Alan L

Thanks for the information guys. Just spoke to the agent, the booking reference for CX and MH are the same but I was told that I'm unable to log into CX's online flight management system. But yes, it seems the issue is with the booking class... I was told by the CX agent to give them a call 48 hours before departure in order to select a seat. It's going to be a 16-hour (!) long non-stop flight from JFK-HKG, I just hope I don't get an undesirable seat... On the bright side, I got this ticket for a very, very good deal, which made me choose to take MH this time.

I see. This is an odd situation because I have always been able to select a seat, whether online or with an agent before check-in, in all previous flights that I took except for this one. The CX agent didn't mention anything about the fare code though, she mentioned about not having access... I'll be sure to take note of this the next time I book.

I just bought a round-trip Malaysia Airlines Economy ticket from New York JFK to KUL a few days ago, am happy that I now have more options to KUL. One downside of this code-share is, I am unable to choose a seat before check-in on the CX sector from JFK to HKG and back because the airline confirmation code is issued by MH. The MH agent won't have access to CX's booking system, while the CX agent in the U.S. can't allow me to access the seat plan with this code. This situation is unlike the American Airlines-Malaysia Airlines code share flights I previously took, but maybe MH and CX's system still need more time to fully integrate with each other.

Some pictures of the new first class seats available through this blog: http://www.placesandfoods.com/2012/06/malaysia-airlines-a380-first-class-pictures.html