Cathay now also bans OW FF from pre-selecting seats

[SYD]

We booked y flights to London with Cathay last night. My husband (lifetime Qantas Gold) was able to choose extra legroom seats for free, on all four sectors. He was booked as economy light.
No such privilege for me. So we booked me as economy flex, which allowed me to book extra legroom seats for no additional cost.

Seperate tickets?

If you were on the same booking, the LTG perks should have carried across.

 

[sammy]

We first tried doing it as one booking, and my extra legroom seats were not free. It made more sense to book me as economy flex, with complimentary extra legroom seat selection for a similar price (along with a better booking class, more points and status credits - hopefully) for a similar price.
The airline booking system wouldn’t allow us to book two tickets with differing fares.
This is the first time we’ve come across an extra charge for my seat booking (on a number of one world carriers)

 

[cwd]

Cathay don't give the status benefits to other passengers in a booking if it's not Cathay status. So a OWS/LTG can choose their own seat for free, and have access to more seats, but other passengers without status on the booking don't get the benefit.

A Cathay Gold member's free regular seat selection benefits apply to everyone in the booking. This doesn't carry over to preferred and extra legroom seats though. I'm not sure companions of Cathay Diamond/Gold get better access to seats even if it requires payment - OWS/OWE companions don't.

Details are here: https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_HK/manage-booking/travel-extras/reserve-your-seat.html