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Hong Kong is one of the most beautiful, unique and cosmopolitan cities on the globe. English is one of its official languages, making it very accessible to travelers coming from all over the world. Moreover, it’s located at the heart of Southeast Asia, making it a natural gateway to many other amazing destinations.
If you’re planning a trip to Hong Kong from the U.S., you may be wondering how you can use points and miles to make it happen. You have a couple of options when it comes to award redemptions, and we’ll explore all the best options in this article.
Which Airlines Fly to Hong Kong?
There are only two major carriers offering nonstop flights from the U.S. to Hong Kong (HKG). The following table lists them both, along with all U.S.-origin airports.
| Airline | Origin airports with direct flights to HKG |
|---|---|
| Cathay Pacific | • Boston (BOS) • Chicago (ORD) • Los Angeles (LAX) • New York (JFK) • San Francisco (SFO) |
| United Airlines | • Los Angeles (LAX) • Newark (EWR)* • San Francisco (SFO) |
*At the time of writing, United’s EWR-HKG route is not available. From a Google flight search, it appears that this route is set to resume on October 25th, 2024. Due to existing policies, it’s difficult for US-based carriers to operate this route since it flies over Russian airspace. There’s a possibility of further delays in this route depending on external circumstances.
In addition to Cathay and United, American Airlines and Delta used to offer routes to Hong Kong, but canceled them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neither airline has indicated that they plan to reopen these routes.
Singapore Airlines also used to offer a fifth freedom route between San Francisco and Hong Kong. This was also suspended due to COVID-19 restrictions, and there’s also no indication that it will be restored.
Even though Cathay Pacific and United Airlines are the only two carriers offering direct routes, there are still many ways to make an award redemption. This is because Cathay is part of the Oneworld alliance, and United is part of the Star Alliance. You can use any of their alliance partner programs to book the redemption.
Among all these programs, which ones offer the best value for your points? We’ll look at the following six programs in this article:
- Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- American Airlines AAdvantage Program
- United MileagePlus
- ANA Mileage Club
- Air Canada Aeroplan
A Note on Award Availability
Travel demand to Hong Kong remains sky-high following the COVID-19 pandemic. This high demand coupled with a limited supply of routes means that award availability, particularly for First and Business class cabins, is very scarce.
If you’re planning to make one of the following award redemptions, it helps immensely if you’re flexible enough to scoop up availability at a moment’s notice. In addition, if you see availability for a seat you want, don’t wait. There’s a high chance it’ll be gone before you know it.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
First, let’s figure out how to book the Cathay Pacific routes from the U.S. to Hong Kong. These award seats are available to book through any of Cathay’s Oneworld partners, but we’ll start by looking at Cathay’s own program first, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.
One-Way Miles Pricing for Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Members
Cathay publishes a distance-based award chart for their own flights. This makes it easy to determine the one-way miles cost for each of the following five routes, all of which fall under the “Long” (5,001 to 7,500 miles) or “Ultra-long” (7,501+ miles) categories:
| Route | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS-HKG (Ultra-long) | 38,000 | 75,000 | 110,000 | 160,000 |
| ORD-HKG (Ultra-long) | 38,000 | 75,000 | 110,000 | 160,000 |
| LAX-HKG (Long) | 27,000 | 50,000 | 84,000 | 125,000 |
| JFK-HKG (Ultra-long) | 38,000 | 75,000 | 110,000 | 160,000 |
| SFO-HKG (Long) | 27,000 | 50,000 | 84,000 | 125,000 |
Booking Cathay flights through Cathay Pacific Asia Miles comes with a host of benefits. Perhaps most importantly, Cathay’s award space opens up to Cathay members 12 months in advance. Cathay publishes award space to its partners 11 months in advance, meaning that Cathay members can see one full additional month of availability. So, if you’re able to plan your Hong Kong trip well ahead of time, your best bet for locking in award availability is through Cathay.
