back rows for sale, which would seem to benefit both sides. Thanks much for your assistance and advice!

I'm sorry to say, although we are going off-topic now, your first paragraph is a complete load of nonsense. The only correlation between CX and measles is that CX is HKG's largest operator, it is not because "Measles patients prefer to fly CX". The measles virus - AFAIK - also does not have a MPC account whereby it would benefit from specifically targeting CX pax. The fact that CX pax or staff were affected is coincidental. What is more pertinent to the issue is to find out where the people first diagnosed had caught it originally, because in an environment with almost full vaccination rates, the population as a whole is immune, so that the small number of patients carrying the virus cannot spread it more widely.

If you do want to let a measles outbreak in HKG affect your travel patterns, I suggest you avoid travelling to or flying through HKG, regardless of what carrier you fly on. But then you should also not fly through any other country that has had a measles outbreak recently, including the one where you seem to be based a lot:

Measles outbreak in 2019: Portland, Oregon

You don't know, don't you?

Seach SCMP regarding this and you will get a better idea why CX is involved...

But was it CX telling the pilot to fly, or the pilot ignoring the symptoms?

Back to the seat, I think the back rows are more likely reserved for tour groups, so there is no guarantee they open up all of them even T-48? And also it tends to be the noisier part.

It is not quite OT.

OP was preparing buying a ticket. So if the time was right, OP's travel could be impacted. That's why the caution.

I believe this is beyond the point of blame. The situation is simple - given the spread now, flying with CX seems to have a higher risk than other airlines (Note - there is no report (yet) that employees of other airlines have been affected, other than CX). That's why the caution.

Tour groups do not fly CX, but UA. So no.

Hi Norscio,

A recent data point from me, having also bought super saver seats. I had 4 sectors, UK - HKG - Australia and back. Last time I'd bought a super saver seat 3 years ago, we were allocated seats automatically at purchase. It would show in the booking and on sites like Check My Trip.

This time however it's as you found, a limited selection of seats available for purchase. All my flights were on the A350 and I wanted seats in the forward economy cabin, but all I was seeing were the first 10 or so rows in the second cabin. I did a few dummy bookings selecting the full Y fare during the 9 months or so from booking my flight and there you can see what seats they have available. Most of the cabin was available even up until a few days before.

At check in (T-48hrs) in Feb, I was on the PC refreshing until it opened and quickly grabbed the seats I wanted. The cabin had started to fill up, but not manically. I checked back a few times before take off to see if I could spot that magical empty row, but no such luck. I did notice lots of window/aisle combos with middle seat free. However the flights were full and I did see were couples had hoped to have the middle seat free out out luck!

Checking in for the return in March, I was out and was trying to do so on my mobile using the app. I got my seats in the forward cabin, but then started getting error messages. I think the seat had been taken at the same time by someone else. It looked like I'd been allocated seats randomly away from my partner too so I started the process again and got seats at the back of the plane. It was still a pair we wanted, the only downside at the back is the longer wait for meals. I checked a couple of times and these flights seemed to fill up faster than my outbound. Maybe there were more savvy travellers from Oz, or those returning had realised their mistake on the outbound!!

The thing that I found interesting was that lack of allocated seats before T-48. That would mean that not alot of people have bought the more expensive Y fares or hadn't bothered with choosing a seat. Wonder if this in hope of an upgrade!

Be interesting to hear your experience when you fly! I don't think you'd have any problem getting an aisle at T-48. Good Luck!

Be interesting to hear your experience.