DonJ1973

Hey Guys
It's been a really long time since I posted anything in this forum, but I am once again gearing myself up for my yearly travels to Asia....But, I wanted to ask a question about the Cathay Pacific All-Asia Pass.

The price is absolutely amazing and for the destinations I want to go to (Seoul, Taipei, Osaka and Hong Kong) it works out perfectly since they are offered in the 23 cities in 21 days deal.

However, today I hit a few road blocks to trying to book this trip. The first travel agent that I went to (an American company) literally refused to help me with this because the agent says she wouldn't make enough commission and it wasn't worth her time or effort....first of all...WTH is up with that?? She said their site is sooo un-user friendly etc and suggested I visit an Asian travel agency.

The 2nd travel agency I visited just didn't get what the pass was all about....It was a chinese agency and turned me down saying they couldn't offer me that price ($1,399)

Finally I went to the same travel agency that I used for my trip to China last year (America Asia Travel center) and they seemed more than willing to help me out. The agent is suppose to call me and give me an update on the booking.

Now here's my question to any of you:
1. Have any of you gone through some of this trying to book this pass? Are some travel agents leery on booking it?
2. How long does it take to have the agent book the pass and have the tickets in your hands? Can I expect to wait a month?
3. Did any of you have any problems booking this pass? Did you get your tickets in time?
4. Are there any catches that I need to be aware of?
5. I plan to leave August 20th...Is booking this now enough time?

rhkkmk

i have the same questions that you have....make sure to let us know how it works out....i wish it was for more than 21 or 30 days....

Kathie

Can't you just call Cathay Pacific to book it?

DonJ1973

According to their web site, a travel agent has to book this pass for you. I personally think this is stupid and a severe waste of time....considering the ordeal I went through this afternoon.

Kathie

Very weird, Don. I think you've discovered the big downside of their all-Asia pass.

rkkwan

e-commerce is many parts of Asia is still several years behind the US. Even in a modern place like Hong Kong.

cmenoni

Unless things have changed, you also dont' get airmiles, if that's a factor for you.

laurieco

I ran into the same problem when trying to book the pass that Air Malaysia offers. You must book through a travel agent and most agents won't bother since they don't make much of a commission on airfares. I even tried some to the agents that Malaysian suggested but it turned out to be more trouble than it was worth. I ended up not using the pass and just booking the flights myself.

DonJ1973

On the CTX Agent web site, it says the commission for booking this particular air faire is $100. I'm not an expert on travel commissions, but that sounds really low....So, if that's the case I can probably understand why most travel agents don't want to even bother.

I'm going to see what this 3rd travel agent does for me and if she can book the pass....I worked with her last year to book my trip to China and when I visited her on Friday, she seemed more than willing to help....maybe she won't be as happy when she sees she's only getting $100

Elizabeth_S

I booked a Star Alliance Circle Pacific airpass earlier this year using a travel agent who specializes in these things - he's in Vancouver but tickets out of Phoenix - the charge was around $150/each and he was really helpful.

I met him on the Flyertalk Forums which are incredibly helpful for the various airpasses - he happens to be the Moderator of the Cathay Pacific forum so I'm sure he can help you if you just post there - but I would also recommend using him for the ticket as he is incredibly knowledgeable

http://flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=487

Femi

I traveled on Malasia Airlines' variation on the travel pass a while back and experienced the same difficulties you mention when booking the flights. However, once we were finally on our way, it was well worth the trouble, especially worthwhile if you intend to fly several legs.

One caveat is that you will probably have to backtrack to the hub (HK?) each time, and this eats up valuable vacation time.

I would also recommend looking into any hotel deals the airline may offer in conjunction with the tickets. We got a few good deals this way.

Bon Voyage!

merckxxx

Choose the agent you want to do the work and tell them you don't mind paying an extra $40-50. The airlines are being unreasonable and have driven many good agents right out of business.

DonJ1973

Well, I'm still waiting for the phone call to see if the agent can hook me up or not. Since I want to travel 3 legs, this pass will totally work out for my benefit if I can manage to get it booked....I'll keep you all posted.

DonJ1973

The Asia Pass plan is officially scrapped....All flights in this plan/class are full. I booked my trip on AirGorilla.com instead and paid about 1800 after taxes. Not bad, but I would have rather gotten the $1399 deal.

Lia

Interesting post! I was looking at the Cathay Pacific All-Asia Pass but then decided to redeem my United miles towards a RTW Star Alliance pass and take a 2-month trip to Asia and Europe. Using the online tool, I mapped out a 10-city itinerary including:
Seoul
Shanghai
Taipei
HCMC (Saigon)
Singapore
Prague
Venice
Florence
Marseille
Lisbon

Star Alliance also says that air passes must be purchased through a travel agent, but I've always redeemed FF miles on the airline website so I guess I have to contact SA to figure out what to do next.

Has anyone used the Star Alliance pass? I'm flexible on travel dates and travelling off-season so I hope flight availability won't be a problem.

Elizabeth_S

Lia - if you look up a couple of posts you'll see one from me - we booked a Star Alliance Circle Pacific Pass earlier this year and had to use a travel agent - I found a great guy who is very knowledgeable - also check out the Flyertalk forum address above - go to the Star Alliance forum

DonJ1973

I was very disappointed that I wasn't able to get this pass. It seems like booking this just wasn't travel-agent friendly enough. I hope in the future Cathay Pacific will let the customers book it themselves. BTW, if anyone is wondering I called Cathay Pacific and asked if they could recommend an agent and they flat out said no and said they weren't allowed to give that information. Also, there web site use to give suggested agents and that was eventually removed.

But, my trip is already booked so I'm moving forward.

DonJ1973

I guess trying to book this pass 2 months in advance is way too late.