How to Book with Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
To book an award ticket using Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, search directly on Cathay’s site. You’ll need to sign in to view the full availability calendar, so create a Cathay account if you don’t have one already. Select “Redeem flights,” and search for your route.
We recommend searching for one-way flights to maximize flexibility. This way, you can also use the “Departing on” field to quickly preview availability in a handy calendar view. For example, the following screenshot suggests excellent availability in Business class from ORD to HKG, with redemptions at 110,000 miles one-way:
After searching for a particular date, hopefully Cathay should return an actual result. In this case, there are a few seats remaining for September 1, 2024:
Select the flight, add it to your cart, and check out with your Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.
How to Earn Cathay Pacific Miles
Other than flying with Cathay, you can earn Cathay miles through the Cathay Pacific Visa® Card. It’s a $95 annual fee card with a welcome bonus and earning multipliers in the following categories:
- 2X miles on eligible Cathay Pacific purchases
- 1.5X miles on dining in the U.S. and abroad
- 1.5X miles on purchases outside of the U.S.
- 1X miles on purchases in the U.S.
These categories aren’t great, and for $95 a year, this card definitely isn’t suited for the average U.S. consumer. However, Cathay has an abundance of partnerships with major U.S. credit card issuers, so it isn’t too difficult to get your hands on the miles you need for this redemption.
For instance, you can transfer points from American Express, Bilt, Capital One and Citi to Cathay Pacific at a 1:1 ratio, and from Marriott at a 3:1 ratio. Tack on a possible transfer bonus, and this can bring down the redemption cost even more.
Key Takeaways: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
There are three main advantages to booking with the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program:
- You get to see the most award availability.
- Redemption rates are reasonable.
- Cathay has many credit card partners, so it’s easy to earn the miles.
All in all, booking Cathay flights with Cathay Pacific Asia Miles is one of the safest ways to go about it. However, a few other programs can offer even cheaper rates if you’re lucky enough to find them.
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
For years, the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program held some of the best sweet spots for booking Cathay award seats to Hong Kong. Due to recent devaluations, some of these redemptions aren’t as good as they once were, but they’re definitely still worth a look.
One-Way Miles Pricing for Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Members
For award seats on Cathay, Alaska publishes a distance-based award chart. This award chart pricing is being slowly rolled out across all partners in March 2024, so until then, you may still see some awards at the old pricing. It’s expected that after March 2024, this award chart will apply for saver award availability seats on all partners, including Cathay Pacific. We can use it to determine the one-way miles cost for each of the following five routes on Cathay:
| Route | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS-HKG (7,001–10,000) | 42,500 | 55,000 | 85,000 | 130,000 |
| ORD-HKG (7,001–10,000) | 42,500 | 55,000 | 85,000 | 130,000 |
| LAX-HKG (7,001–10,000) | 42,500 | 55,000 | 85,000 | 130,000 |
| JFK-HKG (7,001–10,000) | 42,500 | 55,000 | 85,000 | 130,000 |
| SFO-HKG (5,001–7,000) | 37,500 | 50,000 | 75,000 | 110,000 |
The SFO-HKG jumps out as being a sweet spot route, since it’s the only route under 7,000 miles. Conversely, the LAX-HKG route might be deemed an “anti-sweet spot,” since it barely crosses the 7,000 mile threshold.
In First and Business classes, these rates are lower across the board compared to Cathay. This makes Alaska Airlines a strong candidate for booking premium cabin award seats to Hong Kong—that is, if you can find the availability.
How to Book with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles
To book an award ticket using Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles, search using Alaska’s website. We recommend that you select “All search options” to bring up the old search interface, which looks like this:
The advantage of conducting your search from here is that you can check the “Use miles” and “Award calendar” options to get a handy monthly view of award availability. In this example, we search for one-way award flights from JFK to HKG, departing sometime early 2025. We see the following results:
We were unable to find Business class availability, so we’ll continue with an Economy class award ticket for the purposes of this example; the process for booking Business class is exactly the same. Also, at the time of writing, Alaska is still listing the old 30,000 mile rate for Economy class flights on this route. We expect these rates to climb to 42,500 miles one-way after Alaska completes its 2024 Mileage Plan updates.
