Arrrhhh! Cathay Pacific Cutting New York To Vancouver Flight Early

Cathay Pacific, a Hong Kong based airline, operates a fifth freedom flight from between New York (JFK) and Vancouver (YVR) and then continues on to Hong Kong.

Their business and first class cabins will make you elongate words and say things like:

• “Oh wow, this is niiiiice.”
• “This is seat a so biiiiiig!”
• “Whooooooa! This bed is more comfortable than my bed at home!”

Cathay Pacific Cutting New York To Vancouver Flight

Anyway, this past year we learned that Cathay Pacific would be discontinuing their New York to Vancouver flight on 28 March 2020.

This created a bit of a frenzy because for a mere 32,500 American Airlines AAdvantage miles (which is a STEAL!), you could experience a glamorous 6-hour business class flight.

Well, for anyone who was looking to take advantage of this flight before it ended (or is booked for this flight between now and March 28th), you may have to make other plans (or check your itinerary) as the airline has just announced that it has moved the end date up and will be discontinuing this route on 18 February 2020.

CATHAY FLIGHT CUTS

In the past few months, Cathay Pacific has really been hurting financially. I suspect the riots in Hong Kong have lead to a significant decrease in travel demand throughout Asia, particularly if connecting in Hong Kong.

I also suspect that the coronavirus outbreak has not helped the demand for travel to Asia either.

Regardless, they’ve been significantly cutting flights across the board.

MY DILEMMA

I had planned a mini round-the-world trip using Cathay Pacific from New York (JFK) – Vancouver (YVR) – Hong Kong (HKG) – Capetown (CPT) and that was going to take place in the next few weeks. However, my plans are obviously changing. I’ll keep you updated on the developments.

OTHER ROUTES

Although I am changing my whole itinerary, you may find yourself in a similar position and there are a few other options. Cathay Pacific has been significantly ramping up service from Hong Kong to both New York and Vancouver. Cathay operates:

• 3x nonstop flights: New York to Hong Kong
• 1x nonstop flight: Newark to Hong Kong
• 3x nonstop flights: Vancouver to Hong Kong

Cathay Pacific will maintain the Vancouver to Hong Kong flights as is, and on top of that plans on adding an extra 4x weekly frequencies between New York and Hong Kong. In other words, the only route that is discontinuing (for now) is the JFK-YVR route.

FINAL STAMP

(Un)fortunately, the airline industry is fairly sensitive to world events and it’s sad to see Cathay Pacific cutting this very unique fifth freedom flight.

But again, for anyone who was looking to take advantage of this flight before it ended (or is booked for this flight between now and March 28th), you may have to make other plans (or check your itinerary) as the end date is now the 18 February 2020.

Has anyone flown this route? Is anyone planning to take advantage of the flight in the next two weeks?