Seat reservations can be made any time before check-in closes.
#Cathay members may pay for seat reservations with Miles Plus Cash except at airports in India and Nepal
Fees will be charged on a per passenger and per flight sector basis. Please see the table below for details.
Zone 1
Flights between Hong Kong SAR and the Chinese Mainland (Chongqing, Fuzhou, Guangzhou, Haikou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Ningbo, Sanya, Wenzhou, Wuhan, Xiamen), Philippines (Manila), Taiwan China, Vietnam (Hanoi).
Zone 2
Flights between Hong Kong SAR and Asia (excluding those listed under zone 1).
Zone 3
Flights between Hong Kong SAR and Australia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates.
Zone 4
Flights between Hong Kong SAR and Canada (Vancouver), Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, United States (Los Angeles, San Francisco).
Zone 5
Flights between Hong Kong SAR and Canada (Toronto), United States (Boston, Chicago, New York).
The fee is paid in the local currency equivalent based on the exchange rate on the date of purchase. Any applicable tax will be collected in addition to the fees stated above.
Changing to another seat on the same flight
Please note if you are changing to a seat which is free of charge or lower in price, any residual fee is non-refundable.
Changing to another flight
Your seat reservation can be modified together with your flight booking within the same route. If you make changes to your flight booking online, please contact Customer Care to transfer your paid seat reservation to your new flight. Please note seat selection will be subject to the availability of the requested seat on your new flight.
If you change your flight booking to another route or cancel your booking, your paid seat reservation will be forfeited, and no refund will be provided for the corresponding fee.
Our refund policy
Paid seat reservations are non-refundable except in the following scenarios:
For full details, please refer to our terms and conditions.
Please note that there are specific rules and regulations which may entitle you to enhanced refund rights and compensation due to cancellation, delay and denied boarding in certain jurisdictions to and from which we fly. For further information, please refer to our General Conditions of Carriage , Conditions of Contract and Customer rights and regulations.
If you encounter any of the above scenarios, you are entitled to apply for a refund for your paid seat reservation.
How to make a refund request
Refunds can be requested within 30 days from your original flight departure date, by either filling out our refund request form online*, or by contacting Customer Care. If you purchased your seat reservation through a travel agent, please contact your travel agent to request a refund.
Please note that once you submit the refund request form online, you will be giving up the reserved seat for your flight.
*If you upgraded to a higher cabin using bookable upgrade, please contact Customer Care to make a refund request.
Refunds will be made in the currency and original form of payment used during your purchase. If you made the purchase with Miles Plus Cash, any used portion of your seat reservation, if applicable, will be deducted from the amount paid in cash first. Any outstanding amount will then be deducted from the amount paid by miles*. The remaining amount for the unused portion will be refunded in miles and/or cash accordingly.
*Please note, the amounts paid in cash and miles during the purchase will be allocated proportionately among all flight tickets and travel extras purchased within a single transaction.
Most extra legroom seats* and some regular seats are located near the emergency exit doors and are subject to flight safety guidelines of the Civil Aviation Department of Hong Kong.
A passenger may be assigned a seat in an emergency exit row if they meet the following safety requirements and will not obstruct emergency exits in a way of impeding the crew in their duties, obstructing access to emergency equipment, or hindering aircraft evacuation.
Passengers occupying an exit row seat must:
If a passenger does not fulfil the above safety requirements, we may re-assign an alternative Economy seat before or during the journey without a refund of the seat reservation fee.
*Please note the below extra legroom seats are not located near emergency exit doors:
1Eligibility for seat reservation is based on the membership status at the time of the request.
2Please note the below extra legroom seats are not located near emergency exit doors:
3If the passenger has upgraded to a higher cabin using bookable upgrade, refund requests can be made by contacting Customer Care only.