Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Question from a first time to redeem award ticket

I'm planning to redeem an award ticket using Cathay Asia Miles. Would like to redeem HK to Africa ticket for 2 people. One is with Asia Mile and the other is a companion ticket for someone with no status. I have a few questions on going about it,

1. What is the best way to submit the request...by phone, online or through a travel agent?

2. How long in advance should I request for the ticket? Our travel is for June 2005?

3. How difficult would it be to get award ticket for someone with no status?

3. Which would be a better use of miles and easier to get. Get a business award ticket for Asia Mile holder and an upgrade for the companion ticket OR get 2 economy award ticket.

I tried to do a search but there doesn't seem to be a comprehensive post on my questions.

OK - taking this step by step:

1. Book by calling Asia Miles / Marco Polo Club. They will talk you through the redemption amounts and availability, which are determined by your destination. Things might be more complicated if you want to redeem on non CX flights. CX flies HKG - JNB, and that's it for Africa.

You are looking at two rewards:

(a) A round trip ticket issued entirely on Asia Miles. To get this you just need enough miles and availability. If you are using your miles for another person, then they need to be named in your profile for redemption, which you can process on-line.

(b) A companion award ticket also issued through Asia Miles. These tickets are only available as a mileage redemption if you (the account holder I assume) are travelling on the exact same itinerary and in paid Business or First class. The paid ticket can be purchased through any travel agent, you need to give the PNR/Reference to AM/MPC when making Companion ticket booking, and fax over copy of issued paid ticket to get Companion ticket issued. These awards are only available on CX flights.

2. Book as soon as you know all three of you can commit to dates. No changes are possible to AM award or companion tickets once issued.

3. The status of the person you are giving the award ticket to has no impact on availability of award.

3. Which would be a better use of miles and easier to get ? Get a business award ticket for Asia Mile holder and an upgrade for the companion ticket OR get 2 economy award ticket. - you really need to check the various redemption mileage tables online - as this is determined by your destination.

Good luck. It will be worth the extra research/calls to AM/MPC if you pull this off.

2. Book as soon as you know all three of you can commit to dates. No changes are possible to AM award or companion tickets once issued.
I have never had any difficulty changing the dates on an award ticket - they are valid for 12 months. Moreover, you can also trade them in for credit against a different award ticket (s) within that 12 months, with the only restriction being that the new award ticket must be on the same airline as the one you are trading in.

(This can be quite helpful when one's g/f dumps you a week before you are due to take a holiday :( )

Thanks for all the info.

Christep - that was an insightful comment.

(This can be quite helpful when one's g/f dumps you a week before you are due to take a holiday :( )


Are u suggesting this is what happened? :p No worries, it's a rhetorical question.