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Cathay Pacific (CX) Award Redemption, Booking and Availability – 2017 and Later

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Old Jun 28, 2017, 8:46 pm
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
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.

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.
Routing Rules:
  • 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.
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Cathay Pacific (CX) Award Redemption, Booking and Availability – 2017 and Later

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Old May 4, 2017, 8:05 am
  #571  
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Join Date: Aug 2007
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Originally Posted by dkerr
AS round trip awards are two one ways, so changing inbound after flying outbound is allowed, as long as you don't start flying inbound.
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Old May 4, 2017, 8:40 am
  #572  
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
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Posts: 2,272
Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
No voluntary changes once you fly a segment on your award. As I said, do the HKG stopover outbound so you don't run into this.

You will pay change fees of $125 USD if you change close in. Dropping SGN-HKG is not going to be required if you add a segment, as long as you haven't flown it.
I'm a bit confused by this. My understanding was I had to book all the segments at once so for example SGN-HKG then HKG to NYC. Is it possible if only SGN-HKG is available now that I could book that and then add in HKG-NYC at a later time (as long as it is before the SGN-HKG flight takes place)? If I am allowed to do that would it equal the same amount of points as if I booked it all at once? Would it let me build in the layover at that point. For example. If on Monday there is a SGN-HKG flight open and I book it. There is no HKG-NYC flight open on monday, but one opens up for Wednesday after I booked the first segment. If I call before my flight from SGN-HKG can I build in the two day layover in HKG at that point so that I may be able to take advantage of the Wednesday flight for the same number of points if I had booked it all at once from the start?
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Old May 4, 2017, 9:10 am
  #573  
 
Join Date: Apr 2008
Programs: AS MVPG
Posts: 454
Originally Posted by Red259
I'm a bit confused by this. My understanding was I had to book all the segments at once so for example SGN-HKG then HKG to NYC. Is it possible if only SGN-HKG is available now that I could book that and then add in HKG-NYC at a later time (as long as it is before the SGN-HKG flight takes place)? If I am allowed to do that would it equal the same amount of points as if I booked it all at once? Would it let me build in the layover at that point. For example. If on Monday there is a SGN-HKG flight open and I book it. There is no HKG-NYC flight open on monday, but one opens up for Wednesday after I booked the first segment. If I call before my flight from SGN-HKG can I build in the two day layover in HKG at that point so that I may be able to take advantage of the Wednesday flight for the same number of points if I had booked it all at once from the start?
In this way, award reservations work just like cash tickets: to make a change, you have to pay the difference in fare plus applicable change fees. If you book only SGN-HKG first, you'll just be charged for the intra-Asia award. If you later add on the NA segment, at that point, you'll need to pay the delta between your original award and the new award.
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Old May 4, 2017, 9:17 am
  #574  
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,837
Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
AS round trip awards are two one ways, so changing inbound after flying outbound is allowed, as long as you don't start flying inbound.
YMMV. I flew a similar itinerary this year: YVR-HKG-SGN-HKG(stop)-YVR. After an extended stopover in HKG, I was able to change the remaining segment HKG-YVR to a different date.
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Old May 4, 2017, 10:01 am
  #575  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,536
Originally Posted by Red259
I'm a bit confused by this. My understanding was I had to book all the segments at once so for example SGN-HKG then HKG to NYC. Is it possible if only SGN-HKG is available now that I could book that and then add in HKG-NYC at a later time (as long as it is before the SGN-HKG flight takes place)? If I am allowed to do that would it equal the same amount of points as if I booked it all at once? Would it let me build in the layover at that point. For example. If on Monday there is a SGN-HKG flight open and I book it. There is no HKG-NYC flight open on monday, but one opens up for Wednesday after I booked the first segment. If I call before my flight from SGN-HKG can I build in the two day layover in HKG at that point so that I may be able to take advantage of the Wednesday flight for the same number of points if I had booked it all at once from the start?
And this is the reason you need to lock down what you can, when you can. I get flamed for this, but I routinely hold multiple domestic awards simultaneously, because I don't know what gateway I'll ultimate find long haul awards to/from. Does it take awards away from other people? Sure. Do I care? No.
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Old May 4, 2017, 10:49 am
  #576  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold
Posts: 917
Originally Posted by jamienbaker
Does it take (snip) away from other people? Sure. Do I care? No.
That's exactly my reasoning when I invite a friend to visit me in first if they get stuck in business.
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Old May 4, 2017, 10:53 am
  #577  
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Originally Posted by lax.sea.jnu
In this way, award reservations work just like cash tickets: to make a change, you have to pay the difference in fare plus applicable change fees. If you book only SGN-HKG first, you'll just be charged for the intra-Asia award. If you later add on the NA segment, at that point, you'll need to pay the delta between your original award and the new award.
Correct. If CX J is there for whatever you can get (part of the routing or all) OP, lock it in. Optimize it to F or add the HKG-JFK segment later.



