ZeroHour

Hi all,

Did a search, but can't seem to find anything ... I've just spent nearly an hour checking for availability of the JFK-YVR awards (in F), but can't find anything at all over a period of 2 months (June/July) !

I've seen that CX has something called a companion award, but I'm not sure how it works - it appears that you actually need to have a valid ticket purchased before you can try to reserve the award in question.

Basically I'd like to fly from JFK-YVR with CX in F with my girlfriend sometime in the summer and am prepared to pay for one F ticket ... have a ton of AsiaMiles and am super-flexible on dates. Any creative suggestions/ideas (and a 411 on a companion award) would be GREATLY appreciated!

Phil

chinatown

hiya

The companion ticket basically works like this: You pay for a full fare (dont know the exact classes, or if it is just Y J, F), use your miles to redeem for a companion ticket. Then "peg" it to your existing booking and a companion gets to fly in the same class as you for free. Most likely have to pay fuel surcharges and applicable taxes for the companion ticket.

Do you have any Plat cards? the AE offers 2 for 1 fares for F and J.

cxfan1960

Amex Plat IAP has CX, but YVR is not a destination.

ZeroHour

Re: paying for it ... yeap - I know it's pretty extreme (about $5,200 USD or thereabouts, I believe), but it's something that I'm opened to.

As far as the companion ticket goes - that sounds almost like what I'm looking for, but am still not 100% clear on the process. Do I basically book a full-fare ticket and then as long as there's space a companion ticket is available or does it still come as an award seat (which would be a problem, since I didn't see ANY) ?

I do have a Canadian AMEX Plat, but CX is not a member of IAP anyways for Canada (Canadian Plat AMEX benefits are horrible compared to the USA ones), so that's prob not an option.

kaka

I suggest you calling AM. (or unless someone here can be sure on the answer). I have been told its FA/JCDI by am AM agent, but it was quite a while ago so surely it is worth to call and ask.

Sohoboy

I've called a month ago and they still said FA/JCDI are eligible, may be you can double check and post again.

christep

In the past I have used companion tickets against D and A segments from RTW tickets; I believe the rule is basically that if the revenue ticket earns miles then it can be used for a companion ticket.

It is also possible to ticket a single RT companion ticket when the two paid segments are on different tickets.

eamus

OK, but if it is FAJCDI that are eligible for the paid ticket, does the companion book into the award bucket (in which case what is the "companion" part - that to me is just a ticket) or does it book into the same bucket as the paid ticket, or some third bucket? It surely couldn't book into a revenue bucket and earn EQM for $0 paid?? If it does then there is some serious MR exploitation potential.

christep

It books into the award bucket, although empirically I seem to recall that it somehow had a higher priority than a straight award or upgrade ticket, so there's quite a good chance of getting the seat even if the system is showing no availability.

kaka

I have previously deduced from this that they have seperate "buckets" among F/A and J/C/D/I base ticket. Not sure about this tho.
but surely what christep said is true according to what I've asked to an MPC operator.

ZeroHour

Wow, definitely lots of good info here, thanks everybody! I'm probably going to give it a shot in January and see how I fare with it - will provide an update on how it went.

Thanks again! ^

- Phil

fakecd

sorry to dig up an old topic.

Someone said it's possible to use companion on RT for 2 seperate legs of a paid ticket. Now is it possible to issue a companion ticket on portion of a longer routing? Specifically i'm looking at TPE-HKG-SYD return, and want to issue companion for HKG-SYD portion only, is that possible? Some of the bargains to be found ex-TEP is of no secret, not I want to extend this bargain to my lovely Mrs.

christep

Yes, I believe so - I previously (some years ago) issued a companion round-trip ticket where the two sectors I was using where actually on separate OWE RTW tickets.

(Edit - just realised I already said that several posts - and over 3 years - earlier. Apologies for the duplication.)

fakecd

Yes i just realized it was your comment from 3 years ago.

Just got an response from MPC confirming the above also. IT's Easter and took me too long to wait in line. Apparently only criteria is (1) same day (2) same flight (3) same class.

kittiyut

I wonder if any of the above repliers actually booked any companion award tickets or not?!?!

Here's some information from my experience;

1. You don't have book "FULL FARE" Biz or first to qualify for companion eligibility. Even "I" fare will do.
2. All you have to have is a reserved reservation to start the process.
3. Once you've booked your companion seat, you'll have 1 week to pay for the primary ticket and issue the award.
4. Nobody mentioned miles... you do need Asia miles you know? Just not the full shebang. Roughly half. For instance, HKG-LHR-HKG in biz requires 75,000 miles
(instead of the normal 140,000)
5. You pay airport tax - same amount as you would for the primary ticket.

Using Amex Platinum, you don't need miles, just pay full fare. However, flights have to originate in the US.

Hope this helps.

KK