If we select January 22, 2025 in the previous screenshot, Alaska takes us to the available award flights on that specific day:
From there, simply choose your desired flight, add it to your cart and check out using your Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles.
How to Earn Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles
Besides flying with Alaska, you can earn Alaska miles with the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card. For the $95 annual fee, you get a one-time Companion Fare ticket, a strong welcome bonus and earning multipliers in the following categories:
- 3X miles on eligible Alaska Airlines purchases
- 2X miles on eligible gas, EV charging stations, local transit, rideshare, cable and select streaming purchases
- 1X miles on all other purchases
These categories are okay, but are significantly better if you fly Alaska Airlines often. Cardmembers also get one free checked bag and priority boarding benefits.
It used to be difficult to earn Alaska miles. However, starting in June 2024, Bilt members can transfer their points 1:1 from Bilt to Alaska. This is Alaska’s first ever major credit card partner, and it can definitely help you earn Alaska miles faster than before.
Key Takeaways: Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
Overall, the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan program has some amazing redemption rates compared to the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program, especially in premium cabins. However, many travelers are complaining about the lack of award availability. Unfortunately, this shortage of award seats will probably continue in the near future.
Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® Card
60,000
Bonus Miles
plus Alaska's Famous Companion Fare™ ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) after you spend $3,000 in the first 90 days
Annual Fee: $95
American Airlines AAdvantage Program
American Airlines, another one of Cathay’s Oneworld partners, offers the most competitive redemption rates on Cathay-operated flights to Hong Kong. These are accessible to members of the American Airlines AAdvantage Program.
One-Way Miles Pricing for American Airlines AAdvantage Program Members
For award seats on Cathay, American publishes a fixed award chart. Pricing is dependent on your origin and destination region. Because the contiguous 48 U.S. states & Canada is a region, and Hong Kong is in Asia Region 2, the pricing for all five routes is exactly the same when you book with the AAdvantage Program:
| Route | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS-HKG | 37,500 | 50,000 | 70,000 | 110,000 |
| ORD-HKG | 37,500 | 50,000 | 70,000 | 110,000 |
| LAX-HKG | 37,500 | 50,000 | 70,000 | 110,000 |
| JFK-HKG | 37,500 | 50,000 | 70,000 | 110,000 |
| SFO-HKG | 37,500 | 50,000 | 70,000 | 110,000 |
These are some excellent rates, particularly if you’re flying from the U.S. east coast. Only 70,000 AAdvantage Miles to fly Business class on a near 16-hour flight from JFK to HKG is an excellent sweet spot.
Across the board, this pricing is lower compared to both Cathay and American. If you happen to have a bunch of AAdvantage miles laying around, this would be an excellent flight to spend them on (although again, finding availability is the toughest part).
Business class on American’s Airbus A330-300. Image courtesy of American Airlines.
How to Book with American Airlines AAdvantage Plan Miles
To book an award ticket using American Airlines AAdvantage Plan miles, start from American’s homepage. Then check “Redeem miles.” We recommend searching for one-way fares. As with our Alaska example, let’s search for flights from JFK to HKG departing in early 2025.
After searching, we recommend choosing the “Calendar” feature to bring up a monthly calendar view of availability:
From this calendar view, you can apply additional filters to your results. For example, you can choose to look for nonstop routes only in Business and First class:
At the time of writing, we weren’t able to find any availability for Business or First class on this route. We’ll continue this example in Economy, but the process for booking Business and First is exactly the same.
Once you’ve narrowed in on a date, you can select it to view the available flights for that day.
From here, you can choose your desired flight and add it to your cart. Upon checkout, you’ll redeem your AAdvantage Miles for the award seat.
How to Earn American Airlines AAdvantage Miles
You can earn AAdvantage Miles whenever you fly in the Main Cabin on American Airlines flights. The amount of miles you earn depends on the cost of the ticket, as well as your elite status.