Originally Posted by flytoeat
YMMV. I flew a similar itinerary this year: YVR-HKG-SGN-HKG(stop)-YVR. After an extended stopover in HKG, I was able to change the remaining segment HKG-YVR to a different date.
Other people haven't experienced that if you read the threads linked above.

Originally Posted by alphaeagle
I was told by multiple people including supervisors changes are not allowed on partner reservations after travel has started. Might not apply if it's only AS flights left on the reservation. I lost the rest of a trip while I was on a stopover and wasn't allowed to make any changes.

I don't think I would like to depend on flying home from halfway around the world, having to make a pest of myself with AS customer service by playing the HUCA game until I got an answer I liked. YMMV doesn't cut it for me when I might be forced to buy a very expensive one way. Also, you are AS elite. OP is AS churner.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; May 4, 2017 at 11:02 am
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Old May 4, 2017, 11:29 am
  #578  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,536
Originally Posted by Calculon
That's exactly my reasoning when I invite a friend to visit me in first if they get stuck in business.
You're trying to bait me
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Old May 4, 2017, 12:03 pm
  #579  
 
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: DFW/DAL
Programs: AS MVP Gold 75k, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 131
I couldn't seem to find the answer here.... Does anyone have success booking USA-HKG(stopover)-NRT award?
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Old May 4, 2017, 12:13 pm
  #580  
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Originally Posted by The ITDA
I couldn't seem to find the answer here.... Does anyone have success booking USA-HKG(stopover)-NRT award?
Yes its allowed. I've done one, Beckoa i believe has done two or more on the route BOBW at least one (w/ beckoa). Its just a standard USA to Asia award.
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Old May 4, 2017, 12:18 pm
  #581  
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Originally Posted by The ITDA
I couldn't seem to find the answer here.... Does anyone have success booking USA-HKG(stopover)-NRT award?
It isn't any different than a USA-HKG(stopover)-anywhere that isn't NRT award...
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Old May 4, 2017, 12:49 pm
  #582  
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold
Posts: 917
Originally Posted by jamienbaker
You're trying to bait me
Only tease, I assure you. And I actually don't do it, nor would I try.
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Old May 4, 2017, 2:43 pm
  #583  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
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Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
It isn't any different than a USA-HKG(stopover)-anywhere that isn't NRT award...
I don't think this is allowed in the AA program (even without stopover, just the routing).
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Old May 4, 2017, 4:18 pm
  #584  
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Originally Posted by ralphs
I don't think this is allowed in the AA program (even without stopover, just the routing).
Right, but we're discussing the AS program, that doesn't have all those stupid arbitrary routing rules.
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Old May 4, 2017, 5:05 pm
  #585  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SNA
Programs: AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Plat, Marriott Gold, National EE
Posts: 1,204
Originally Posted by eponymous_coward
Right, but we're discussing the AS program, that doesn't have all those stupid arbitrary routing rules.
Fair enough. Long live Mileage Plan!

I had to book an AA award instead of AS the other day because AS can't book CX+KA whereas AA could.
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