Jun 28, 2017, 8:46 pm
Last edit by: eponymous_coward
Cathay Award Guide Using Alaska Airlines Miles
Note: Cathay flights cannot be booked using alaskaair.com. Mileage requirements in chart form available on alaskaair.com.
Routing Rules:
North American Gateway Cities:
Western
Vancouver
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Seattle (Spring 2019)
Eastern (Can not be used if traveling to west coast)
Boston
Chicago
New York (JFK & EWR)
Toronto
Washington
Award Chart Links*:
Asia
Australia
Europe
India/Middle East
North America
Anyone with 90 posts and 90 days can edit the wiki. Everyone else if you want something added to the wiki please comment in the thread.
Note: Cathay flights cannot be booked using alaskaair.com. Mileage requirements in chart form available on alaskaair.com.
Request your Partner Award reservation on Cathay Pacific by calling Alaska Airlines Reservations at 1-800-252-7522 (TTY: Dial 711 for Relay Services) 5:00 a.m. - Midnight (PT), daily.
- If it's not on the award chart, it's not allowed. For example EUROPE is To/From HKG only.
- Stopover are only allowed on any CX award for North America awards as destination or origin. For instance: intra-Asia awards do not get a stopover. It must be a North America->Somewhere or Somewhere->North America award to qualify for a stopover.
- The only awards that do not break at HKG are intra-Asia or North American ones. For instance, Australia-Europe/Middle East/Asia outside of HKG will be two awards (breaking at HKG). The AS award chart can be misleading about this and give you the impression you can fly an award like Australia/Europe-ICN, but the chart for these award types will show "Hong Kong".
- One stop-over allowed on one way award. You can build open jaw and other advanced routings by booking multiple one way awards. Please note change fee rule below.
- Allegedly stop-over only in Hong Kong, but some have posted success in other enroute cities such as YVR or SEA.
- As of 5 June 2018 changes/cancellations made to a booking will incur a $125 fee which is waived for MVPG/MVPG75K. Bookings made prior to 5 June will be allowed one complimentary change or cancellation for up to 60 days prior to date of travel.
- Awards can be booked 330 days in advance.
- Cathay and Alaska (or an Alaska flight operated by SkyWest/Horizon on behalf of Alaska) are the only airlines allowed on a Cathay award. No other partner airlines may be used on a single award (e.g. American, JAL, Emirates).
North American Gateway Cities:
Western
Vancouver
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Seattle (Spring 2019)
Eastern (Can not be used if traveling to west coast)
Boston
Chicago
New York (JFK & EWR)
Toronto
Washington
Award Chart Links*:
Asia
Australia
Europe
India/Middle East
North America
Anyone with 90 posts and 90 days can edit the wiki. Everyone else if you want something added to the wiki please comment in the thread.
Cathay Pacific (CX) Award Redemption, Booking and Availability 2017 and Later
Jan 10, 2017, 2:44 pm
#31
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,386
Just performed a search right now. CX flights show up fine. Are you sure there's actual CX inventory available? Because if I search and there isn't any CX inventory, I either get nothing at all, or if there's BA inventory I get that.
Jan 10, 2017, 5:57 pm
#32
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,895
I've also booked a US-NZ F award, originating BOS and a whole day as well in HKG. The reports on the A350 biz seats in the CX forum are not good, they are wearing very quickly. Hope they get the issues fixed before our flights.
Jan 10, 2017, 6:33 pm
#33
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Boulder
Programs: AA Plat, CX Silver
Posts: 2,361
That said, the CX forum can be hypercritical at times.
edit: Having now read the A359 thread over there, yikes.
Last edited by txflyer77; Jan 10, 2017 at 6:48 pm
Jan 11, 2017, 2:55 am
#34
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: MEL/PER
Programs: QF WP,A3 Gold,AS MVP,Hyatt DM
Posts: 8
Does HKG stopover allowed in MEL-ICN? If so, that's great.
