350zrx330

Thank you for sharing your experience. I am based in the US, so I reached out to CX's customer service number here, a friendly agent was able to submit a request in for me with a new route, but still need to wait for HK side to approve. Funny thing is I did some research later, the new route will not take place because American Airline has no actual flight from HKG to JFK, the flight listed in the CX system is actually a code share operated by CX to JFK. I have done some re-routing research and is ready to call CX back today to submit another request.

Willl CX allow me to fly via the Middle East or Europe on my way back to the US?

Carfield

Honestly I don't know if CX will allow you to route through Europe/Middle East. For Boston, Qatar makes the most sense but you will have a long layover at Doha because Boston only has one daily flight and it departs Doha in the morning. You will have a 7-8 hours layover. Korean Air has the most direct routing for now, but it is not an OW partner. However, it never hurts to submit a request. The worse case is that they say no and suggest other routes.

ernestnywang

Yes, but as I live in Taiwan, I am technically still allowed to transit through HK on my outbound. There is a TPE-HKG flight and a HKG-JFK flight on 01APR, except the HKG-JFK flight is sold out according to the CX phone agent I spoke to. Really hope to have the chance to take this combination of flights (and buy a separate JL one-way for my inbound). The CX agent said no waitlist is currently allowed, bummer. I will not consider seat guarantee for Y class though (I am GO), way too expensive.

350zrx330

My new request is PVG-HKG-DOH-IAD with a 5 hour lay over in HKG and a 2 hour lay over in DOH. Should know the result within about 24-48 hours. The phone agent also offered me PVG-HKG-LHR-BOS/JFK/IAD (on CX and BA), so seems like going through Europe is an option now. I am trying to stay with OW partners since I want to put the miles in my AA account.

350zrx330

I got the exact same answer about HKG-JFK being sold out for my late May departure, but that flight really doesn't exist for my travel date. Out of Taiwan, can't you request being put on JL out of TPE or TSA, connect in HND and onto JFK? I was trying to ask for PVG-NRT-BOS, but CX phone agent insist they will fly to HKG and then put me on alternative flights to the east coast.

ernestnywang

I haven't booked the ticket yet. Planning to book in the next few days.

conde

From US Airports, it appears that Cathay Pacific recently loaded a good number of award flights for business and first class. I just booked a one-way from BKK-HKG-LAX trip on CX for mid November.
BKK-HKG: Bus Class. HKG-LAX: First Class. It appears that there are more CX award flights between US airports and HKG/Southeast Asia that have also been added. Although I was happy to find award availability, I don't feel secure that CX will keep these flights a few months out. Selecting a CX award flight feels like picking a favorite deck chair on the Titanic.

pkpkpk

Yes, I have been watching BKK-HKG-LON for a while and a raft of award availability in F and J was loaded yesterday evening. On at least two days in December, it was showing (on BA.com) two flights on the London leg with 6F available per flight! This may have been phantom in part because I could not successfully book the three tickets I needed (or is there a restriction I am not aware of??). So I booked two and left it until the morning (I did try booking the 3rd ticket separately but the 6F showing went to 0). I plan to keep scouting J cash fares as back up since there is every chance the flights won't travel.

srbrenna

Hi
My flights LHR-MEL in April aren’t on the list and I won’t be able to travel anyway as I won’t be able to transit HK. Will Cathay offer an alternative route?

unfrequentflyer

HKG is Cathay's hub and headquarter. I don't think Cathay has other route. There are other airlines that serve your route. Try Qantas, Qatar, Singapore or JAL

ernestnywang

I think srbrenna meant to ask if CX will provide involuntary rerouting to other carriers, which is not unheard of.

Carfield

Just an update on my own issue with the cancellation of my flight from HKG to LHR on mid-April! My final destination is Madrid so I basically called CX three times - one on Saturday (sadly the shortest wait time), Tuesday and today (thursday). Both Tuesday and Thursday, there was a warning about long waiting time, but those waiting time are not accurate. First time, it told me 20 minutes and second time 10 minutes, and in the end both calls require a wait of 60 and 100 minutes. The agents that I talked to were all friendly and professional and sympathetic, but they basically did not want to share too much information. For the second call, I pushed a bit because I was being given the push around, but at least the agent was honest enough to tell me that she would not recommend rebooking me on AY because both of us did not even know if Finnair will resume flights on April especially given the current situation, and when I mentioned QR, she just told me that they rarely released seats to them, especially given there were less and less options on OW carriers or any carriers to Europe. She told me to look at alternatives and the "manage booking" team would get back to me ASAP. After two days of research, I decided to try my luck on catching the Manchester flight departing on 4/19. It would require double connections but that was my best option. So tonight I tried my look today. The agent was patient enough and told me that she really could not guarantee if they would accept my routing. They wanted to stick with the same routing if possible and once again, tried to persuade me to fly on April 15, which I could not. So she was willing to put in a request for me on this routing from HKG-MAN (on CX), and then MAN-LHR-MAD (on BA). I told her that I was fine with LH MAN-MUC-MAD too, but she told me that CX preferred to put passengers on Oneworld carriers. She did not sound too confident on CX's acceptance of my routing or just wanted to set my expectation low, but at least she's willing to submit it after verifying about my travel document, as I will need to enter UK first. I will say 50/50 as of this point. She also warned me that there were plenty of requests putting put on an obvious small team of agents working on rebooking team and it would be a few days before getting a call or email. I asked if one week is reasonable and she said that she will try.

I tweeted tonight and surprisingly someone got back to me within minutes. I just wrote an polite email and just asked them to try to push my request up. I don't expect miracles but at least try my best to make the situation better.

I have thought about my alternative but flying on Oneworld carriers are tough. Qatar has raised its J fares significantly on Wednesday ex-HKG (not surprising) and Finnair remains uncertain. In the end, I may have to fly SQ to some points in Europe via Doha, and then a third flight from CDG/FRA/MXP to MAD.

As of this point, my advice is do your research before calling CX and know that they prefer you not changing the routing (well it is hard) and definitely prefer using Oneworld carriers. I will also advise you to put your request on as early as possible because it will take times. Most importantly, you should expect to take a refund and just book a new ticket. I will look for tickets on another airline at the same time. Use google flights to keep track of fares, so you know what to do when CX eventually gets back to you.

It is just not an easy situation but as of this point, it is just the reality of flying out from Hong Kong.

Carfield

Carfield

I am not quite clear on what your intent is, but if you can't travel anyway, just ask for a refund. They will not offer you an alternative routing if you are not traveling on the date you plan to do so. The most CX can offer you is to push back your travel date to later in the year (beyond May) on the same routing, but I won't count on transit reopening on LHR-HKG-MEL anytime soon or in 2022 at all.
Therefore, the easiest thing to do is just ask for a cash refund, and look for a new ticket when you are able to travel.

Carfield

350zrx330

Just a quick update on my re-routing request. PVG-HKG-BOS is the original routing in May, 1st time requested PVG-HKG-JFK, didn't get the approval. 2nd time PVG-HKG-DOH-IAD with QR, did not get approved. 3rd time requested PVG-HKG-LHR-BOS (LHR-BOS on AA), got the approval and ticket already updated. Over all, each time the CX customer service request any new route for approval, normally take about 24 hours to hear back from CX customer service.

srbrenna

It is for a wedding. To be honest it was a long shot as I didn’t expect Australia to be open.

I’ll wait to see what happens. CX haven’t told me the flight is cancelled yet even though it is not bookable.

I’d quite like to go and it would be a shame if I couldn’t but not the end of the world.