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Customer rights and regulations

We care about your passenger rights and adhere to a number of regulations. To view our region-specific policies, please select a destination from the dropdown menu below. 

(Available in English only)

Customer Service Plan for travellers to and from the United States

This Customer Service Plan outlines twelve important areas that assure customers of our high service standards and that we have measures in place to deliver them. While Cathay Pacific may apply some of the policies discussed below in more than one country, this document is intended only for customers enquiring about, booking, or travelling on flights to and from the United States. It is organised according to the twelve areas addressed in U.S. Department of Transportation regulations:

Customers enquiring about a fare or booking through our United States website, or our reservations hotlines in the United States will be offered our lowest available fares that meet customers’ travel requirements.  At other carrier locations, such as ticket counters in the US, we will tell you if we offer a lower fare elsewhere.

Here is advice for finding our lowest fares:

  • Be flexible with your travel dates. When making a booking online, our travel calendar shows you the best available fares for all flights within 3 days of your preferred travel date
  • Avoid peak travel periods such as holidays
  • Make your bookings as far in advance as possible
  • Sign up for newsletter or check with our reservations agents  to learn about our latest promotions.

As soon as Cathay Pacific becomes aware of a flight delay of 30 minutes or more, cancellation, or diversion within seven (7) calendar days of a scheduled departure to, from, or within the US, it will within 30 minutes, provide customers timely updates through Cathay Pacific’s: website, telephone reservation system and boarding gates at U.S. airports on the day of the flight. Cathay Pacific will also provide customers with timely updates through its flight messaging system provided the customer has provided Cathay Pacific with valid contact information. Such updates, based on the best information available at the time, may include provisional or estimated departure times and reasons for the delay, cancellation or diversion.

It is our intention to ensure that your baggage travels with you on the same flight and that baggage is delivered to you on time.  In case your baggage is delayed, we will make every reasonable effort to return it to you within 24 hours.  There are a number of factors that can cause baggage to be delayed, sometimes for more than 24 hours. These include: customs and immigration procedures, unusual operational interruptions, and/or the handling of baggage by other carriers (for itineraries involving more than one airline).

If you are unable to locate a bag upon arrival, you should notify a Cathay Pacific baggage services agent prior to customs clearance.  A report will be filed for you at that time, and you will be given a phone number for follow-up.  You will receive periodic updates regarding the status of your baggage. You may also view the status of your bags on https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/baggage/lost-and-damaged-baggage.html..
Once a delayed bag is located, a delivery company will return the bag to your local address at our expense.  Listed below are some circumstances that may inhibit our ability to return your bag within 24 hours:

  • No local name, address or phone number is provided
  • You are located at a remote area or an "unreachable" address, such as a cruise ship or a camping site
  • You changed your delivery address, but did not notify us
  • We have limited flight schedules to your destination
  • Operational circumstances prevent us from being able to locate or deliver your bag within this timeframe.

We will attempt to contact all customers whose unclaimed checked baggage contains contact information.

A record of your delayed baggage, once you report it, is available at https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_US/baggage/lost-and-damaged-baggage.html, which includes the contact information and delivery address you provided when you filed your report. Should you need to change this information, please send us a message or make a call to the phone number provided to you when filing your report.

Subject to international agreements and conventions that may limit compensation, we will compensate you for reasonable expenses that incur as a result of the delay in delivery. We also will reimburse you for any airline fees charged for transporting a bag that is not recovered.  Please send us the supporting documents or call the phone number provided to you when filing your report.

Helpful suggestions:

Although statistics suggest it is highly likely your baggage will arrive with you, there is a possibility it might inadvertently be misrouted.  For this reason, it is important to place your name, address, and telephone number(s) on the outside and inside of your baggage. This will also make your baggage easier to identify when claiming it at your destination.  You are also advised to carry certain items onboard with you; these include, but are not limited to, travel documents, medication, jewellery, cash, keys, business documents, electronics, urgent need medication and other items of high value.

