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Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific is well-loved among travel enthusiasts for many reasons. The airline is renowned for its outstanding first-class product that includes amenities such as lie-flat beds and large entertainment screens.
On top of that, Cathay Pacific operates an excellent frequent flyer program that’s a transfer partner of almost every major transferable credit card rewards program, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Rewards and Citi ThankYou Rewards. Thus, accruing rewards through the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program is fairly easy to do.
Once you have some miles in your Asia Miles account, getting good value out of those miles is simple, as this frequent flyer program still utilizes fixed award charts to price its own award flights, partner award flights and Oneworld multi-carrier awards. In fact, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles is one of the best programs through which to book a round-the-world award.
Because this program uses fixed award charts for all of its award flights, it’s possible to find redemptions through Cathay Pacific Asia Miles that offer outsized value (exceeding 1 cent per point) with a bit of searching.
To make this search easier for you, we have included all of the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles award charts.
Asia Miles Award Charts for Flights on Cathay Pacific
The following distance-based award chart applies to flights operated by Cathay Pacific:
| Distance flown (in miles) | Economy | Premium Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–750 | 7,000 | 11,000 | 16,000 | 25,000 |
| 751–2,750 (Type 1) | 9,000 | 20,000 | 28,000 | 43,000 |
| 751–2,750 (Type 2) | 13,000 | 23,000 | 32,000 | 50,000 |
| 2,751–5,000 | 20,000 | 38,000 | 58,000 | 90,000 |
| 5,001–7,500 | 27,000 | 50,000 | 88,000 | 125,000 |
| 7,501+ | 38,000 | 75,000 | 115,000 | 160,000 |
The award chart above applies to one-way travel. If you want to find the price of a round-trip Cathay Pacific award flight, you’ll need to price each direction of the flight separately. For instance, if you were taking a business-class round-trip Cathay Pacific award flight between Hong Kong (HKG) and Seoul (ICN), the distance in miles is about 1,300 miles each way. So, since you price each sector separately, it would cost 56,000 (you would not price the two sectors together as 2,600 miles in which case the round-trip flight would only cost 28,000 miles).
If you’ve already purchased a flight in business or first class on Cathay Pacific, you can book a Companion Ticket Award on the same flight in the same cabin class for a discounted mileage rate. Companion Ticket Awards are also priced according to a distance-based award chart. However, as opposed to the award chart above, the following award chart is for round-trip travel:
| Distance flown (in miles) | Business | First |
|---|---|---|
| 1–750 | 24,000 | 38,000 |
| 751–2,750 (Type 1) | 42,000 | 64,400 |
| 751–2,750 (Type 2) | 48,000 | 75,000 |
| 2,751–5,000 | 87,000 | 135,000 |
| 5,001–7,500 | 126,000 | 187,400 |
| 7,501+ | 165,000 | 240,000 |
So, for example, if you were to book a business class round-trip flight from Hong Kong (HKG) and Seoul (ICN) with a round-trip distance of 2,600 miles, buying a Companion Ticket for that flight would cost 42,000 miles.
Asia Miles Award Charts for Flights on Partner Airlines
Through the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program, you can use your miles to book flights on partner airlines as well. Cathay Pacific is a member of Oneworld Alliance, so miles can be used to book flights on any other Oneworld Alliance airline. Here is the current roster of Oneworld Alliance airlines:
| Alaska Airlines | British Airways |
| American Airlines | Finnair |
| Iberia | Qatar Airways |
| Japan Airlines | Royal Air Maroc |
| Malaysian Airlines | Royal Jordanian |
| Qantas | SriLankan Airlines |
Additionally, Cathay Pacific has several other airline partners outside of Oneworld Alliance with which you can book award flights through the Asia Miles program. These non-Oneworld partner include:
| Air Canada | LATAM |
| Air China | Lufthansa |
| Air New Zealand | S7 Airlines |
| Bangkok Airways |
Although all partner awards are priced according to specific distance-based award charts (which we can tell because, for instance, two flights of the same distance in the same cabin class on Japan Airlines always cost the same number of miles), these award charts are not published on the Cathay Pacific website. So, if you want to know the price of an award flight operated by a single partner airline through the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program, you’ll have to go to the “Redeem flight award” page of the Cathay Pacific website and search for your desired flight.
