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Cathay pacific J class award availability?
Hi I am looking to purchase a round trip from JFK-HKG in March 2016 in premium economy on cx, then upgrading myself to business with asia miles. However, even though this is supposedly an off-peak season, when I checked ba’s website, or qantas’s website, and cx’s own website to look for award avilability, all of them indicate that there isn’t any award seats left, and I was to be waitlisted.
I understand that cx’s New York-Hong Kong flights are extremely popular, but given that March is an off-peak season, why would they fill up J class so quickly already?
[USER=1269]@Winston[/USER] — Welcome! I’m not sure March is really an off-peak season. There’s lots of actual business travel in March and April, along with spring breaks for schools, etc.
Any award seats have also been available to book for nearly nine months now, so that’s something to consider as well.
[USER=7]@Tiffany[/USER] I’ve heard that CX releases 5 J class seats per flight, so would it be possible that Cathay is just holding off award seats until like the last couple days before travel?
They [I]can[/I] release five seats per flight, but again — that would have happened nine months ago. Cathay is great at releasing unsold seats to inventory in the days prior to departure, which is when the waitlist would clear as well.
[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 10672, member: 7″]They [I]can[/I] release five seats per flight, but again — that would have happened nine months ago. Cathay is great at releasing unsold seats to inventory in the days prior to departure, which is when the waitlist would clear as well.[/QUOTE]
so given that Cathay’s jfk flights are usually fully booked, there would not be a good chance of securing an upgrade?
Hi,
if there are unsold seats in J, would there be any reason for CX not to release them to partners for awards within 5 days of departure?
I’m looking at December J awards which are currently not available but are showing more than 13 as available on expedia.com and hoping to get some if there are still unsold seats.
Thanks
[QUOTE=”Tiffany, post: 10672, member: 7″]They [I]can[/I] release five seats per flight, but again — that would have happened nine months ago. Cathay is great at releasing unsold seats to inventory in the days prior to departure, which is when the waitlist would clear as well.[/QUOTE]
It could be that economy is oversold and they’re holding the seats for potential op-ups. Or it could be that CX is waiting even further before releasing the seats. Keep checking!
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