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

 

[SYD]

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

Another weird quirk of CX then. eg AA MCE seats can be selected for most OWE/OWS and something like 8x friends on the same booking. QF generally works the same…

Probably warrants a seperate thread on which alliance airlines don’t bestow status perks on companions on the same booking?

 

[elanshin]

Another weird quirk of CX then. eg AA MCE seats can be selected for most OWE/OWS and something like 8x friends on the same booking. QF generally works the same…

Probably warrants a seperate thread on which alliance airlines don’t bestow status perks on companions on the same booking?

We probably do need a thread, as everything is all over the place and the benefits are not equal. For example what you mentioned about AA MCE doesn't apply to QFF elites (at least not since 2020 - early this year, I'm not sure if it's still the case). However it does apply to BA elites and other OW elites.

 

[SYD]

We probably do need a thread, as everything is all over the place and the benefits are not equal. For example what you mentioned about AA MCE doesn't apply to QFF elites (at least not since 2020 - early this year, I'm not sure if it's still the case). However it does apply to BA elites and other OW elites.

It’s back for QF (has been for a while but the AA website hasn’t been updated or it’s just an ongoing Bank error in our favor!). There’s a seperate thread for that specific one.

We had MCE SFO-JFK a few months ago. Front row on A321T (miles of legroom), comp food and drinks.

 

[elanshin]

It’s back for QF (has been for a while but the AA website hasn’t been updated or it’s just an ongoing Bank error in our favor!). There’s a seperate thread for that specific one.

We had MCE SFO-JFK a few months ago. Front row on A321T (miles of legroom), comp food and drinks.

I think it was one of those situations, where AA wiped it out across the board then didnt implement it for QFF for ages when they did for some other OW airlines when i looked it up. We couldn't do it 12 months ago but got upgraded for free instead.

 

[serfty]

I think it was one of those situations, where AA wiped it out across the board then didnt implement it for QFF for ages when they did for some other OW airlines when i looked it up. We couldn't do it 12 months ago but got upgraded for free instead.

I beleve CL/P! were able to do such selection on AA domestic, but not WP/SG. The latter could select preferred seat at no charge but not MCE.

This appears to no longer be the case.

 

[SYD]

I beleve CL/P! were able to do such selection on AA domestic, but not WP/SG. The latter could select preferred seat at no charge but not MCE.

This appears to no longer be the case.

For AA, some discussion starting from here when I noticed MCE was back for QF elites.

Qantas status on AA flights

However, as a post trip note. I believe it’s only the AA app that lets you select MCE for free. Just prior to flying (a few months ago now), I went in via the AA website to check seat allocation and the remaining available MCE seats were showing $. But free in the app.

 

[serfty]

For AA, some discussion starting from here when I noticed MCE was back for QF elites.

Qantas status on AA flights

However, as a post trip note. I believe it’s only the AA app that lets you select MCE for free. Just prior to flying (a few months ago now), I went in via the AA website to check seat allocation and the remaining available MCE seats were showing $. But free in the app.

Last month I made a Qantas award booking and initially via a web browser on a desktop I would have had to pay for MCE. A little later Via the app, this was no longer the case, so selected an MCE seat. Now via the desktop, other MCE seats are available at no charge.

-- this is getting off topic, it is time to return to Cathay related issues

 

[clifford]

Where did it bomb out? Lets me book. I got as far as PAX details but didn’t go past that point.

As soon as I click "Search Flights":

Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "Pardon Our Interruption" on this server.
Reference #18.7f3fd817.1764842503.2d8cfcee

An error has occurred

 

[SYD]

Last month I made a Qantas award booking and initially via a web browser on a desktop I would have had to pay for MCE. A little later Via the app, this was no longer the case, so selected an MCE seat. Now via the desktop, other MCE seats are available at no charge.

That’s what thought happened for us also, but as per my post in the other thread, the website wanted $, the app didn’t…

As soon as I click "Search Flights":

Access Denied
You don't have permission to access "Pardon Our Interruption" on this server.
Reference #18.7f3fd817.1764842503.2d8cfcee

An error has occurred

As above, I got as far as paying for a flight I didn’t need. So didn’t go much further.

Presumably you hit some incompatible combo of wifi, website, settings, and other fun things leading down a cyber rabbit hole…

 

[clifford]

That’s what thought happened for us also, but as per my post in the other thread, the website wanted $, the app didn’t…

As above, I got as far as paying for a flight I didn’t need. So didn’t go much further.

Presumably you hit some incompatible combo of wifi, website, settings, and other fun things leading down a cyber rabbit hole…

Yes, of course, but which. I haven't been able to figure it out so far. Perhaps it's to do with me running Win7. I do have 3 Win11 computers that I could try, but really I can't be bothered. If CX wants to play games with its "security" protocols, then fine. I'll just book with someone else and they'll lose out on their cut.

And FWIW, if I try to charge a CX airfare to my Bankwest credit card, it always declines. I rang BW and asked what was going on and they said they see many fraudulent transactions going there. So I expained my situation and they said they would now allow my purchases at CX to go through. So, something funny going on there.

 

[Qantas747]

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.

Slightly off topic but just for awareness, unfortunately on this point, Cathay Pacific uses the awful 'horizontal fare class' system. Light, Essential and Flex fares all book into the same fare class (with the same points and status credits earn for partner airlines) until that specific class is full (e.g. S class, which doesn't earn anything on QF).

When S class is full, it moves to V class for Light, Essential and Flex (still not earning anything on QF), then finally to L and M (which do earn on QF).

If you're earning points directly with Asia Miles, you'll get more, but not with partners. Malaysia Airlines does the same, as do many others.