As a side note, you can only book round-trip award flights operated by Iberia through the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program. On all of Cathay Pacific’s other airline partners, you can book either a one-way or a round-trip flight.
The only partner airlines on which you can book premium economy awards are American Airlines, British Airways and Qantas.
Asia Miles Award Charts for Oneworld Multi-Carrier Awards
While Cathay Pacific doesn’t publish award charts for partner award flights operated by single partners, there is a published award chart for Oneworld multi-carrier flight awards. This award chart applies to award itineraries that include:
- Two Oneworld Alliance airlines, excluding Cathay Pacific as one of your selected carriers; or
- Three or more Oneworld Alliance airlines, including Cathay Pacific as one of your selected carriers.
In creating these Oneworld multi-carrier itineraries, you can include flights from all Oneworld Alliance airlines. Your journey can be a maximum of 50,000 miles in total flight distance. Here’s the award chart for Oneworld multi-carrier awards:
| Distance flown (in miles) | Economy | Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0–1,000 | 30,000 | 60,000 | 75,000 |
| 1,001–1,500 | 35,000 | 65,000 | 85,000 |
| 1,501–2,000 | 40,000 | 70,000 | 95,000 |
| 2,001–4,000 | 45,000 | 80,000 | 110,000 |
| 4,001–7,500 | 63,000 | 100,000 | 150,000 |
| 7,501–9,000 | 68,000 | 120,000 | 165,000 |
| 9,001–10,000 | 77,000 | 135,000 | 175,000 |
| 10,001–14,000 | 95,000 | 170,000 | 250,000 |
| 14,001–18,000 | 105,000 | 210,000 | 310,000 |
| 18,001–20,000 | 115,000 | 230,000 | 330,000 |
| 20,001–25,000 | 126,000 | 250,000 | 350,000 |
| 25,001–35,000 | 140,000 | 265,000 | 365,000 |
| 35,001–50,000 | 160,000 | 280,000 | 380,000 |
For these Oneworld multi-carrier awards, your itinerary can include a maximum of five stopovers, two transfers and two open-jaws. Likewise, stopovers and open-jaws are permitted once per city and cannot be the same city as the point of origin or the point of destination.
If you book a Oneworld multi-carrier award that includes flights in different cabin classes, the entire itinerary will be priced as if the entire itinerary were in the highest cabin class. For instance, if you were to book a Oneworld multi-carrier award that included two first-class flights and three business-class flights, the entire itinerary would be priced at the first-class mileage rate.
Asia Miles Award Charts for Upgrades on Cathay Pacific
In addition to booking award flights, you can use miles to purchase cabin class upgrades on Cathay Pacific-operated flights that you’ve already booked. These upgrade awards are priced according to the following distance-based award chart:
| Distance flown (in miles) | Economy to Premium Econ. | Premium Econ. to Biz | Econ to Biz* | Biz to First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1–750 | 6,000 | 8,000 | 11,000 | 15,000 |
| 751–2,750 (Type 1) | 11,000 | 14,000 | 19,500 | 26,000 |
| 751–2,750 (Type 2) | 12,500 | 16,000 | 22,500 | 30,000 |
| 2,751–5,000 | 21,000 | 29,000 | 40,500 | 54,000 |
| 5,001–7,500 (Type 1) | 27,500 | 42,000 | 59,000 | 75,000 |
| 7,501+ | 41,500 | 55,000 | 77,000 | 96,000 |
*Upgrades from economy to business class are only available for flights that don’t have premium economy class.
The Bottom Line
Because the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program still uses fixed award charts to price its own award flights, partner award flights and Oneworld multi-carrier awards, it’s possible to find outsized value (exceeding 1 cent per mile) on redemptions through this program. However, in order to find these sweet spots, you’ll need to be familiar with the award charts above.
Unfortunately, Cathay Pacific doesn’t publish award charts for partner flight awards. So, if you want to know the price of a partner award flight through the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program, you’ll need to search for it manually through the Cathay Pacific website. It’s worth noting that partner upgrade awards aren’t available through this program.
Finally, the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program is a great program through which to book a round-the-world award. These awards are priced according to the award chart for “Oneworld multi-carrier awards” above. If you structure your award itinerary the right way, this is one of the best ways to maximize the value of this program.
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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.
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