[jonwu]

I had a bad experience with Cathay Pacific in New York, flying from JFK to Hong Kong where my wife and I were returning from vacation. This was an unpleasant surprise because I normally fly CX for business trips around Asia and they are usually efficient and courteous. On the evening flight, about 20 minutes prior to boarding, I was paged by the gate agent. We went to their desk and we were told there was a problem with our ticket which they couldn't locate. I told them I had given everything to the airline attendant who checked us in before clearing security and that she had given us our boarding passes which we produced. (This is, by the way, after we had purchased two business class tickets which were not cheap). We were then told by one of the gate attendants that "There is no way you are getting on the plane without those tickets." One of the other gate attendants then insisted that we had to purchase two ADDITIONAL business class tickets in order to board the plane. We argued in vain but they wouldn't budge. Once boarding commenced, I am ashamed to say I caved, had to exit back through security, go to the ticket desk which was fortunately still open, and bought the two new business class tickets, after which we had no problems getting on the plane. The still unnerves me because it seems so unjust. I didn't know what else to do. I've just tried to put it out of my mind and move on with my life. I'm hoping this is an isolated incident and that it hasn't happened to anyone else.