ethanaviation

Hello! I'm booked to fly CX on 16MAY2024 from HKG to TPE on CX466 - I noticed today CX stopped accepting bookings for my flight- indeed, it has 1) disappeared from the Cathay Pacific timetable/ future schedule page , and 2) is no longer bookable on Cathay Pacific website (not listed at all when searching. Does this mean it will be cancelled? Is this common on this route? How close in does CX officially cancel the flight? Since I cannot rebook until they pull the flight out of my booking, even though it is no longer on their schedule.

I've got a connecting train at TPE and important meetings that day - so highly appreciate your insight!

pf007

try contacting CX CS, are they also as oblivious?

Edit - CX has 10-13 frequencies of HKG<>TPE per day, so they might have collate some flights together (?)

ethanaviation

pf007 CX CS insist “ flight is on time, it is simply sold out”.
I don’t seem to believe them, since this particular flight on this day disappeared from the timetable I listed up off, plus when I checked a few days ago it was wide open in all cabins.

does anyone know if they are going to consolidate flights, when they will finalize?

Carfield

I just checked expertflyer and the flight was zeroed out in all cabin classes, but they are not "cancelled".
There is an earlier flight CX 530 that departs at 8:35am and then CX 450 will depart at 9:55am, so I will not worry too much. Both of those flights were wide opened in all cabin classes. Business class passengers will be a bit annoyed because those two flights feature the regional business class seat, not the lie flat seats that are scheduled for CX 466. Economy class passengers will be fine with CX 530, since it is also an A330 flight, but CX 450 is a Boeing 777-300 flight with the dreaded 3-4-3 seating.

Unfortunately, nothing can be done until Cathay Pacific officially cancel the flight or reopen the flight.

Because of the Taipei to Japan connection, there are six scheduled flights from Hong Kong to Taipei between 8am and 10:20am, so CX 466 will be an ideal flight to cancel if they need to readjust their pilot and crew roosters after all these weather delays in the past week. I will not worry too much and you are most likely going to lose half an hour of sleep to get on one of the earlier flights. 8am, 8:10am and 8:35am flights are all wide-opened in all booking classes, so I will not worry too much.

Carfield

fakecd

in these sitiation i have written to CX (via comments on feedback) saying this is fraud and i report them to Consumer Council of Hk for investigation unless they let me cancel. they effectively made up their mind not to fly but not cancelling which entitles passenger to refunds and hold onto your cash longer. Once i file those written stroongly worded comments i usually had no issue they extend "goodwill gesture" to cancel without admittance of guilt.

i am not a troublsome pax. but i stand up to my rights when needed.

pf007

yeah, last time I checked on a CX flight which was fully sold out, it wouldn't turn up when searching dep port + arr port + date, but it was still on the online timetable

you can probably hedge your bets on your flight not taking off

brunos

As Carfield mentioned CX466 on 16 May has been zeroed out for that day, and only that day.
The load was light and all flights on 16 May have a very light load.
They might need that longhaul A330 for some other destination and it is the most likely candidate for a consolidation as there is one flight 25min before and one 55min after.
I would say cancellation is likely and I would suggest you decide which other flight you would like to be rebooked to once they cancel. CX530 is the likely candidate given your constraints.
No need to overworry, CX will contact you and rebook on your desired flight, even if that CX practice is indeed unpleasant.

fakecd

agree

just to clarify if you are intending to fly there is zero worries u will be rebooked on either without fee

my comment earlier is situation where i actually wanted to cancel as i purchased elsewhere and waited for CX to change schedule to be able to cancel without fee. these "zero out" was sneaky way to demand fee free cancel


i also had situation where zeroed out flight eventually came back online for sale

wyskevin

CX CS was probably right. It happened to me early this year. The flight I booked couldn’t be found on CX website and it was not cancelled either. It turned out the flight was oversold and I got upgraded.

brunos

But that CX466 on 16May is NOT oversold. Like all morning flights on that day, the load is very light and the seat map on EF is near empty.
I have had many such experiences with CX in the past 3 years, and the flight always ended up cancelled. When they close it for sale 2 weeks before departure and there are few pax already booked on that flight as well as on those within an hour before and after (J9 C9 D9 P9 I9 Y9 B9 H9 K9 M9 L9 V9 S9 N9 Q9 O9), it usually means forthcoming cancellation.
Note that return flight CX461 TPE-HKG is also zeroed out, and the loads on that day for CX flights are also quite low.

ethanaviation

Appreciate your insight, brunos! Thanks for digging into this. Does anyone know in the case of flight cancellation due to cancellation, will CX grant me any compensation since this is an operational decision entirely made by them? While the departure time may not change much, I'm not happy given I specifically booked into lie flat J and all the non-cancelled flights are recliner options. I know it's a short flight, but I want to keep CX accountable for making cost saving consolidation decisions at the expense of customer convenience/trust/ experience.

ethanaviation

Another inconvenience factor is that a benefit of my credit card is airport pickup, though the any changes/flight number must be confirmed 5 business days beforehand, so if CX cancels last minute I'll have to pay for an expensive taxi out of pocket too

percysmith

Wait a second - I can ticket it (in Y). Is it really cancelled or even closed for booking?

PaulC852

I highly doubt that CX would offer compensation for offering you your choice of "25 minutes earlier or 55 minutes later". The type of seat has never formed part of the contract for a business class flight.

And for the pickup, take the earlier flight and leave the pickup time unchanged - at most you will wait 25 minutes at the airport.

AmD950

If there is an IRROP, CX can offer you refund or reschedule of flights. This is their compensation.
For short flights like this, they can swap in a domestic product without prior notice anyway.
FYI - there were a few domestic 333, probably last minute, operated this flight in April.

If you are not happy with CX, HKG-TPE is operated by multiple carriers. You can cancel your flights and opt for another carrier.