Want to fly on board Cathay Pacific to the East? Here's everything you need to know
I recently had the opportunity to fly for the first time with Cathay Pacific, the Hong Kong-based airline member [...]
Cathay Pacific
Oneworld
I recently had the opportunity to fly for the first time with Cathay Pacific, the Hong Kong-based airline and member of the OneWorld alliance, for a trip from Milan to Tokyo.
In this article:
In the future I will tell you in detail about my experience on individual flights with the company, but for now I wanted instead to dwell on a general discussion and share my impressions. But let's go in order.ì
Reservation
I made the reservation naturally on the airline's website. Over the years I have used many of them, and I must say. Cathay's impressed me positively, manages to provide a lot of information, in a simple way, even things that on other companies' sites do not appear 'at first glance,' but are visible only with targeted or 'advanced' searches.
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When I booked, I did not save any screen, so the ones you see in this article are not the actual ones of my booking, but are a simple simulation, just to see what I mean. The initial search screen is standard, departure airport, arrival airport, dates, number of passengers, and desired flight class.
The first results screen, on the other hand, is already a little different from many others. It naturally shows the prices of the various flights available for the chosen class (the premium economy set by me), and also the prices of the higher class. Convenient because maybe you realize that with just a few more euros you can fly in business, but it is information that so many people give, always willing to try to get you to spend a few extra euros.
Instead, the thing I found convenient is the top of the screen, without putting any particular setting in the search, prices for the previous/next days are also shown. As you can see at a glance leaving on Friday or Saturday changes the cost considerably. Selecting the fare and the flight you are interested in immediately brings up a screen in which it proposes the various options, unfortunately I found only flights with premium flex (the most expensive) and not with premium essential as well, so I have put an example of an economy.
The important thing is that for the rate you choose immediately shows you the 'cost' of selecting a place (whether free or paid) The number of bags and the weight, miles, and status points you would get If you are enrolled in their frequent flyer program, Whether or not the fare is upgradable with miles (economy light, as well as premium essential for example are not upgradable), and Any penalties for cancellations/changes etc. All in one screen without going looking for info who knows where.
Having selected the outbound flight (I chose premium in the simulation) a screen then appears with the return flights and also for the return flights both premium and upper class prices are shown. As you can see from the screen you have several options. Staying on premium many do not vary the price, while taking certain combinations of flights increases the price, either by a little or a lot.
Interesting, however, to also see the price for business. Which most airlines do not show, at least not on the return, once you select a flight class on the outbound. For example, the third option, the one leaving Narita at 4:45 p.m. allows you to fly premium at the fare seen in the screenshot above, or for an additional €533 make the entire return trip in business.
When I made my reservation there were return options, all in business at only 250€ more, maybe a thought a person makes it, also given the length of the flights 🙂
However, this screen unfortunately lacks, at the top, an indication of prices for other days, you can quickly move from one day to another to check prices without redoing the search, but you have to manually select the day -- too bad.
Once the desired flights are selected the other screens are standard, passenger data, payment etc.
Note, that when searching for flights an intermediate screen appears informing that if you are a member of Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles program you have the option to cancel your reservation within 24 hours. However, there is a note saying that 'terms and conditions apply', possibly check well before booking!!!!
Reservation management
A couple of days after making the reservation I decided to log back into the Cathay site to make some 'changes'.
Log on to the site to manage your reservation, if you are not subscribed to their Asia Miles program is not exactly 'immediate'. From the main page you have to select the Flights item in the menu and then the Manage Reservations submenu. From the page that opens you can log in if you are already an Asia Miles member, otherwise you must select the 'find a reservation as a guest' item, which is written a bit small under the proposed program membership.
Once I enter the management section I have as first added our frequent flyer codes from the British Executive Club program., a program on which they decided to credit the miles we will get from flights. Of course they could be entered in the booking process as well, but I didn't have them in hand.
Made this small change I tried out of curiosity to see the section related to the upgrade request Through auction/bidding.
The figures seemed definitely excessive to me. For the upgrade from Milan to Hong Kong, the minimum amount that could be entered was 1030€ each.
While for the two HKG - NRT flights, the minimum bid was 560€ + 11 tax for one way and 520 for return, again per person. Bidding for nearly 10,000€... it was cheaper to book first 🙂
I admit the prices for the auctions are the minimum values that you could set up using the sliding bar, I don't know if going in to do
an offer you could also set lower values, I have not tried, maybe next time I will give it a try.
Interestingly, however, for the two flights departing from Hong Kong there were also a few euros more in taxes, taxes not shown for flights departing from Milan and Tokyo.
Online Check-in
Before making the flight I then of course did Online Check-in. Cathay allows you to do this 24 hours before your flight, 48 if you are enrolled in their Asia Miles program.
To give it a try, I signed up for their program, and associated my reservation with my profile. All ok, quick and easy, but the online check-in was only available 24 hours in advance. I believe, although I am not sure, that in order to have the 48 hours you need to have the asia miles code entered in the reservation, which we did not have, because as mentioned I preferred to credit everything to British.
Interesting, however, that Asia Miles enrollment is by cell phone number--so you don't forget your credentials.
Experiences with assistance
After making the reservation, I tried to contact Cathay's support a few times to ask for some information. The first time I did it using Facebook (I was in Italy) and within a few hours I had my questions answered, without any problems.
The second time, however, I was in Japan and tried to contact support via WhatsApp. To do this, from the Cathay Pacific app that I have since installed on my phone, I went to 'contact us' and from there the option to chat via WhatsApp with support opened up, via a Hong Kong tel number.
I sent my request message and immediately got an automated response. As a first thing they were informing me that they had recognized my phone number as a Cathay member, so I would have a minimum (I'm basic level) priority in management. As a second thing they informed me of the hours when the service is active: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mon/Fri in Italian, Saturday and Sunday, same hours but support in English.
Convenient, but not very convenient. I don't know if the system recognized me based on my profile or based on my (Italian) phone number, however, it redirected me to Italian assistance.... with Italian hours. Having several hours of time difference may not be the most convenient.
Of course, had it been serious and urgent, I could have contacted them in other ways but outside 'working' hours I would have expected 24-hour English assistance.
The third time I contacted the airline after the return flight. This time filling out the complaint form on the website in the contact section to report some minor problems encountered on the flight. I submitted the form and in 3 days received a response by email.
In addition to the apology, 10,000 Asia Miles credited to my account, without having asked for anything. Once again my compliments for their speed and customer care. As I said this is my first time with them, I am definitely not a loyal customer of theirs, I have no status, and they do not even know that I am writing these articles. So it was not a 'favor' treatment, but the normal treatment they give to any normal customer. Bravo.
Crediting of points
As I told you the miles we got for the flights we decided to credit them to our British accounts and here for the time being the only problem arose. The avios for the return flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong, done in economy, were recorded on the Executive Club systems the day after the flight, with no problems. Of the others, there is no record.
For now I have filled out the application for missing Avios for the two outbound flights, for the last return flight I have to wait because the minimum time after which you can apply has not yet passed.... hope there are no problems!!!
Conclusions
Excluding the problem (hopefully resolved) of not having Avios credited, I must say that my experience with Cathay Pacific's systems and support has been overwhelmingly positive. The site seems to me well done, clear and shows all the important info in a simple way. Same with the support that answered my questions very quickly.
The only real concern is related to the upgrade auctions, prices that in my opinion do not make sense.
Small spoiler...I had a good time with the flights as well, not great because some little problems that I will tell you about were there, but nothing particularly serious or unsolvable.
