Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - C or F experiences with BA (British Air) from USA using Asia Miles?

I'm currently US East-Coast based, about to start a period of moderate travel in low-fare economy (to Asia/West USA). I'm thinking about what program to earn on, and was looking at Asia Miles.

I did a search on the forum, but didn't see anything recent relating to people's success/failure experiences getting BA USA-UK C class awards using Asia miles? [I've read other posts about this in the past, so I imagine someone has done it.] Being based in East USA, the Asia miles O/W C-award redemption levels are a comparative good-buy, and seem worth giving up the bonuses on NWA, etc.

My plan is to cross my fingers that levels/fare bucket earning percentages don't change, and then earn a bunch of miles on low-bucket AA. (Or perhaps Cathay if I can get routings that work for me -- I'm flying entirely mainland - PVG or PEK work, which Cathay isn't great at from USA.)

So:

1. How easy is it to get C EastUSA-UK on BA? (I'm reading horror stories about avail on C NWA product in the NWA forum)

2. Can you book the BA awards online, or do you have to talk with somebody?

3. I think it is the case, but correct me if I'm wrong, that one can get one-way tickets on BA as an Asia Miles award? (Ie: BA doesn't disallow 1-way award tix?)

4. How pricey are taxes on awards compared to other programs? (NWA charges a lot of "tax" $$ for award tix, compared to Alaska, for the same flight on NWA, for instance.) (There is a thread on that somewhere for the curious...)

....
So:

1. How easy is it to get C EastUSA-UK on BA? (I'm reading horror stories about avail on C NWA product in the NWA forum)

Relatively easy. Just book ahead of time and watch out for peak periods.

2. Can you book the BA awards online, or do you have to talk with somebody?


You would have to call ASIAMILES to do the booking. But you may view the availability through ba.com's website if you have a ba account. But sometimes the availability differs slightly from ASIAMILES' inventory.

3. I think it is the case, but correct me if I'm wrong, that one can get one-way tickets on BA as an Asia Miles award? (Ie: BA doesn't disallow 1-way award tix?)
Yes, you can get a oneway BA award ticket with ASIAMILES.

4. How pricey are taxes on awards compared to other programs? (NWA charges a lot of "tax" $$ for award tix, compared to Alaska, for the same flight on NWA, for instance.) (There is a thread on that somewhere for the curious...)
Taxes are subjective of course... but for example, last year, I redeemed a J class award from YVR to LHR to CDG return. Taxes were about US$150. NW isnt the only one who charges a lot of 'tax' = it's called fuel surcharges. LH does the same thing too and charges fuel surcharges for its own award flights as well.

Thanks, Guy Betsy!

I recently scored big time thru Asia Miles. We wanted to go to France this summer and there were no FF tickets available conventionaly. Yes, Continental was willing to let me pay 100,000 points for an economy ticket (200,000 for the two of us) but that seemed ridiculous.

I have never booked a "partner" airline but here's what I did:

1. Joined Asia Miles
2. Called and asked re my itinerary - Newark, NJ to Paris.
3. I got two First Class tickets - ewr to lhr and lhr to cdg. Cost was 90,000 Asia Miles each. More importantly, they let me reserve without any points in my account and gave me thirty days to move the points.
4. Over three days, I moved 145,000 Starwood points over to Asia Miles. Starwood gives a 5,000 point transfer bonus for each 20,000 miles. So the 145,000 Starpoints equalled 180,000 Asia Miles. I believe that Business Class would have been 60,000 per person.

If you check out the price of those first class tickets, I got over 15 cents per points. We can't wait. They could not have made it much easier.

I'm currently US East-Coast based,

Milesjamie for future reference please note the airline is called British Airways never British Air.

While Asia Miles is a great program, you might also consider joining the BAEC - BA Executive Club.

For a fare starting around $600 return you can upgrade from WT+ to Club World flat beds for 25,000 BA Miles, and as you are now a US resident you can get 15,000 BA Miles for free by applying for a credit card at www.ba.com.

As you will earn 125% of miles flown on these WT+ fares, you geta good way towards an upgrade for your next European trip, and if you choose to fly to Europe you cando so in Club Europe for a modest surcharge and no extra miles.

Check out the BA Board for further details.

Alternatively you can also check the AA board for details as we've repeatedly had the same BA spiel there as well. :rolleyes:

If I was the OP I'd look at what carrier I'm likely to be taking to Asia. If I'll be flying AA or AA codeshares I'd accrue the miles in AAdvantage. If I'll be flying Cathay Pacific I'd may well go for Asia Miles particularly if the fares are not H or above and thus not eligible for miles in AAdvantage.

