Feeling the Cathay Pacific Love

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luckydog

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Just did a Melbourne to Taiwan (via Hong Kong) return trip, all on Cathay Pacific.
I am Qantas Platinum but booked direct with Cathay, all in discount economy.

On the four legs I was upgraded from Economy to Premium Economy twice.
On each flight I was personally greeted by the CSM.

Because I prebooked bulk head seats, on the two economy flights I had huge amount of leg room (their bulkhead seats on the A330 have enormous space).

Overall I found the service excellent.

Sure I got less FF points but while the SC are the same, its worth it. Sad to think after June I will have to think twice about this choice....
 
Terrific, well done. I too am going CX over QF for Asia at least and sometimes TPAC; we can only hope that CX is recognizing a poaching opportunity after the recent QFF enhancements and there will be more upgrade love from them :)
 
Just did a Melbourne to Taiwan (via Hong Kong) return trip, all on Cathay Pacific.
I am Qantas Platinum but booked direct with Cathay, all in discount economy.

I took the same journey on CX as a WP last month, but in the cheapest fares that didn't earn any QF status. No upgrades, greetings or anything special for me!
 
I took the same journey on CX as a WP last month, but in the cheapest fares that didn't earn any QF status. No upgrades, greetings or anything special for me!

that is unusual! as a QF gold I get the 'second tier' greeting on CX... basically a 'hi, here's a bottle of [bonaqua] water' from the purser of the relevant cabin.

plats it's should get a bottle of Evan! (and the CSM)
 
I will be doing another trip in May to Korea with CX... will see if I get similar standard.

Compared to Asiana (which I can book though QF) where I have to transit through Sydney, recheck with Asiana in Sydney (which is hugely painful), then fly on their old 777s with the terrible inflight entertainment system... Flying CX Mel to HK to Inchon return is a much better prospect. I hate having to transit through Sydney every time, after a long flight, that last leg is just a pain.
 
Flew Cairns/Hong Kong/Shanghai return on Cathay Pacific using QFF Points. No greetings etc.
Was able to select the first row behind Premium Economy (leg room) on the Hong Kong/Cairns leg.

Stuck on the tarmac at Shanghai for 2 hours waiting for a take off slot. Stuffed up my
lounge time in Hong Kong, only got two refreshments in before the Cairns flight.

All good, saved a few dollars with the 20kg baggage limit, if I had the Qantas baggage limit, the wife
would have brought even more clothes & shoes.
 
Just did a Melbourne to Taiwan (via Hong Kong) return trip, all on Cathay Pacific.
I am Qantas Platinum but booked direct with Cathay, all in discount economy.

On the four legs I was upgraded from Economy to Premium Economy twice.
On each flight I was personally greeted by the CSM.

Because I prebooked bulk head seats, on the two economy flights I had huge amount of leg room (their bulkhead seats on the A330 have enormous space).

Overall I found the service excellent.

Sure I got less FF points but while the SC are the same, its worth it. Sad to think after June I will have to think twice about this choice....

I just did three flights with cathay, HKG - TPE (Booked through Qantas) in economy, and then TPE-HKG, HKG-SIN (landing tonight) in PE booked directly through them. No Upgrade love for me :( however on the two flights booked with them directly i Received a personal greeting from the CSM, on the flight booked through QF. Nothing.

To make things fair, HWMBA and I made ample use of the First Class section of the Wing this evening to earn back my keep :D. Ramen from the noddle bar was delicious, as was the booze.
 
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Booked on dis economy directly via CX that allowed SC on QFF. Got upgraded from y to PE on per-hkg sector. On my return leg had no luck at check-in, at the lounge asked the desk if any paid upgrade was available to J and they said J was full and upgraded me to PE for nothing. I was very happy to get two upgrades on the same trip despite of being only gold.
 
Im doing this rip on 29 May on QFF redemption. Im really looking forward to seeing Taiwan as i hear good things about it. When i did the booking i could select seats on the QFF website however now i only get the choice of isle or window.
 
Just did a Melbourne to Taiwan (via Hong Kong) return trip, all on Cathay Pacific.
I am Qantas Platinum but booked direct with Cathay, all in discount economy.

On the four legs I was upgraded from Economy to Premium Economy twice.
On each flight I was personally greeted by the CSM.

Because I prebooked bulk head seats, on the two economy flights I had huge amount of leg room (their bulkhead seats on the A330 have enormous space).

Overall I found the service excellent.

Sure I got less FF points but while the SC are the same, its worth it. Sad to think after June I will have to think twice about this choice....

