[PREM FARE GONE] TP/BA and CX First: Portugal to Hong Kong €1338 one way
Jan 15, 2019, 11:30 am
#136
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 228
Called CX, in my case agent said call Priceline for any change LIS->LHR->HKG, definite reprice and reissue, I have stop over at HKG and onward to Tokyo, that I can change without fees or reprice after I get to HKG.
All I want to do is take a later flight out of LHR same day.... should I call Priceline??
All I want to do is take a later flight out of LHR same day.... should I call Priceline??
Jan 16, 2019, 12:46 pm
#137
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: AMS
Programs: KL PFL; BA Gold; A3 Silver; EY Silver; SU Silver
Posts: 2,488
CX has a special provision to offer best option to a customer when changing before departure ie lowest fare of historic and current ones (not an IATA approach). I was not aware of this but this is CX policy . With CX you will easily change without repricing however making an agent (Priceline etc) to do this will probably take ages of escalation.
Feb 8, 2019, 10:09 pm
#138
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 641
booked mine ticket with Priceline, wanted to change, operator sad that reprices to 16 000 USD fare, for change, tried couple of dates, anyone had success?
what is a chance to change it just with a change fee if i will fly the first leg? LIS-EU, and then call to Priceline and change with historical prices?
what is a chance to change it just with a change fee if i will fly the first leg? LIS-EU, and then call to Priceline and change with historical prices?
Jun 5, 2019, 5:06 am
#142
Suspended
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold
Posts: 860
For anyone else who’s impacted by schedule changes and was planning on a back-to-back or short turnaround time in LIS, I would highly recommend spending a few days in Lisbon. It’s a really great weekend / city trip.
Jul 25, 2019, 12:00 am
#143
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Netherlands
Posts: 4,287
Hi,
Just received an email from CX that due a schedule change (most probably winter schedule), my original flight was moved one hour earlier and was downgraded to Business
. Checking the new schedule, it seems that only 2 flights from LHR are equipped with First.
I have not decided what to do yet. Might ask to move my dates a day earlier and take one of the flights with First - as I do prefer the night flight compared to the day flight.
Anyone in the same situation?
Cheers!
Just received an email from CX that due a schedule change (most probably winter schedule), my original flight was moved one hour earlier and was downgraded to Business
. Checking the new schedule, it seems that only 2 flights from LHR are equipped with First. I have not decided what to do yet. Might ask to move my dates a day earlier and take one of the flights with First - as I do prefer the night flight compared to the day flight.
Anyone in the same situation?
Cheers!
Nov 29, 2019, 9:28 am
#145
Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Bay Area
Programs: UA Gold, AS, Marriott Gold, IHG Gold, Hilton Gold
Posts: 38
This thread is a bit overshadowed by the CX: Vietnam - NA error fare that occurred immediately before this error fare. I just finished my trip and thought i’d write up a trip report. My apologies for part of this including BA metal.
Post Booking
I booked this trip for my wife, daughter, and myself. Originally, our routing was LIS-FRA-HKG, with the LIS-FRA leg on LH metal. In June however, CX Customer Service contacted me via email to change routing due to schedule changes. I was given a couple choices and decided on changing to LIS-LHR-HKG, with a three hour layover in LHR. This modification was performed very efficiently over a few quick email messages. The LIS-LHR segment would be on BA metal. This schedule change ended up being a great bit of luck, allowing us to enjoy the CX lounge in LHR.
Check in
We positioned from SFO-LIS via TAP economy and spent a few days in Lisbon. On day of departure, we arrived at LIS two hours early. The departures set up was a bit of a maze. If you are flying TAP, it is easy to find the check-in area. For BA, you have to wander a bit until you finally come to their check-in desk. There was no line for BA check-in. The BA agent informed us we would have Fast Track for security but not for passport control.
The population of Portugal is 10 million people. It felt like most of them were hanging out at the LIS airport. That being said, the security check went fairly smoothly. Even the non-Fast Track line was not too long. After security, we had entitlement for the ANA lounge. I found the lounge to be poorly lighted and a bit crowded. They only had a few food choices. After having spent a few days in Lisbon, my family was already tired of the typical Portuguese breakfast offerings of sandwiches and pastries. We did not spend a lot of time in the lounge. When lounges are crowded and you are jostling each other for food and seating, I’d rather hang out with the general population as I find it less stressful.
LIS-LHR Leg (BA501)
Following our brief stint at passport control, we went to the gate. Boarding was quick and painless. I was unhappy to discover that BA had configured the 321 with poor man’s first class! The first dozen rows were just economy seats with the middle seat blocked. This was not a super comfortable flying experience. My knees were digging into the seat in front of me (I am 6'). Having said that, the service was amazing. The flight attendants were super attentive and the food was much better than I would have expected.
CX Lounge (LHR)
All my pains from “slumming it” in BA first class on the way to LHR were quickly forgotten upon entering the CX First Class lounge. Wow. Plenty of room, quiet atmosphere, great food choices. My wife and daughter caught a brief nap while I headed to the showers to refresh. There was no waiting (early afternoon). The shower room was large and immaculate. The lounge attendants were all helpful and positive. This will be the lounge experience by which I benchmark all future lounge experiences.