On January 24, 2012, Cathay Pacific will implement new US standards that will allow purchasers in the US, for bookings made 7 days or earlier before departure, involving itineraries to/from USA, to either:

(i) hold bookings for 24 hours at quoted fares without payment for bookings made via the worldwide reservations office or
(ii) within 24 hours after purchase, cancel paid reservations for a full refund, for bookings made via the internet on the US site.

General refund policy

  1. All ticket refunds are subject to the Terms and Conditions of each ticket. Subject to Section 4, some tickets are non-refundable and some tickets are refundable with a handling fee of a specified amount; exceptions may also apply.
  2. Cathay Pacific generally will not issue refunds for tickets that have expired or are no longer valid.
  3. We will only process ticket refunds for tickets issued by Cathay Pacific, including our  reservations offices and counters in the United States and our U.S. website.  If a ticket is not issued by Cathay Pacific, please direct your refund request to the company that issued the ticket.
  4. If another airline’s ticket has been reissued through Cathay Pacific, please direct your refund request to that other airline.
  5. You can request a refund of an electronic ticket through our reservations offices in the United States.  If a refund request is made for a paper ticket, all unused customer coupons must be surrendered.
  6. Cathay Pacific will refund, using the same procedures outlined below for tickets, fees charged to a customer for optional services that the customer was unable to use due to an oversale situation or flight cancellation.

Refund procedures and amount

  1. If the ticket is a refundable one, we will issue a refund subject to the following rules:
    • If the ticket is totally unused, the refund will be the full amount paid less any applicable service charges/penalties.
    • If the ticket is partially used, the refund will be the difference between the fare paid and the fare for the transportation used, as determined by the applicable fare rules, plus deduction from any applicable service charges/penalties;
    • You should cancel your flight booking if you don’t intend to use it. Otherwise, a no-show fee, in addition to any service charge and/or penalty, may be deducted from the refund.
  2. If the air travel portion of your ticket is non-refundable:
    • You should still cancel your flight booking in order to get the refund of any unused tax, fee or charges, most (but not all) of which are refundable;
    • The non-refundable portion of a ticket always remains non-refundable. For example, if a ticket is non-refundable, the ticket value remains non-refundable even it is reissued into a refundable ticket.
  3. For an involuntary downgrade refund, the refund amount should be the proportional fare difference between the ticketed class and the actual class of travel.
  4. We may refuse to make a refund in a currency other than the currency of purchase, or in a country other than the country in which the purchase was originally made. If we make it at our discretion to pay the ticket refund in other currency (i.e. other than the original ticket payment currency), it will be converted at the prevailing bank rate of the date of refund.
  5. Tickets will be refunded only to the person named on the ticket as the customer, except:
    • Tickets purchased with a credit card will be refunded to the account of the credit card used.
    • Tickets issued with a prepaid ticket advice will be refunded only to the purchaser.
    • Guarantee payment collected via a MCO (miscellaneous charge order) will be refunded to the account of the credit card used for the purchase of the original ticket.
    • Tickets issued with a government transportation request will be refunded to the government agency that issued the transportation request.
  6. For eligible refund requests, we will make every effort to provide refunds as set out below:
    • For tickets purchased with a credit card by U.S. residents, or in the US by non-US residents, for Cathay Pacific flights to, from, or through the US, we will instruct the credit card issuer to provide a refund within 7 calendar days after we receive required refund information.  Refunds for purchases in the US of Cathay Pacific flights to, from, or through the US by any other means, including cash, cheques, or MCOs, will be issued within 20 calendar days after we receive required refund information.
    • For credit card refunds, we will notify the credit card issuer as described above, but when the refund is credited to your credit card account depends on the cut-off date set by the card issuing bank. It is not unusual for the refund credit to appear in the succeeding monthly credit card statement.  You may verify the refund receipt directly with your card issuing bank.
    • If the ticket is purchased through a travel agent, the ticket refund should be processed by the same travel agent. Travel agent may submit refund applications through BSPlink for the airline’s approval. We will comply with IATA Resolution 824r to ensure that:
      • For totally unused tickets, we will authorise no later than the succeeding remittance date, or within 30 days, after the refund application is received from the agent.
      • For partly used tickets, we will authorise no later than two months after the refund application is received from the agent.
  7. To ensure a prompt refund, you should submit the following required documentation and information, along with your contact information such as telephone number and/or email address when making the refund request:
    • For a paper ticket, surrender the original unused flight coupons
    • For an electronic ticket, the ticket number
    • There is no need to provide us the credit card number if the ticket is purchased with a credit card.  We will refund the amount to the account of the credit card used for the purchase.  However, if the ticket is purchased with cash or cheque, for bank transfer, you will need to provide us the bank details (e.g. bank name, bank branch code, bank account number, account holder name and email address) to receive the refund; for a refund cheque, you need to provide us the payee’s name and address. The payee’s name must be the same of the customer’s shown on the ticket, unless it is stated on the ticket with special instructions.

