Beware Cathay Pacific Premium Economy - you may pay for what you DO NOT GET

[markis10]

As noted in earlier posts, 1) I already contacted them using this form and phone (I'm Diamond, (OWE) I also have a special number) and 2) changing flights does not work because of hard committments on the 14th (to see the eclipse in Port Douglas) and on the 16th (Oxfam Trailwalker Hong Kong). But thanks for the effort to post.

Why would changing flights not work, its adding a few hours to the trip, not days, is the schedule that tight that you are seeing the eclipse on arrival as I posted there is PE on the CNS flight the day before (giving you a day to recover) and PE on the flight ex Sydney that would get you in on the 15th, if your not happy to change and not happy to travel in Y, you are in a position that has no solution short of cancelling and getting a full refund.

 

[fairhsa]

Why would changing flights not work, its adding a few hours to the trip, not days, is the schedule that tight that you are seeing the eclipse on arrival as I posted there is PE on the CNS flight the day before (giving you a day to recover) and PE on the flight ex Sydney that would get you in on the 15th, if your not happy to change and not happy to travel in Y, you are in a position that has no solution short of cancelling and getting a full refund.

Because the event that we have to get back for, Oxfam Trailwalker, is a 100km run that my husband is participating in. Having done it before (it's GRUELLING) he wanted a certain number of hours "recovery" in HK before having to get ready and the diversion via BNE adds about 6 hours to the journey which makes it an overnight flight back and not the "nights in a bed" he needed as preparation. He was only prepared to come on the trip provided he didn't compromise OTW and flying PE (for him) and getting back when we do was critical. As noted, I have had Biz seats with points waitlisted for a month already - if they confirm them then I am sorted. Or put a plane with PE back on the route (I'm hoping I am not the only person complaining! and it IS 2 months away which is plenty of time to fix the mess).

EDIT - and yes I will come back with what happens, when I know. Thanks all for your suggestions.

 

[markis10]

Because the event that we have to get back for, Oxfam Trailwalker, is a 100km run that my husband is participating in. Having done it before (it's GRUELLING) he wanted a certain number of hours "recovery" in HK before having to get ready and the diversion via BNE adds about 6 hours to the journey which makes it an overnight flight back and not the "nights in a bed" he needed as preparation. He was only prepared to come on the trip provided he didn't compromise OTW and flying PE (for him) and getting back when we do was critical. As noted, I have had Biz seats with points waitlisted for a month already - if they confirm them then I am sorted. Or put a plane with PE back on the route (I'm hoping I am not the only person complaining! and it IS 2 months away which is plenty of time to fix the mess).

EDIT - and yes I will come back with what happens, when I know. Thanks all for your suggestions.

I understand your situation, however there are many ways to skin a cat, an afternoon flight on the 14th to Sydney after the eclipse, then a day flight ex Sydney on the 15th (all flights have PE) will still have you in HKG ready for a good nights rest, especially with a 3PM arrival:

CX110	SYD 08:35	HKG 14:55
CX162	SYD 11:30	HKG 17:50
CX100	SYD 15:40	HKG 22:00

I doubt CX will re sub the aircraft, their loads would be pretty fixed this far out and with the lack of alternatives in BNE and CNS, pretty heavily subscribed given the eclipse.

 

[fairhsa]

This is helpful, thanks. I'll see what Cathay comes back with.

 

[fairhsa]

Update.

Wierd got wierder.

After much prodding, I eventually got an email from Cathay with refund options (one if I went down to a K class ticket to keep my points upgrade alive; one with an option down to V class). It looked similar to the price difference for one-leg so that was understandable but did not solve my underlying problem. They also suggested spending HKD18k to pay to upgrade to J - also not acceptable.

I ignored this email because it didn't solve the problem and decided to "sleep on it".

in the morning, my husband forwarded me an email HE had got from Cathay (we are on separate bookings on the same flights) saying he was now BACK IN Premium Economy. We both checked online, and mine said Economy with seating in the back and no view of seats lower than 39 and he was in seat 30G saying Premium Economy. Curiouser and curiouser. I send Cathay another email querying this.