It can take a while to rack up AAdvantage Miles by flying American alone. You can accelerate your earning by obtaining a co-branded credit card. American Airlines has a huge arsenal of co-branded cards for you to choose from. On all of them, you’ll earn one Loyalty Point towards status per dollar spent, in addition to AAdvantage Miles. Here’s just a quick look at a few popular options to consider:
| Card Name | Annual Fee | Bonus Categories | Notable Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Airlines AAdvantage® MileUp® Card | $0 | • 2X miles at grocery stores • 2X miles on eligible American Airlines purchases • 1X miles on all other purchases | 25% discount on in-flight food and beverages on American Airlines flights |
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® | $0 for the first year then $99 | • 2X miles at restaurants and gas stations • 2X on eligible American Airlines purchases • 1X miles on all other purchases | 25% discount on in-flight food and beverages on American Airlines flights |
| Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard® | $595 | • 4X miles on eligible American Airlines purchases • 1X miles on all other purchases | • Admirals Club membership • First checked bag free on domestic flights on American for you and up to eight guests • Priority boarding on American • $100 TSA PreCheck or Global Entry credit • 25% discount on in-flight food and beverages on American Airlines flights |
Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®
Earn 50,000
American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles
after $2,500 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
Annual Fee: $99, waived for the first 12 months
Citi® / AAdvantage® Executive World Elite Mastercard®
Earn 70,000
American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles
after spending $7,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
Annual Fee: $595
We should mention that even though none of the multipliers on any of these American Airlines cards are particularly competitive, AAdvantage Miles are really hard to earn otherwise. This is partly due to the fact that American Airlines is ending its only partnership with a U.S. credit card issuer, Bilt, in June 2024 (in its place, Alaska will become a partner of Bilt). No other major credit card issuer partners with American Airlines, so there’s no way to transfer points from these rewards programs into your AAdvantage account.
Key Takeaways: American Airlines AAdvantage Program
American Airlines has the most competitive rates among the three programs we’ve looked at so far, especially for routes originating from the east coast. However, American Airlines suffers from similar problems as Alaska Airlines, where award availability is super difficult to find. In addition, while the miles cost is lower, AAdvantage miles are becoming harder and harder to earn. So, if you happen to find award availability for an upcoming flight, and you have enough miles, we recommend booking it and not looking back.
Quick Summary: Cathay Pacific Routes
Based on our discussion so far, the following table lists the cheapest ways to book each route in each cabin class.
| Route | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOS-HKG | 37,500 (American) | 50,000 (American) | 70,000 (American) | 110,000 (American) |
| ORD-HKG | 37,500 (American) | 50,000 (American) | 70,000 (American) | 110,000 (American) |
| LAX-HKG | 27,000 (Cathay) | 50,000 (Cathay, American) | 70,000 (American) | 110,000 (American) |
| JFK-HKG | 37,500 (American) | 50,000 (American) | 70,000 (American) | 110,000 (American) |
| SFO-HKG | 27,000 (Cathay) | 50,000 (Cathay, American, Alaska) | 70,000 (American) | 110,000 (American) |
United MileagePlus
Next, let’s look at United. You can book United award seats through any of their Star Alliance partners, but let’s start by examining the United MileagePlus program first.
One-Way Miles Pricing for Cathay Pacific Members
Figuring out award prices for United flights can be difficult. Unlike the Oneworld programs we looked at earlier, United doesn’t publish any award charts. Instead, awards are dynamically priced, meaning that prices change depending on timing and demand.
United does have what’s known as Saver awards, which require the fewest miles (and are also visible by partner airlines). It can be difficult to find availability for these awards, but you can increase your odds of finding expanded saver awards if you’re the primary cardholder of a United co-branded credit card, or if you have United elite status. United Silver and Gold members can view expanded Economy class Saver awards. United Platinum and 1K members can also view expanded Business and First class Saver awards.