Exceptions

  1. Certain refund requests cannot be accommodated in the above time frames. They include, but are not limited to:
    • Refunds of lost paper tickets. These must be held for 90 days to ensure that they are not found and used.
    • Tickets with adjustments that require verification of the itinerary and class of service provided.  (For example, difference between involuntary downgrade from a higher class of service paid for and lower class of service actually provided by a carrier other than Cathay Pacific) This can take up to 60 days.

We strive to provide a respectful, attentive and caring service for you, no matter what your travel needs.   If you have any special requirements or needs, we ask that you give us as much advance notice as possible to ensure we are ready to look after you.  We also offer special services for unaccompanied minors, making their travel experience with Cathay Pacific as safe, comfortable and convenient as possible at all times.

Customers with disabilities and special needs

We endeavour to ensure that your needs are met, and our flights and services are in full compliance with all applicable regulations. We are specially trained to deliver our commitment to our customers with disabilities and special needs.

We recognise that you may need special assistance during their travel.  For assistance, please contact our staff when arriving at the airport. However, certain service requests require advance notice so that better accommodation for individuals’ needs can be met.  For more details, please refer to Disability Assistance on our website or contact our Customer Care.

During lengthy tarmac delays, our airport staff and crew will make every effort to properly accommodate and assist customers with disabilities.

Unaccompanied children and minors

Young customers travelling alone are welcome on our flights under certain circumstances. 

We provide, for a fee, an unaccompanied minors service for children aged 6 to under 12 years to travel alone.  This service is extended to children aged 12 to under 18 years at the request of their parent or guardian. 

The safety and well being of the young customers are our top priorities. Booking the unaccompanied minors service should be done at least 24 hours notice in advance. Fees and service charges apply for this service.

Cathay Pacific will care for the customers using the unaccompanied minors service throughout the journey until the customer is met by the nominated adult at the arriving airport. The responsible person meeting the child at the arrival airport must provide proof of identification before the child is handed over.

If there is a possibility that the child’s flight will be delayed or misconnected for any reason, the parent/guardian will be notified, and in certain circumstances (such as a lengthy delay) this individual may be required to pick up the unaccompanied minor at the airport.

Tarmac delays may happen due to various reasons such as safety requirements, unfavourable weather conditions, air traffic congestion and other operational factors. Cathay Pacific always strives for the highest quality service so that you are happy that you chose to fly with us. In this respect, we have developed a comprehensive contingency plan, making sure we consistently meet your essential needs in the event of a lengthy tarmac delay. You may review our tarmac delay plan.

Oversales or overbooking is a common industry practice, due to the number of passengers that cancel their bookings close to departure or fail to show up for a flight.

