In the past weeks, we covered how Cathay Pacific is actively fighting tier members of other frequent flyer programs, preventing them from adding the number and receiving elite benefits before reaching the airport.
I now have a new reservation, issued on American Airlines ticket stock, from Tokyo via Hong Kong to Bangkok and while I was able to enter my BA Emerald number, Cathay wasn’t willing to let me select seats.
There seems to be something inherently wrong in the halls of Cathay Pacific at the moment, when their approach to alliance customers is to freeze them out of obtaining tier associated benefits until the member actually reaches a physical check-in counter.
We first covered this here:
Cathay Pacific Bans Switching Frequent Flier Numbers Past Check In
And then a follow-up piece by John last week:
Cathay Pacific’s War With Frequent Fliers Escalates: Now Won’t Even Add A FF Number To Existing Booking
As I had to book a flight from Japan to Thailand in January I decided to book a backup ticket on JAL/Cathay with AAdvantage miles (in case nothing else becomes available) and found an option in Business Class on JAL from Tokyo to Hong Kong and then the following day in Economy Class from Hong Kong to Bangkok.
Given that we already covered this, I made sure to book this AAdvantage ticket in my own name but as a non-AA account holder with fresh details, including my BA Emerald Executive Club number. So far, so good.
When I tried to select my seat with Cathay no option was given to do so, the Cathay Pacific site noted I should pick my seat during check in. As a BA Emerald member with the number properly inserted. This was never a problem before.
I then went to the Japan Airlines website as they operate the first leg of this journey and see there, you could select seats for the CX segment as well.
Now it shows up on the Cathay Pacific site as an “unpaid preferred seat” and I should contact the airline to pay for it:
This is absolutely ridiculous. What other problems is Cathay Pacific going to throw our way in the coming months??
I’m not going to take any action here right now, as I will most likely change this ticket anyway. This was only a backup option designed to have something available to fly back to Bangkok after the New Year’s holiday. I expect that, eventually, a better choice will pop up in the next month or so.
Conclusion
Aside from Cathay Pacific having blocked the ability to add and modify your frequent flyer number, apparently, they also restrict access to seat reservations now. At least on some itineraries.
In this case, they wouldn’t offer any seats whatsoever to be picked for my itinerary, not only the restrictive preferred seats. I was eventually able to assign one via Japan Airlines in the first row, but now it shows up on Cathay’s site as a preferred seat I have to pay a fee for.
I have no idea why it has become such a pain to fly Cathay Pacific as a oneworld Emerald member, but this isn’t good. Oftentimes, I book directly with CX and can enter my number right away, but sometimes it isn’t possible.
That’s not the spirit of being an alliance carrier and to offer a seamless experience for tier members, especially as elite members are eligible for preferred seats, which won’t be available on the day of check-in or travel anymore in most cases.
