sscywong

Was this publicly announced and I missed it or did CX quietly change the T&C again?

Previously, MPC elite can do ASR for travel companion as long as all are on the same plane. However today my seating for 7 family members + me were messed up, and the 3888 agent told me

"since last November we can only do ASR for passengers in the same booking as per T&C"

and then I found that the T&C now reads:

I questioned the agent does this mean I need to go to "rob" 8 seats with others at T-48 hours though OLCI, he said no but then refused to help me to get my previously allocated seats back... I also asked the agent why suddenly enforce such T&C despite that my companions were being allocated a seat already, then he said he need to ask about both issue, and then hanged up my phone.....

1. Is this change well known or just I was too busy recently and not aware of this change?
1a. Even if such change was in effect last November, I was still able to do ASR for my companion on different bookings as recent as last month... Amid just one companion not 7 in this case.... Anyone also have such experienced recently?

2. I question the agent if he can help me to do a booking with mixed fare (X and Q), mixed itin (we will leave at different time) and have 8 people in one booking, I am willing to do so, but they can't of course... So basically this benefit, like Guaranteed J booking subject to availability, is point-less now... Over 3/4 of my travel with companion are under separate booking... Could be due to different fare classes, different travel schedule etc....

What's the point of restricting such "benefit" at all? Do they really think I'll pay for seat selection if I can't get ASR for my companion? Honestly I'll simply move my flights to other carriers instead....

sxc

The policy has been there since at least June last year:

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cath...ions-free.html

wenbin85

They did the seat selection and travel together remark for my sister and me last November even though we have separate bookings. Early this year they rejected me with the same reason. You need to be on the same booking and not the same airplane. They still put the travel together remark for us though.

tedhl

is this guaranteed J booking benefit indeed not as good as before now? because, out of my 20+ years flying with CX and at Gold/Diamond levels for most years...I have used this Y or J booking benefit many times. I know now it doesn't cover as many subclasses as before...but a few weeks ago it's the first time ever that I was turned down completely on a full-J class booking guarantee request when booked 24+ hours. when I talked to MPO, they said, the flight is too full and we can't guarantee you the J seat (or even Y). I said, isn't it indeed the point, that I can get guarantee when it's full, the agent and then the supervisor told me, yes, we can guarantee when it's "full", but now it's "too full"...(and the definition of "too full" of course is their decision)...

many of such DM benefits, published or not, seem to be getting not as good...haven't been able to get redemption seats much these days for the past half year or more, not much more opening up seats for DM, even when in the flight eventually I could see lots of empty seats remaining. and now even this guarantee full J seat isn't working when I most needed it...first time ever. hope it's not a trend...

sscywong

Too busy recently that I also forgot I read about this already...

Anyway my point is, nowadays CX tends to do whatever they like to favour themselves... I guess if the plane is full (like my case now) then very likely they will enforce these policy.... These are so against frequent flyer and really frustrated about what I can expect when deciding whether to fly CX or not....

For the guaranteed J booking, my experience is taking into account no-show, if they expect completely full load cabin they will deny you to avoid IDB and involuntary downgrade.... And sorry, this is definitely a trend for CX....

SLGO

kaka

Ausriver

I just did a companion seat selection for my daughter yesterday, low Q class booking. However she's 9 so I had to call CX to book her flight, inbound flying with grandma (CX silver) and outbound flying with me. CX agent did put her sitting next to both of us, some of the seats also bulkhead seats.

I guess maybe because she's on child fare so they have to put her sitting next to a companion.

Moscowflyer

1. Subject to availability and applicable to paid tickets only, except Group fares.

This seems to read that as a DM, if I use my miles to book a relative in my redemption group a ticket on Cathay (where I'm not travelling - on the booking or on the plane), I can't preallocate a seat for them, they have to wait until 48 hours ahead of departure to allocate a seat? Is that how others read it?

SLGO

sscywong

If you are not flying, you can't pre-select seat for them no matter before or after that T&C change as this benefit is for member self, plus companion traveling on the same plane / booking with member

Moscowflyer

Thanks very much, useful to know!