Cathay Pacific - Brief Rant & A Question

[samatm]

I was under the impression that the requirement to physically present the card was an anti-terrorism mechanism. Have you thought of fedexing your GF your CreditCard ? There you could solve a couple of questions do you trust her do you trust Cathay Pacific.

Have you tried to call the Cebu Office of Cathay Pacific. Perhaps you could scan a copy of your credit card / passport etc.. and send it to them. I always had to scan over my passport entry to them to calculate whether I got stuck paying extra taxes or not. Maybe they can help

Cathay Pacific Airways

Address: , , , Cebu City, Cebu, Philippines

Telephone No: (6332) 231-3935 / 36

Fax No:

Email:

[OnMyWay]

I was under the impression that the requirement to physically present the card was an anti-terrorism mechanism.

No, it is apparently more about credit card fraud and only a few airlines have this policy.

Have you thought of fedexing your GF your CreditCard ?

No, the card owner must do it and show ID. Also, Fedex would add additional costs.

Have you tried to call the Cebu Office of Cathay Pacific.

My girlfriend has been trying to call them for weeks in Manila and can only get a recording. It took me 3 days to get through in the US and then I was on hold for 30 minutes. Unbelievably poor customer service! Scanning, etc., was my first thought but the agent told me that is not possible.

Anyway, it is all water under the bridge now. If I knew about this issue before I made my ticket purchase, would I do it again? I can't really say. Everything has a cost benefit. Cathay's ticket price was far less than anything else I could find at the time. I will make my final judgement on whether to use Cathay again after the flight is completed.

I'm lucky in that I have a nephew here in Chicago who I can stay with, so that really softened the blow of having to come up here a few days early before my girlfriend flies in. That same generous nephew also booked us 3 nights in a beautiful downtown hotel. I can't wait to reunite with my girlfriend and enjoy the sightseeing in Chicago!

[Dave Hounddriver]

I always here people say that Cathay Pacific has good prices but every time I search for a flight, I find them outrageously expensive unless they have a monster sale. Am I looking in the right place? Where do people find the CHEAP Cathay Pacific prices?

[SubicSteve]

I always here people say that Cathay Pacific has good prices but every time I search for a flight, I find them outrageously expensive unless they have a monster sale. Am I looking in the right place? Where do people find the CHEAP Cathay Pacific prices?

Get on their email list so you don't miss out on their sales.

[samatm]

She will have a great flight to HKG to SFO or LAX its the domestic leg on AA that will be a bit of drag. CX is a great flight with superior service for economy your lucky it was the cheapest flight going as it is not a "bargain barrel" airline. Next time coordinate with the local Cebu office. I never have had a problem getting in touch with them.

Have a great time in ChiTown .. introduce her to the Cubbies .

[OnMyWay]

She will have a great flight to HKG to SFO or LAX its the domestic leg on AA that will be a bit of drag

No, the nice thing is that Cathay has a non-stop to Chicago now, eliminating the west coast to mid-west domestic leg. Total flight time and cost is reduced a lot. The cost is about the same as the west coast flights.

I live in the Cincinnati area and the cost of air tickets is one of the bad things about living here. Round trip to the west coast is always $400-500 minimum now + baggage fees. Cincinnati continues to lead the US as the most expensive airport to fly in/out of.

Due to the above factors and the fact that I also wanted to spend some time in Chicago, the Cathay flight was the best option for us.

[OnMyWay]

I always here people say that Cathay Pacific has good prices but every time I search for a flight, I find them outrageously expensive unless they have a monster sale. Am I looking in the right place? Where do people find the CHEAP Cathay Pacific prices?

They had the best deal by several hundred USD when I was searching. I think I started searching about 8 weeks before the approximate date we wanted. The price for rountrip MNL/HKG/ORD was 875+taxes & fees = 1256. I put in flexible dates and only some of the dates had the $875 fare. Considering that Chicago eliminates the flight time and cost ($400-500) of a US west coast to mid-west ticket, this was by far the cheapest. Flights via Narita to Chicago were all $1700-1800 or more at the time.

[samatm]

Oh thats great HKG direct to ORD. I was forced to spend 12 hrs in LAX several years back waiting for my AA connection to Dallas don't want to do that again.

You made the right choice no matter the hassles with the credit card thing ! Only problem is now she will be spoiled and expect all Air travel to be like Cathay Pacific.

[Dzighnman]

I always here people say that Cathay Pacific has good prices but every time I search for a flight, I find them outrageously expensive unless they have a monster sale. Am I looking in the right place? Where do people find the CHEAP Cathay Pacific prices?

I watched for my Cathay tix for four months, everday using Orbitz. You are correct though, their prices are all over the map but there are usually predictable trends that develop... and I purchased 6 months ahead of the flight... Chicago to Hong Kong to Cebu. The end result for one way tickets was for the two adults: 846.25usd each, including all taxes and for the child, 686.55usd also, including all taxes.

:thumbsup:

[OnMyWay]

I am not too sure about paper tickets but when I pay for an E-ticket, I send the Confirmation Link to Azon and she prints it off, job done. She has the E.ticket and of course the payment Confirmation is on it. I fly Cathy P from HK to manila and always Book on Line for an ET. I find this situation OMW has is a little 1970's, this is the beauty of the Imternet. No need for paper Tickets in 2012. You pay, she Travels, I do not really understand the problem. In fact 9/10times you dont even need the paperwork, they know who is travelling and as long as her travel Docs are in Order "she is on her way." :) Hope you can get it Resolved.Jack P. :541:

Yes, I don't understand it at all. Apparently there are other airlines with this credit card policy ( http://www.elliott.o...e-i-paid-twice/ ) and it seems implausible to me that they can sell tickets on line and have such a policy. I find it hard to believe that they have suffered from credit card fraud so often that a policy such as this has to be used.In my case, the credit card company has already paid Cathay, >30 days before the flight. It seems that the risk of fraud falls on the credit card company, not Cathay, so I just am not following the logic of the policy. Possibly it would make sense if the online purchase is made a day or two before the flight.

A bit of follow up on this for everyone. I went to the Chicago Cathay ticket desk where they registered in the computer that I had presented the credit card. I asked for a print screen and had the agent sign and date it. I scanned this and e-mailed it to my girlfriend, and she printed it.

When my girlfriend checked in at the Manila counter, the first thing they asked for was the credit card. She showed them the screen print. This information should all be in the computer. The agent had to go see the boss before telling her that everything was OK. So, this certainly is flawed system and very inconvenient for Cathay's customers.

Lessons learned:

1. If you book a Cathay ticket online for yourself, make sure you take the same credit card to the airport.

2. If you book a Cathay ticket online for someone else (my scenario), realize that you will have to visit a Cathay office to present the card.

3. When you present the card ahead of time, get a copy of the computer screen, have it signed by Cathay, and give a copy to the traveler.