Echoes my experiences in February SYD-HKG-DEL (two upgrades), for both myself (WP) and my wife (NB)! It was much appreciated. :)

Cheers,
- Febs.
 
Im doing this rip on 29 May on QFF redemption. Im really looking forward to seeing Taiwan as i hear good things about it. When i did the booking i could select seats on the QFF website however now i only get the choice of isle or window.

I had the same issue. Log in through the cathay website manage my booking and select your seats in there :)
 
With Qantas removing a lot of destinations from Perth I have to use Cathay for certain trips. I was pleasantly surprised at CP's quality of service and would say CP business is better than QF
 
With Qantas removing a lot of destinations from Perth I have to use Cathay for certain trips. I was pleasantly surprised at CP's quality of service and would say CP business is better than QF

i think for 'short' flights where a quick meal followed by comfortable sleep is essential, CX wins without doubt.

QF may become more competitive once they refurbish their cabins... but that is a year away.
 
i think for 'short' flights where a quick meal followed by comfortable sleep is essential, CX wins without doubt.

QF may become more competitive once they refurbish their cabins... but that is a year away.

That may be true but since there's no international QF flights ex-Perth it's a moot point for us Perth citizens!
 
Thanks Shan Man. Worked a treat. I never imagined my QF booking number would have worked on the Cathay website.

You will notice that because CX and QF both use Amadeus as their GDS, any flights with your QFF number attached should show up in your QF manage your bookings section. The same is true for BA flights booked through BA.
 
Good to see some people are having some luck. I have done more flights than I care remember on CX. I flew with them for ~5-6 years. All are short-medium haul in SE Asia.

- Greetings were getting to be very inconsistent. Not that important anyway.
- I have never been upgraded from economy. In fact one time I was downgraded from an aisle seat in 2nd or 3rd row to an aisle seat somewhere down the back but I spat the dummy and refused to sit there. Found another aisle seat for me close to where I was originally. I did have a boarding pass for my original seat and i wasn't asked nicely if I wanted to move but was told to move.
- I did have a few upgrades early on from business to first
- Customer service/service recovery is very poor
-- delayed flights on a MNL-HKG-TPE-HKG-BKK itinerary and I was personally greeted in HKG and TPE that my luggage was not going to make it (for whatever reason) and they would forward it on. I told them my final destination was BKK and not to send luggage to TPE. All confirmed and they will send luggage to BKK instead. Rubbish. Lies. I had no lounge time in HKG. When I got back to HKG from TPE I was told that luggage was now in TPE and as I was on last flight of the night to BKK they will send it ASAP. Luggage arrived sometime the next day and no game of golf.
-- delayed MNL-HKG flight meant 2 of us (another AFFer) had missed the HKG-BKK last flight of the night. We were not the only ones connecting. The flight hadn't yet departed. They could have held the flight. We were in business on separate PNRs. They offered us seats on last flight the next night and accommodation at Novotel. He wanted to put us in same room. Luckily we asked to use lounge for a little while before heading off. Asked them to be moved to earlier flight the next day. Impossible they said. Lies. Luckily the other AFFer had ExpertFlyer and all flights were wide open the next day. Went back to reception and showed them ExpertFlyer and all of a sudden given seats on first flight the next day. Went to hotel and only 1 room was booked and luckily we were able to talk our way into a second room.

If you travel quite a lot with checked luggage these things are going to happen. I understand and know that. Delays happen. It is how these delays are handled that is important. Don't lie to me and tell me you are going to do something and then do the complete opposite.

I don't want to be on MH for a while so will return to CX for intra-SE Asia flights. My expectation is not that high. And I know for sure and certain that CX does not treat ALL Qantas Oneworld Emeralds better than Qantas treats them.

At least for those in PER CX are going to treat you better than Qantas.

Rant over.
 
Just did a Melbourne to Taiwan (via Hong Kong) return trip, all on Cathay Pacific.
I am Qantas Platinum but booked direct with Cathay, all in discount economy.

On the four legs I was upgraded from Economy to Premium Economy twice.
On each flight I was personally greeted by the CSM.

Because I prebooked bulk head seats, on the two economy flights I had huge amount of leg room (their bulkhead seats on the A330 have enormous space).

Overall I found the service excellent.

Sure I got less FF points but while the SC are the same, its worth it. Sad to think after June I will have to think twice about this choice....

Can I ask for hotel recommendation in Taiwan? Also, any special offers if anybody else knows of any, I travel in mid to late June 2014. I have AMEX platinum and have memberships with SPG, IHG, Accor etc. None of which I've put to any good use yet.
 
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