Polaris Business Class on United Airlines | Image courtesy of United Airlines
In the following table, we’ll list the Saver rate along with the “typical” rate (the rate you’ll probably see most often when searching on United). Costs are the same regardless of whether you’re traveling out of SFO or LAX:
| Cabin Class | Saver Award Rate | Typical Award Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Economy | 55,000 | 55,000 |
| Premium Economy | 65,000 | 65,000 |
| Business | 100,000 | 170,000 |
The Saver and typical rates are the same for Economy and Premium Economy, since you’ll usually find at least a couple of open seats in these cabins at this pricing. For Business class, Saver award availability is extremely scarce, and the best pricing you’ll normally see is 170,000 MileagePlus miles:
While these rates aren’t amazing, the additional taxes and fees you pay are very low ($5.60).
How to Book with United MileagePlus Miles
To book an award ticket using MileagePlus miles, start from United’s homepage. Again, we recommend choosing one-way. In the “Book” pane, check “Book with miles” and “Flexible dates.” Enter in your other search information and then hit “Find flights.”
You’ll get a calendar view of results showing the lowest miles cost for each day. Note that the calendar results contain flights from United along with all of their partner airlines, even if you filter by United flights only. This is why you’ll see flights at 110k in the results—these are typically for routes on Turkish Airlines via Istanbul (IST) or ANA via Tokyo-Haneda (HND), which aren’t bad ways to fly to HKG either. However, let’s focus on direct routes in United. On most days, you should see the typical 170k pricing for Business class:
When you choose a specific date, you’ll see the available flights for that day. Simply add the desired flight to your cart and check out using your MileagePlus miles.
How to Earn United MileagePlus Miles
You’ll earn MileagePlus miles every time you fly with United. The amount you earn depends on your fare class and elite status tier.
Like with American Airlines, you can rack up United miles a lot faster by spending on co-branded credit cards. United also has a large selection of cards to choose from, and we’ve highlighted a few good options in the following table:
| Card Name | Annual Fee | Bonus Categories | Notable Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|
| The New United℠ Explorer Card | $0 for the first year, then $150 a year | • 2x miles on United® purchases, dining, and hotel stays when booked with the hotel • 1X miles on all other purchases | • Two one-time United Club passes • First checked bag free on United • 25% discount on in-flight and Club premium drink purchases |
| The New United Quest℠ Card | $350 | • 3X miles on eligible United purchases • 2X miles on dining, all other travel and select streaming services • 1X miles on all other purchases | • $200 annual United statement credit • Two 5,000-mile reimbursements for award flight redemptions each cardmember anniversary • Up to $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS fee credit • Two free checked bags on United • 25% discount on in-flight and Club premium drink purchases |
| The New United Club℠ Card | $695 | • 4X miles on eligible United purchases • 2X miles on dining and all other travel • 1X miles on all other purchases | • United Club membership • Two free checked bags on United • Up to $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS fee credit • 10% discount on United Economy Saver awards within the continental U.S. and Canada • Complimentary Avis President’s Club status • IHG Rewards Platinum Elite status • 25% discount on in-flight and Club premium drink purchases |
80,000
Bonus Miles
after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
Annual Fee: $0 for your first year, then $150.
90,000
Bonus Miles
and 500 Premier qualifying points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
Annual Fee: $350
95,000
Bonus Miles
after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee: $695
Getting United co-branded credit cards can be useful for earning more miles, but it’s more a play to earn elite status faster. Because United is a partner of Bilt and Chase, you could also transfer your points from those programs at a 1:1 rate over to United. In particular, Chase cards tend to have stronger multipliers across the board, making it a lot easier to accumulate points.
Key Takeaways: United MileagePlus Program
The United MileagePlus program doesn’t offer the best rates on their award flights, even if you’re able to find Saver award availability. This is especially true when comparing United’s pricing to that of the Oneworld airlines. However, it’s not difficult to accrue United miles due to their ongoing partnerships with Bilt and Chase. If you have a lot of MileagePlus miles, this could be a decent backup option for award travel to Hong Kong.