If at the time of departure, there are still more passengers with confirmed reservations than vacant seats available, our airport team will provide information about our denied boarding policy and passengers will be asked to give up their seats voluntarily in exchange for a compensation. In rare circumstances, should there be not enough passengers willing to give up their seats voluntarily, other passengers may be denied boarding on an involuntary basis. Apart from a few exceptions, under such circumstances, passengers denied boarding involuntarily will be entitled to the denied boarding compensation in line with US Department of Transportation regulations.

Passengers denied boarding due to oversales will be treated with fairness and consistency and as described in our policies and procedures. They generally will be protected or rerouted to the final destination of the ticket presented at check-in by the first available flight(s) or at a later date if the passenger requests.

Our US website and our US reservation agents can assist you with the following information:

Terms and conditions, including cancellation policies, that affect your travel.
All tickets purchased are subject to the Cathay Pacific Conditions of Carriage and the terms regarding cancellations, fares, taxes, baggage, policies and processes and other important conditions of your travel with Cathay Pacific. Our Conditions of Carriage are available at our website at www.cathaypacific.com/en_US/legal. All tickets are also subject to additional special terms and conditions based on the fare paid. Such terms and conditions are available for your review prior to purchase of the ticket.

Information on aircraft seat configurations and lavatories.
This information is available for Cathay Pacific aircraft on our website at Our Fleet . Please note that operational considerations may sometimes require that we change the aircraft to be used for a particular flight.

Frequent flyer programme information
You can find terms and conditions for our Asia Miles programme at www.asiamiles.com/am/en/site/terms.

 

Sometimes the itinerary of a scheduled flight will change more than seven (7) days before the scheduled departure. In that case, Cathay Pacific will make that information available in a timely manner: in your booking profile (online under Manage Booking); upon request from our reservations agents; and on the flight status page once information is made available there for the flight.

Your experience with us

We are committed to delivering the best products and services to our customers. We have a dedicated team ready to assist you with your travel needs, and they will do their best to resolve issues that may arise during your trip.

Our Customer Care team is committed to addressing all customer feedback and concerns. Should you have any concerns relating to our products or services, please do share this with us as your feedback is important and is always considered when we review or improve our services.

Please use our online form. Upon submission, you will receive an email  acknowledgement and reference number. If you direct your written concern to us by letter through the address below, we will acknowledge your written concern within 30 days, and provide you a substantive written response within 60 days. We will respond to disability-related concerns within 30 days. The following contact information can also be found on all e-Tticket confirmations and is available upon request at the US airports we serve. 

Online feedback form
www.cathaypacific.com -"Contact Us" section

Letter
Hong Kong:

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd
Customer Care
5/F, South Tower, Cathay Pacific City,
8 Scenic Road, Hong Kong International Airport,
Lantau Island, Hong Kong

United States:

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd
360 Post Street,
Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94108
USA

Aviation Consumer Protection Division, US Department of Transportation contacts:

Website: http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer

Mailing Address:
Aviation Consumer Protection Division, C-75
U.S. Department of Transportation
1200 New Jersey Ave, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20590

When flight cancellations or misconnections occur, Cathay Pacific will do its best to mitigate customer inconvenience.  For example:

 

When a delay is known at least 4 hours before departure, we will attempt to contact you via the contact details provided in your booking record.   This could be an email, sms or push notification to the Cathay Pacific app.   If you have made your reservation through a travel agency and the delay is known at least 5 hours before departure, your travel agent will be advised to contact you accordingly.

If a flight is cancelled or delayed, we will do our best to rebook you on our next flight to your final destination, subject to seat availability.  If you booked through a travel agency, we may also require them to assist in the rebooking process.

If you are inconvenienced overnight away from your home or destination for a reason within Cathay Pacific’s control, we may provide meal allowances and hotel accommodations, based on availability, at facilities with which we have contracts.  For flight delays or cancellations that are caused by events beyond our control, including but not limited to weather and acts of war or terrorism, we will do our best to assist you, but we will not be responsible for your additional costs or expenses.

 

Please refer Our customer commitment for more details.