Cathay HKG-SYD, being asked to downgrade

[Andyzx]

I have heard in the last couple of weeks 3 separate instances of CX J pax being offered a downgrade to Y or Y+.

On Saturday one of my colleagues was paged in the CX lounge and asked if she would downgrade in compensation she would be given 2 Y seats and HKD12,000 approx (A$2,000) she declined and they then paged another pax. The other J pax was a Qantas WP and posted an interesting rant on book, not sure what compensation he was offered

Has anyone else experienced or heard of this happening.

 

[Aussie_flyer]

Goodness, for $6,000 I'd have taken the op down.

 

[JohnK]

On Saturday one of my colleagues was paged in the CX lounge and asked if she would downgrade in compensation she would be given 2 Y seats and HKD12,000 approx (A$6,000) she declined and they then paged another pax. The other J pax was a Qantas WP and posted an interesting rant on book, not sure what compensation he was offered

I think your calculation is slightly out but I would jump at the chance of being offered AUD1,500 to downgrade my AUD800 flights and receive the original SCs.

Is this only offered on long haul or do I have a hope on short haul in a couple of days?

 

[Aussie_flyer]

oh I just noticed HKD12,000 is certainly not AUD6,000

 

[samh004]

Perhaps a status pax with MPC booked a last minute seat (a Diamond member can get a guaranteed J seat 24 hours prior to departure). If the cabin was full, they’d have to look at upgrades and downgrades to fit everyone in.

If it was me, not sure I’d take the offer. Two seats and some money is good, but depends if I needed the SC.

 

[chrisb]

If your company has paid for the seat such a large cash refund also creates an ethical issue.

I would refuse.

 

[kpc]

If your company has paid for the seat such a large cash refund also creates an ethical issue.

I would refuse.

I had this exact issue a few years back. Can't remember the exact amount but it was for around AUD1000 in cash to downgrade from Cx J to Y Hkg -Syd (and get to keep J SCs and miles); was paged whilst I was having a shower in the Pier As work paid for the ticket, it was suggested that the cash was not mine to keep so I turned the offer down...

 

[eastwest101]

As work paid for the ticket, it was suggested that the cash was not mine to keep so I turned the offer down...

Hats off to ethical behaviour - were you game enough to ask your employer later whether this would have been OK?

 

[anat0l]

I punched in some dummy dates into Cathay Pacific online and got:

• HKG/SYD CX J return (Business Save): HKD 33,640 (~AUD 4200)
• HKG/SYD CX Y return (Economy Save): HKD 7766 (~AUD 1000)

The differential between those two tickets amounts to ~AUD 3200. Assuming that the outbound and inbound are "equal" in price, we can split that in half to give ~AUD 1600 differential per sector. If the compensation is only HKD 12,000, that's closer to ~AUD 1500.

It's a marginal compensation (perhaps how CX arrived at that amount), but then again people paid J for a reason. I'd say the compensation should be a bit more generous to coerce more people (I'd say at least throw in another minimum ~AUD 200 - 300, which rounds out to about HKD 2000).

To answer the OP more directly, I haven't heard of CX doing this kind of thing before. Normally I know of CX processing lots of op-ups, but of course all flights between HKG and SYD are on 2 class J/Y or 3 class J/W/Y aircraft, and the contention was in J, so there are no op-ups to be had. Bit of a mess up by CX (and so is some of the W sub outs, as witnessed in another thread).

 

[ozbeachbabe]

I punched in some dummy dates into Cathay Pacific online and got:

• HKG/SYD CX J return (Business Save): HKD 33,640 (~AUD 4200)
• HKG/SYD CX Y return (Economy Save): HKD 7766 (~AUD 1000)

The differential between those two tickets amounts to ~AUD 3200. Assuming that the outbound and inbound are "equal" in price, we can split that in half to give ~AUD 1600 differential per sector. If the compensation is only HKD 12,000, that's closer to ~AUD 1500.

It's a marginal compensation (perhaps how CX arrived at that amount), but then again people paid J for a reason. I'd say the compensation should be a bit more generous to coerce more people (I'd say at least throw in another minimum ~AUD 200 - 300, which rounds out to about HKD 2000).

It's probably fair to say that it was a J class SYD/HKG/SYD return fare which is more expensive than ex Asia eg maybe AUD5,000.00 return vs AUD1,000.00 return for Y so if the value one way for each fare component in J is AUD2,500.00 & you're
offered AUD1,500.00 'compensation' then that doesn't fly.

 

[Alanslegal]

As I pay my own flights ie all leisure, I would have accepted a J to Y downgrade on 1. full refund of J fare and 2. the downgraded Y seat is complimentary. I would even push my luck asking fo original SC and points but if they said no, I'd still take the downgrade if 1 and 2 were met.

 

[JohnK]

If your company has paid for the seat such a large cash refund also creates an ethical issue.

I wouldn't hesitate to take the compensation as long as the agreed time for me to be in the office was not compromised.

 

[Isochronous]

Kind of worried being on a ex TPE J run on Saturday which is peak season with the National Holiday in Greater China. I'd be demanding lots of cash and original SC if I were offered this.

 

[yohy?!]

Kind of worried being on a ex TPE J run on Saturday which is peak season with the National Holiday in Greater China. I'd be demanding lots of cash and original SC if I were offered this.

I wouldnt worry too much for regional J - think it's far more common on long haul where they like to keep selling Y tickets like there's no tomorrow

 

[Joshua]

Kind of worried being on a ex TPE J run on Saturday which is peak season with the National Holiday in Greater China. I'd be demanding lots of cash and original SC if I were offered this.

If anything, it is more likely to result in op-ups. We have used this to our benefit before, effectively guaranteeing us upgrades going HKG-TPE in full Y (to position for a J flight home). Of course, CX treat emeralds well. Even at Ruby I'd imagine you'd be well down the list to be bumped and there are many other flights on that route for them to balance across.

 

[Ansett]

If anything, it is more likely to result in op-ups. We have used this to our benefit before, effectively guaranteeing us upgrades going HKG-TPE in full Y (to position for a J flight home). Of course, CX treat emeralds well. Even at Ruby I'd imagine you'd be well down the list to be bumped and there are many other flights on that route for them to balance across.

DISAGREE CX do not treat Emeralds well atall they really stuffed myself and Mrs Ansett around recently out of Hong Kong to melbourne NEVER will we fly CX again and please dont mention Dragon Air

 

[JohnK]

DISAGREE CX do not treat Emeralds well atall they really stuffed myself and Mrs Ansett around recently out of Hong Kong to melbourne NEVER will we fly CX again and please dont mention Dragon Air

I agree that it is rubbish. Just because some people get nice treatment then CX all of a sudden treat all Emeralds well.

I am still 0 for 6 on economy flights without op-up and in fact on one of them lost my pre-assigned economy seat to some stupid middle seat down the back until I held my ground. Latest trip did not have personal greeting in economy and only 1 personal greeting out of 4 business class flights. Had a good trip with same crew HKG-MNL-HKG but that had nothing to do with me being Emerald but rather someone turning around on same aircraft.