Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - 137,639,000 Asia Miles and double that amount!

Not my mileage balance. :p

But for tsunami disaster relief operations.

This is what CX has to say:

Thank you – 137,639,000 Asia Miles donations received

On behalf of Asia Miles and our four charity partners, we would like to say a tremendous "thank you" for your donation!
In the 11 days between 28 December and 7 January, you and other members around the world have helped to raise 137,639,000 miles. There is more good news because Asia Miles will match this with another 137,639,000 miles, making a total of 275,278,000 miles for donation.

In accordance with our members' wishes, donations are going to UNICEF (128,956,000 miles), Oxfam Hong Kong (112,366,000 miles), ORBIS (17,450,000 miles) and C.A.R.E. Housing Society (16,506,000 miles).

We are working closely with these organisations on how they can best use your donated miles. For example, UNICEF plans to send a team to some of the affected areas to make a special television programme highlighting relief efforts and this will be used in fund-raising efforts, while Oxfam Hong Kong is working with thousands of families in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India and donations will help their workers travel with life-saving supplies over the next few months. They will also provide longer term rehabilitation and share some of their miles with the Red Cross and World Vision, whose aid workers need immediate access to the affected areas.

Although ORBIS does not have an immediate need for tsunami-related travel, it foresees a need within the year to be in the affected countries to continue its eye-sight saving programmes. C.A.R.E. Housing Society plans to reunite Indians living in Canada with their affected family members in India.
Once again, we thank you for your prompt response and heartfelt generosity. It proves that together we can really make a difference!

Airlines should be giving free WHY tickets to aid workers. Not pintching people's account.

Airlines should be giving free WHY tickets to aid workers. Not pintching people's account.

I don't think it really matters to people who would receive help as a result of CX's action -- whether CX gives free tickets or solicit donations from customers.

I, for one, am thankful that CX acted quite promptly on this mileage donation plan. I am thankful for opening a venue for me to give something.

I could have flown to Thailand or Sri Lanka, if not Indonesia, with an equivalent amount of money but I don't think I could have done anything meaningful with it.

A huge bureaucracy like UNICEF in Japan wasn't even ready to take donations via online when CX started this. At least they didn't publicize it. CX called for action via email.

Airlines should be giving free WHY tickets to aid workers. Not pintching people's account.


!!! I AGREE !!! I've been wondering about this one -- it seems that all these airline/hotel loyalty programs are taking advantage of this tragic situation! Call me a skeptic, but to me they all seem to be schemes conjured up to dramatically lower their liability (ie. outstanding frequent flyer mile balances), behind the guise of charity.

This amount for CX alone is enough to fly about 2,500 aid workers trans-pacific, 5,000 after doubling it. Is that what they're planning to do? Or will they "convert" the miles into some monetary figure? That (money) is, in fact, what the tsunami-affected regions really need -- not millions and millions of frequent-flyer miles or hotel points.

Someone tell me please, when/if these companies ultimately make a cash donation based on the amount of miles/points donated by their members, will they write it off as a charitable contribution? Should they be allowed to -- since, technically, the contributions are actually from their members NOT the companies themselves (except, as in CX's case, when the company chooses to "match" the miles/points)?

Personally, I believe if these companies want to donate to this or ANY cause, they should just DO IT -- write a big check, then encourage others to do the same.

If you look here: http://www.cathaypacific.com/intl/aboutus/press/0,3845,31342-114644,00.html
you will see that Cathay has done exactly that. US$1M cheque plus matching for whatever their staff give in cash (i.e. they are encouraging their staff to do the same) plus matching whatever their customers give in miles (i.e. they are encouraging their customers to do the same). They have also stepped up their inflight encouragement to give to the UNICEF appeal, which will go to tsunami relief during this month.

I can't see what more they can do. (Except to get into a willy-waving contest over the size of their donation.)

Airlines should be giving free WHY tickets to aid workers. Not pintching people's account.

I also agree with the above. More important though, is whether CX will waive all their capacity control, black out dates, etc. requirements to allow relief workers to fly to where they need when they need. (And whether they can influence their partner airlines to do so, since most of the itineraries would entail not just CX flights.)

After all, we all know how impossible using miles to get award tickets are. After weeks of phone calls with Asia Miles agents, I finally gave up last fall and had to purchase a ticket for my trip to Europe.

CX offers unrestricted economy awards.

I also wonder if cash is really that more advantageous than miles.

I can donate enough to send one doctor from Japan to Sri Lanka using an unrestricted Y award, a return trip.

If I have to buy a ticket with similar conditions, that would be over 3,500USD and a bit too costly -- for me, that is.

Again, if I were at the receiving end, I really couldn't care less who donated cash/miles. That is only a technical issue.