LHR-HKG Leg (CX250)
The 777 300R first class seats are simply amazing. There are six seats in the cabin and my family occupied half of them. Upon boarding, the three flight attendants for the cabin each came and introduced themselves. I was offered a drink prior to take-off. I agreed to a glass of champagne, because when am I ever going to fly CX first class again? I’ll touch on some of the highlights I enjoyed most.
The seats include a smaller “guest seat” within the suite directly across from the main seat. It has its own seat belt. My daughter ended up sitting there as we had dinner together. Dinner was easily the best airplane food I’ve ever had. The appetizer was caviar served with sour cream, some shredded hard-boiled egg, and wafer crackers. The next course was a creamy soup. I was full before the main course arrived, but I did my best to finish. I’d have ore details on the meal, but the flight attendant continued to refill my wine glass every time I had a few sips.
At the point, I needed a nap. The only blip on my whole experience was that a flight attendant had to come help set up the bed for you. I prefer to be self-sufficient and switch back and forth between bed and upright during the flight. For this flight, I only had them move the seat to bed mode one time, and then back to chair mode once I had finished sleeping a few hours. Not a big deal.
The IFE offered a good selection of movies and TV shows (Western and non-Western), There were also several games and the usual dynamic map for tracking flight progress. I had watched most of the action movies and many of the drama movies available already, unfortunately. This ended up not mattering as I slept half of the flight.
Post Flight
The overall experience including booking, schedule change, lounge, and flight were all A+. I will jump at the chance to fly Cathay premium class again. We got really lucky with our timing as well. It was a really calm week in HK, compared to previous weeks.
Post Booking
I booked this trip for my wife, daughter, and myself. Originally, our routing was LIS-FRA-HKG, with the LIS-FRA leg on LH metal. In June however, CX Customer Service contacted me via email to change routing due to schedule changes. I was given a couple choices and decided on changing to LIS-LHR-HKG, with a three hour layover in LHR. This modification was performed very efficiently over a few quick email messages. The LIS-LHR segment would be on BA metal. This schedule change ended up being a great bit of luck, allowing us to enjoy the CX lounge in LHR.
Check in
We positioned from SFO-LIS via TAP economy and spent a few days in Lisbon. On day of departure, we arrived at LIS two hours early. The departures set up was a bit of a maze. If you are flying TAP, it is easy to find the check-in area. For BA, you have to wander a bit until you finally come to their check-in desk. There was no line for BA check-in. The BA agent informed us we would have Fast Track for security but not for passport control.
The population of Portugal is 10 million people. It felt like most of them were hanging out at the LIS airport. That being said, the security check went fairly smoothly. Even the non-Fast Track line was not too long. After security, we had entitlement for the ANA lounge. I found the lounge to be poorly lighted and a bit crowded. They only had a few food choices. After having spent a few days in Lisbon, my family was already tired of the typical Portuguese breakfast offerings of sandwiches and pastries. We did not spend a lot of time in the lounge. When lounges are crowded and you are jostling each other for food and seating, I’d rather hang out with the general population as I find it less stressful.
LIS-LHR Leg (BA501)
Following our brief stint at passport control, we went to the gate. Boarding was quick and painless. I was unhappy to discover that BA had configured the 321 with poor man’s first class! The first dozen rows were just economy seats with the middle seat blocked. This was not a super comfortable flying experience. My knees were digging into the seat in front of me (I am 6'). Having said that, the service was amazing. The flight attendants were super attentive and the food was much better than I would have expected.
CX Lounge (LHR)
All my pains from “slumming it” in BA first class on the way to LHR were quickly forgotten upon entering the CX First Class lounge. Wow. Plenty of room, quiet atmosphere, great food choices. My wife and daughter caught a brief nap while I headed to the showers to refresh. There was no waiting (early afternoon). The shower room was large and immaculate. The lounge attendants were all helpful and positive. This will be the lounge experience by which I benchmark all future lounge experiences.
LHR-HKG Leg (CX250)
The 777 300R first class seats are simply amazing. There are six seats in the cabin and my family occupied half of them. Upon boarding, the three flight attendants for the cabin each came and introduced themselves. I was offered a drink prior to take-off. I agreed to a glass of champagne, because when am I ever going to fly CX first class again? I’ll touch on some of the highlights I enjoyed most.
The seats include a smaller “guest seat” within the suite directly across from the main seat. It has its own seat belt. My daughter ended up sitting there as we had dinner together. Dinner was easily the best airplane food I’ve ever had. The appetizer was caviar served with sour cream, some shredded hard-boiled egg, and wafer crackers. The next course was a creamy soup. I was full before the main course arrived, but I did my best to finish. I’d have ore details on the meal, but the flight attendant continued to refill my wine glass every time I had a few sips.
At the point, I needed a nap. The only blip on my whole experience was that a flight attendant had to come help set up the bed for you. I prefer to be self-sufficient and switch back and forth between bed and upright during the flight. For this flight, I only had them move the seat to bed mode one time, and then back to chair mode once I had finished sleeping a few hours. Not a big deal.
The IFE offered a good selection of movies and TV shows (Western and non-Western), There were also several games and the usual dynamic map for tracking flight progress. I had watched most of the action movies and many of the drama movies available already, unfortunately. This ended up not mattering as I slept half of the flight.
Post Flight
The overall experience including booking, schedule change, lounge, and flight were all A+. I will jump at the chance to fly Cathay premium class again. We got really lucky with our timing as well. It was a really calm week in HK, compared to previous weeks.