Cathay to restart Milan and Madrid from October

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  • cwoodward
    Participant

    Flights to/from the above will restart from early October. The schedules are on the Cathay website

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    CathayLoyalist2
    Participant

    [postquote quote=1229017]

    I am interested in a flight to Singapore. From what I have seen CX has been running a once a week service on Saturdays from Madrid and have now added a Sunday service. That said having made a dummy booking it is a bit inconsistent meaning flights are either not available or some return flight from Singapore there is a 21 hout transit in HKG. I guess it will work itself out


    cwoodward
    Participant

    The exact dates of all of the resumed flights for the next months are on the CP web site. It lists the exact days that there is a flight as of course not all flights are daily

    i. e.
    Flights to/from Milan
    To: Every Friday in Oct-Nov
    From: 8, 15, 22, 29 Oct and every Saturday in Nov

    Singapore looks like 5 times a week starting from 11th August

    https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_HK/flying-with-us/cathaycare/where-we-fly-now/latest-where-we-fly-now.html


    christ
    Participant

    Unless you are in need of tier points / avios, I am not sure a low frequency (and high price is the best option). Nonetheless for One World, Qatar does seem to have reasonably priced flights to Singapore (about £3k return).

    Alternatively there is Lufthansa to Munich with a short connection onto Singapore Airlines A380. Singapore Airlines A380 is excellent – however I am unsure of the situation in German airports and whether they are suffering staff shortages. Price is about £2,700 return.

    In the current climate, these prices do not seem too bad – and especially for the outstanding service of Singapore airlines.

    I do not think there should be a last minute cancellation but if for eg there was a mechanical error when you are in HK, I am not sure what would happen if the connecting flight was cancelled. I think you can stay airside (be pretty dull except for Cathay lounge but I do not believe there are hotels airside). I suspect that if you want to go through immigration you may struggle as you may not have all the paperwork and would need to quarantine at least 3 nights. Therefore it would seem a risk to go through HK until quarantine ends. As said, unlikely but you never know (though I assume if this was the case, Cathay would transfer you at HK to another non – one world carrier to prevent any issue.


    cwoodward
    Participant

    Christ said

    “I do not think there should be a last minute cancellation but if for eg there was a mechanical error when you are in HK etc etc”

    Cathay is not exactly short of aircraft at the moment Christ.
    Few airlines are at the moment flying daily to other than a few of their destinations at this time – even Qatar to whom routings that suffer continual financial loss seems of no consequence.

    Further, it is not all about the cost for many travellers particularly those looking at other than economy seats. It is well documented that people will pay more if it means travelling with their preferred airline(s) and the fact is that many prefer Cathay.

    As to paperwork being any sort of impediment in the scenarios that you mention above they are in my opinion about as likely as an elephant (of the flying variety of course) falling on me on the way home from my office this evening – but I will be careful.

    BTW as you mentioned German airports it seems from all reports most are in a worse state than are those in the UK with Frankfurt it seems almost closed.


    christ
    Participant

    I am afraid Cathay do have a lot of last minute cancellations along with other airlines (probably no better or worse) and it is not just having a plane but crew in the right place.

    I am not sure I agree with the few flying daily comment for even HK – Qatar, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Thai etc are. Also from Singapore, Singapore airlines flies to most of its destinations daily.

    I would have much have preferred to return HK last year on BA (or even Cathay) v Qatar but as i pay for flights myself, I cannot justify paying a 30% to 50% premium (well would have been less if knew how low Qatar luggage allowance was – an error i made)! I do sometimes pay a premium to go BA (or even AA domestically in the US due to one world and despite poor network from Denver where my second home is) – probably depends how much it is!

    I just think until the next few months, connecting through HK just has some challenges in case things go wrong and due to the reduced network. However looking at the news, anything in Europe sounds awful for different reasons (unless hand luggage only maybe). I think (and does not seem an option from Madrid), direct flights are the safest, even at a premium (be it whichever airline).

    Hope you are safe and avoid the elephant :).

    I had not appreciated German airports are worse than the UK as just read re Heathrow (which interestingly people i know who have gone through T5 recently said it was ok – probably luck of timing). Amsterdam was the one which took me by surprise as always used to be hassle free – though a mile long walk for the BA gates!

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