I have not had any further response from them, but checking online last night, now I too am in row 30 and showing up in Premium Economy online. Bizarre.

So, for now, all problems solved. Like magic.

Of course, the fact that we could have a repeat performance at any time up until the date of the flight remains a looming problem that worries the heck out of me!

 

[JWUK]

My situation seems to have been solved too - apparently the backstory is that the CX 102 I was on CNS-HKG has now been replaced with a flight with the same departure/arrival times, but called CX 146.

My travel agent thinks something went wrong in CX's systems when they were making this change, and when they were updating the flight details, they managed to replace the plane details with those for a plane not with PE section. Apparently, though, this was a mistake and there will be PE on CX 146 CNS-HKG (this is a booking for early next year) after all. Seat maps have been reloaded, and sure enough, I'm back in PE....

So, all is good for the time being! But, worryingly, if they do decide to substitute a non-PE plane at any time, I'll be back in the situation of them thinking that USD 80 is an appropriate refund.....

 

[eastwest101]

This sounds like a plausible explanation of what happened at CX to me, hopefully fairhsa will get to travel PE on the dates and times that they originally booked as well.

 

[fairhsa]

Finally - the official word via email from Cathay:

We conducted an thorough investigation on this incident. I was advised that a technical glitch occurred when the system was updating the winter schedules where all Premium Economy Class bookings were erroneously downgraded to non-Premium Economy Class. This has been spotted and rectified immediately when this came to our attention. As for the notification email that your husband received while you did not, it was the problem being identified before the alert reaching another batch of passengers.

Rest assured that this incident has received its full attention. The management teams responsible for this domain have been notified and a vigorous review has been done with relevant parties. I sincerely hope that this isolated incident would not deter you for considering us.

 

[awilcockson]

a vigorous review has been done with relevant parties.

That doesn't sound pleasant

 

[amaroo]

Finally - the official word via email from Cathay:

We conducted an thorough investigation on this incident. I was advised that a technical glitch occurred when the system was updating the winter schedules where all Premium Economy Class bookings were erroneously downgraded to non-Premium Economy Class. This has been spotted and rectified immediately when this came to our attention. As for the notification email that your husband received while you did not, it was the problem being identified before the alert reaching another batch of passengers.

Rest assured that this incident has received its full attention. The management teams responsible for this domain have been notified and a vigorous review has been done with relevant parties. I sincerely hope that this isolated incident would not deter you for considering us.

OT......they still have some quirks in the system.

We fly tomorrow on CX100 - booked as QF classic J award. Three days later we fly onto to NRT whY tickets, purchased directly from CX & return back to HKG 6 days later where we hookup with CX161, another classic J. All bookings are separate PNR's

I rang QF to have the critical flight linked/merged/joined (whatever the thing is called) and can see bookings both in QF & CX systems

Yesterday, my 11 years old received an email from CX inviting him to OLCI for tomorrows QF award flight The other three in the party (mum, dad & sister) received nothing - we will all front up tomorrow & check-in counter style.

 

[jpk]

Yesterday, my 11 years old received an email from CX inviting him to OLCI for tomorrows QF award flight The other three in the party (mum, dad & sister) received nothing - we will all front up tomorrow & check-in counter style.

I've seen this happen before several times, sometimes I get that email sometimes not, sometimes I get it and partner on same PNR doesn't etc. Not really an issue for me, I just OLCI anyway.

 

[amaroo]

Not really an issue for me, I just OLCI anyway.

How do you OLCI for a QF classic award on another airline?

 

[MEL_Traveller]

How do you OLCI for a QF classic award on another airline?

you can get the PNR for your cathay flight either by ringing QF or CX. Then check in as normal.

 

[amaroo]

you can get the PNR for your cathay flight either by ringing QF or CX. Then check in as normal.

Cheers, never knew that.