ANA Mileage Club
Despite going through a recent devaluation, ANA Mileage Club still offers probably the best redemption rate out of all programs in this article to book flights on United. Again, the main caveat is finding availability.
Round-Trip Miles Pricing for ANA Mileage Club Members
ANA Mileage Club members have access to United’s Saver award space. As we’ve already seen in the United section, award space for United’s Hong Kong routes are very scarce. However, if you’re able to find availability, ANA uses a very traveler-friendly award chart to determine pricing. You’ll be able to fly to Hong Kong at an unbeatable rate (the posted rates are for round-trip tickets on SFO-HKG and LAX-HKG only, since ANA only allows round-trip award bookings):
| Cabin Class | Required Mileage |
|---|---|
| Economy | 60,000 |
| Business | 130,000 |
The ANA award chart lists First class rates as well, but United Polaris is a Business class product and is the highest level of service, so First class awards don’t exist.
Again, the table lists round-trip pricing. While this means a very low award rate, it also means you’ll need to find availability on both legs of your round-trip flight. ANA award tickets also tend to come with high taxes and fees on this route.
How to Book with ANA Mileage Club Miles
To book an award ticket using ANA Mileage Club miles, start from ANA’s international flight search page. At the top, choose “Award Reservation.” This will prompt you to log in or create an ANA account.
Next, enter the details of your trip. We recommend using United as a search tool first to locate Saver award availability for your trip, so you know exactly what dates to look for. You can also check “Compare seat availability +/- 3 days” if you want.
You’ll see results that look like this:
“Seats available” doesn’t guarantee that award space exists on this day. ANA has a mechanism where you can be waitlisted for a flight that’s currently full; unfortunately, these waitlisted flights still cause “Seats available” to be shown for that day. This is all the more reason to confirm availability with United’s search portal first before moving on to your search on ANA.
If you’ve confirmed award availability, make sure you’ve chosen the correct dates and hit “Next.”This brings you to the next screen where you can pick the exact flight you want. Because Business class award availability is so scarce, we’ll continue this example using an Economy class fare:
ANA designates these as “Award Type 2,” which are Star Alliance partner awards. For this Economy class round-trip ticket, the final cost is 60,000 Miles and $501.60 in taxes and fees. Check out using your ANA miles in the final screen.
How to Earn ANA Mileage Club Miles
It’s pretty difficult for travelers based in the U.S. to earn an abundance of ANA Mileage Club miles. You’d have to fly a ton of Star Alliance flights to accrue any reasonable amount of points. There also aren’t any widely marketed co-branded credit cards that earn ANA miles.
The one saving grace here is American Express. Amex is the only major U.S. credit card issuer that lists ANA as a transfer partner. Amex members can transfer their points at a 1:1 rate over to ANA.
Key Takeaways: ANA Mileage Club
The main advantage to booking with ANA Mileage Club is the insanely low rates for award flights on United. However, three things jump out as clear negatives:
- Very low award space (ANA members can only view United Saver award availability as booking options.)
- High taxes and fees compared to other programs and carriers
- Only round-trip awards are allowed, meaning you need to lock in availability on both the departing and returning flights
If, despite these challenges, you’re still able to find availability, consider booking it immediately. Alternatively, you can call ANA to ask if they can place your award on hold while you figure out points transfers and other travel logistics.
Air Canada Aeroplan
Whenever there’s talk of a Star Alliance redemption, Air Canada Aeroplan is part of the discussion. This program consistently offers some of the best pricing across all Star Alliance award seats, and the United awards to and from Hong Kong are no exception.
One-Way Miles Pricing for Air Canada Aeroplan Members
With ANA, Air Canada Aeroplan members only have access to seats marked as Saver awards by United. This means that award availability is pretty tough to find. Provided you can find availability, Air Canada publishes a decent award chart in terms of one-way pricing (for both SFO-HKG and LAX-HKG routes):
| Cabin Class | Required Mileage |
|---|---|
| Economy | 50,000 |
| Business | 75,000 |
The Air Canada award chart lists First class rates as well, but United Polaris is a Business class product and is the highest level of service, so First class awards don’t exist. Because of this, the Business class pricing jumps out as being particularly valuable here; it’s much cheaper than United’s Saver rate of 100,000 United miles.