I can donate enough to send one doctor from Japan to Sri Lanka using an unrestricted Y award, a return trip.

If I have to buy a ticket with similar conditions, that would be over 3,500USD and a bit too costly -- for me, that is.


That's exactly the issue that several of us pointed out earlier.

If CX were to charge the full Y fare for relief workers, they'd be making huge profit off this disaster. They can't possibly do that for PR purpose. Instead, if they ask everyone to donate miles and then charge pricey unrestricted awards to fly hundreds of relief workers, think of all the miles that they get to wipe off on the liability side of their balance sheet. Plus they (instead of the donors) get the tax benefits and good will.

Of course, I commend their desire to help out. But I think it's a smart way for them to structure the effort by making it conditional and stacking the benefits on their side. They could have simply donated empty seats on their flights.

After all, SAS chartered many flights to fly their citizens back home to Scandinavia. I doubt SAS asked their frequent flyers to donate miles or charged the victims' families or stranded tourists for their repatriation flights.

I doubt SAS [...] charged the victims' families or stranded tourists for their repatriation flights.Being socialist countries I expect the governments would have paid. Which of course means that the cost is simply spread over the whole population through the tax system. I would be quite stunned if SAS were not paid in some way.

That's exactly the issue that several of us pointed out earlier.

If CX were to charge the full Y fare for relief workers, they'd be making huge profit off this disaster. They can't possibly do that for PR purpose. Instead, if they ask everyone to donate miles and then charge pricey unrestricted awards to fly hundreds of relief workers, think of all the miles that they get to wipe off on the liability side of their balance sheet. Plus they (instead of the donors) get the tax benefits and good will.

Of course, I commend their desire to help out. But I think it's a smart way for them to structure the effort by making it conditional and stacking the benefits on their side. They could have simply donated empty seats on their flights.

After all, SAS chartered many flights to fly their citizens back home to Scandinavia. I doubt SAS asked their frequent flyers to donate miles or charged the victims' families or stranded tourists for their repatriation flights.

I really don't understand this. Perhaps one would tell all the tsunami victims about how better off CX can do in publicity terms without soliciting donation miles from customers or without taking advantage of reducing mileage liability?

Who cares about CX's publicity or B/S so long as those victims get help? I don't.

christep's link shows CX itself and its employees, not its customers, contributed some funds already.

I'm sure SAS is a generous enterprise.

I really don't understand this.
Who cares about CX's publicity or B/S so long as those victims get help? I don't.


What's not to understand?

I agree with you - as long as the victims get help, that's what matters. And CX deserves good publicity for playing its part.

However, the simple point that some of us raised was, and remains, in the true spirit of helping others, why not just make it simple and donate some of the empty seats on their flights? The mileage matching program is designed to alleviate some of airline's burden. Think of it as 'conditional love.' It's still love, and it's still appreciated, of course!

So for those making donations and getting tax deductions should likewise be criticized for not giving unconditional love?

It still is nonsensical to me. Provided that CX gets some mileage burden off its books, it's fine with me.

Again, CX itself has offered funds, and its employees offered aid. There is also another news release about CX flying a cargo flight. (This is free, CX claims.)

This mileage plan was a channel for me to provide something, though paltry, to a cause. I really don't understand why this gets to be criticized.

What's not to understand?

I agree with you - as long as the victims get help, that's what matters. And CX deserves good publicity for playing its part.

However, the simple point that some of us raised was, and remains, in the true spirit of helping others, why not just make it simple and donate some of the empty seats on their flights? The mileage matching program is designed to alleviate some of airline's burden. Think of it as 'conditional love.' It's still love, and it's still appreciated, of course!

Because miles are more useful - especially unrestricted. They are quasi cash, so no need for complicated negotiations. E.g. a group of doctors from DFW to JKT, do AA have empty seats on same day as CX? They can be used for admin "non tsunami" flights too. E.g. an NGO might use them to fly an auditor LHR-KUL, saving money that can now be used in Aceh. Unlikely airline would give them that seat for free otherwise. Or to give some aid workers some much needed R&R

At times like these, cash, and as close as you can get to cash are best. Gifts in kind are often worse than useless

SFVoyage,

Cathay matches miles donated by AsiaMiles members to the tune of 137 million... So 137 million miles have been transferred from member accounts and a further 137 million have been newly issued in the match. IMHO, this actually increases Cathay's liability substantially.

I strongly feel that Cathay has shown itself to be a great 'corporate citizen' and I certainly commend them on this great initiative!

I too agree that CX has done a good job in responding to the tsunami tragedy. ^

We have some Asia Miles left over. Is it still possible to donate these to the Tsunami appeal? A hyperlink would be appreciated. Many thanks........