Jan 11, 2017, 3:50 am
#35
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,386
You will have to book two awards for that; MEL-HKG and HKG-ICN. AS does not have Australia to Asia awards (except for HKG). Read the wiki. So there will not be a stopover but you can have as much time as you like between the awards.
Jan 11, 2017, 4:30 am
#36
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: MEL/PER
Programs: QF WP,A3 Gold,AS MVP,Hyatt DM
Posts: 8
From MEL-ICN J one-way for 52500 miles (30000+22500)? Yikes.
I'd rather book an CX J award to HKG, then book a CX or KE Y from HKG to ICN by cash instead, which means another great chance to earn miles (and renew MVP) on Mileage Plan.
Thank you eponymous_coward for pointing that out.
I'd rather book an CX J award to HKG, then book a CX or KE Y from HKG to ICN by cash instead, which means another great chance to earn miles (and renew MVP) on Mileage Plan.
Thank you eponymous_coward for pointing that out.
Jan 11, 2017, 6:25 am
#37
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 7
I currently have an award reservation with Alaska with one seat in F and one in J on a HKG-JFK Cathay Pacific flight, but now see availability for 2 seats in F on a different route through BA and JAL. When I called Alaska (last night and this morning) they could only see one seat in F.
Does anyone know how to get Alaska to see the second seat or when it should finally open up to Alaska to book?
I am going to keep calling again every few hours, but it would be helpful to understand what is going on if there is a trick or known availability pattern.
Thanks!
Does anyone know how to get Alaska to see the second seat or when it should finally open up to Alaska to book?
I am going to keep calling again every few hours, but it would be helpful to understand what is going on if there is a trick or known availability pattern.
Thanks!
Jan 11, 2017, 7:08 am
#38
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,895
Personally, I'd choose one in CX F and one in CX J over two in JL F , since both can get into CX F lounges. Unless of course I'd be the one stuck in CX J
Jan 11, 2017, 9:54 am
#39
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 7
I did end up trying what you suggested (booking a third F ticket on the HKG-ORD flight and hoping that a second ticket became available after the agent confirmed the first seat) but no luck!
Jan 11, 2017, 10:35 am
#40
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,895
I would try calling back a few more times. If still no dice with as , but ba and jal still show another F, I would just book with aa if I had the miles there. Average still comes out ok if not going to australia.
Jan 11, 2017, 11:27 am
#41
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 7
Thanks. (These award tickets also include an initial leg from MLE-HKG, so I'm sticking with Alaska to keep that stopover and the great pricing.) I am going to keep calling every three hours or so as long as the 2 F seats still show up on BA's website. I'll report back if both seats end up becoming visible to Alaska.
Last edited by kboone6783; Jan 11, 2017 at 11:50 am
Jan 11, 2017, 12:01 pm
#42
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,344
Usually when you add on a leg does the class of service (F) become available so you can book it? e.g. USA-HKG F initially, rebook to USA-HKG(F)-ASIA(F/J/Y). Or is there a significantly high chance the F seat will disappear upon rebooking?
Jan 11, 2017, 12:09 pm
#43
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,386
There is no seat to appear/disappear; the agent is reissuing your ticket by trading in the existing ticket and adding a leg to your existing reservation (all changes like this are a reissue with a new ticket number). Unless they screw up bigtime nothing "disappears", a new ticket is issued with the new flights added. I've done this plenty of times on AS (the same process applies on ALL AS award tickets, not just CX) and not once has there been a "whoops, your original flight's gone away".
Jan 11, 2017, 1:53 pm
#44
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,344
There is no seat to appear/disappear; the agent is reissuing your ticket by trading in the existing ticket and adding a leg to your existing reservation (all changes like this are a reissue with a new ticket number). Unless they screw up bigtime nothing "disappears", a new ticket is issued with the new flights added. I've done this plenty of times on AS (the same process applies on ALL AS award tickets, not just CX) and not once has there been a "whoops, your original flight's gone away".
Jan 11, 2017, 10:34 pm
#45
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: AY Platinum, UA Premier Platinum, OneWorld Emerald, VA Platinum
Posts: 558
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