How to Book with Air Canada Aeroplan Miles
To book an award ticket using Air Canada Aeroplan miles, start from Air Canada’s homepage. Check “Book with points,” and enter in your travel details. As with ANA, we recommend doing your actual searching through United’s website to locate Saver award availability first, so you know which dates to look for. Once you’ve entered all your travel information, click “Search flights.”
This should return a list of flights that you can choose from. For the date we selected, no Business class availability exists. Because of this, we’ll continue the example in Economy. There are seats available for 50,000 miles, which matches Air Canada’s posted rates:
On the following fare review page, you can review the details and check out using your Air Canada miles.
How to Earn Air Canada Aeroplan Miles
The simplest way to earn Air Canada miles is to fly with them and their Star Alliance partners. However, Air Canada also has one co-branded credit card available to U.S. travelers: the Aeroplan® Credit Card from Chase.
This card comes with a $95 annual fee and usually has a pretty good sign-up bonus. It has the following bonus multipliers:
- 3X miles at grocery stores
- 3X miles on dining
- 3X miles on eligible Air Canada purchases
- 1X miles on all other purchases
These categories are decent. However, the most obvious source of Air Canada miles comes from its partners in American Express, Bilt, Capital One and Chase. All of these programs allow you to transfer points at a 1:1 rate over to Air Canada. Because you can often find better earning categories with these partner cards, it’s usually better to spend on those cards rather than the Aeroplan card (unless you’re chasing the sign-up bonus).
Key Takeaways: Air Canada Aeroplan
Air Canada Aeroplan has the same advantages and disadvantages as ANA Mileage Club: great redemption rates, but very low award space. However, Air Canada is always a candidate to keep in mind for Star Alliance awards like this, since it’s so easy to transfer miles to Air Canada, and the taxes and fees for redemptions are usually very reasonable.
Up to 70,000
bonus points
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, earn an additional 10,000 bonus points after your annual fee renewal payment posts and is paid in full
Annual Fee: $95
Quick Summary: United Routes
Based on our discussion of the last three programs, the following table lists the cheapest ways to book the SFO-HKG and LAX-HKG United routes in each cabin class.
| Cabin Class | Best Pricing |
|---|---|
| Economy | 30,000 (ANA—technically, it’s 60,000 for a round-trip) |
| Premium Economy | 65,000 (United; ANA and Air Canada Aeroplan cannot see this award space) |
| Business | 65,000 (ANA—technically, it’s 130,000 for a round-trip) *75,000 (Air Canada) |
*For the Business class redemption, we include both the ANA and Air Canada rates, because ANA only allows round-trip pricing. It’s very difficult to find two legs of availability at the same time.
Conclusion
In this article, we examined two carriers that offer flights from the United States to Hong Kong: Cathay Pacific and United. In addition to these two carrier’s programs, we also looked at Alaska Airlines and American Airlines on the Oneworld side, and ANA Mileage Club and Air Canada Aeroplan on the Star Alliance side. We took a deep dive into redemption costs, how to earn the required mileage and how to finally make the booking.
Award availability on these routes has always been difficult to find, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. While it will probably continue to be difficult for the foreseeable future, you now have everything you need to convert your hard-earned miles into an unforgettable trip to Hong Kong.
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Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, earn an additional 10,000 bonus points after your annual fee renewal payment posts and is paid in full
plus Alaska's Famous Companion Fare™ ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) after you spend $3,000 in the first 90 days
and 500 Premier qualifying points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
after spending $5,000 in purchases within the first 5 months of account opening.
after spending $7,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening.
Editors Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
10xTravel is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Editors Note: Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
bonus cash back
after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Bonus Miles
once you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
bonus points
after $5,000 in purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
Membership Rewards® Points
after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