As to the use of miles in OW C awards I believe AA's program offers relatively good value and is flexible compared to QF and BA. Don't know how it compares to OW awards thru Asia Miles. If you want to fly BA in business you can but one drawback is you will have to go via Toronto if using AA miles. Taxes/surcharges are relatively low on AA e.g. compared to BAEC. Again I don't know how they compare to Asia Miles.

You'll just have to crunch the numbers a bit based on what you will pay to fly and the award you'd like to take and see what works best for you. Also depends on the answers to these questions which only you can answer.
1) What status could I earn in each program? How long will it last?
2) What value do I assign to having status on the airline I'll actually be flying as opposed to a OW partner?
3) What are my future travel plans/needs once this spate of Asia travel ends?

As OP stated travel was in low-fare economy, I don't think BAEC is the right program for him / her.

oiRRio's advice, particularly the larger questions OP should consider, is spot on. ^

If OP is also concerned about elite status, one advantage of Asia Miles over AAdvantage is the 100% elite miles on some fare classes (e.g., N) that earn 50% in AAdvantage. (This does assume OP will join the Marco Polo Club.)

Quick question...

If you book flights on BA using Asia Miles, are the tickets totally non-changeable / non-refundable?
No date changes allowed at all?

Thanks...

Date changes are permitted free, as many times as you want. You just cannot change the routing.

Also once tickets are issued, no refund. ie you cannot redeposit your miles back into your account. But you may opt for a higher class of service.. say you booked in award J but no seat available. But if F is available, you may exchange your ticket for a F award ticket upon payment of more miles.

Also on tickets issued by Asiamiles, ticket validities are from one year from date of ISSUE. Not from date of travel!

Wow, thanks for the quick reply GB! Do changes have to be made through Asia Miles or can BA make the changes?

It seems like ba upgrades are fewer miles with asia miles than exec club. I might switch my ba gold to asia so I get 50% elite bonus on all asia mile flights, Is there a service center phone number in the usa or canada?

Is there a service center phone number in the usa or canada?

They have their tolefree # listed on their website; it is easy to find. Just click the contact link.

While Asia Miles is a great program, you might also consider joining the BAEC - BA Executive Club.

For a fare starting around $600 return you can upgrade from WT+ to Club World flat beds for 25,000 BA Miles,

Or, the OP could use 22,500 Asia miles for the same upgrade!

Wow, thanks for the quick reply GB! Do changes have to be made through Asia Miles or can BA make the changes?

Changes for frequent flyer tickets (acrsoss the board; all 20 programs or so I bank with work this way) must be made by the ticketing carrier. So you call Asia Miles to change an Asia Miles issued ticket; BA for a BA issued ticket, etc...is the flown carrier does not matter for this sort of thing.

Changing a BA ticket's dates is easy with Asia Miles. E-tickets are available on most routes, and a date change is a simply phone call (even with paper tickets too).

Date changes are permitted free, as many times as you want. You just cannot change the routing.

I have changed the routing on Asia Miles issued BA tickets three different times; and once did name changes (but this was clearly an exception).

If the routing changes to a lower award category, the difference in Asia Miles redeposited.

I also added a stopover to a BA ticket without one once...

You would have to call ASIAMILES to do the booking. But you may view the availability through ba.com's website if you have a ba account. But sometimes the availability differs slightly from ASIAMILES' inventory.


I have yet to find different availability with Asia Miles than displayed on BA.com...I have set up 20+ BA redemption itins using Asia Miles.

On two occasions, I was told a BA flight was not available that BA.com said was. On both occasions, calling back 2 minutes later with a different rep yielded the flight in question now being available.

Also, I suggest everyone setup a BA.com account if you are going to bank with CX just so you can check avail. Their website has a nice month at a time interface; very valuable. You can sign up on the BA website with ANY ticket number; they do not verify.

Overall, Asia Miles is a very rich program for an East Coach US based flyer wanting to go to/from Europe.

There are no real benefits to the Exec club with this category of flyer over Asia Miles.

AA verses CX:

AA allows as many partners as you want on a redemption ticket; with CX, unless CX is one of the carriers, you can only use one partner on a single ticket. BA only or AA only or IB only, etc. You can do Oneworld Awards with as many OW airlines as you like, but this is a different award chart generally requiring more mile for East Coast-Europe.

AA gives a generous status bonus to its flyers and free domestic upgrades; you will get neither with CX.

AA top tier status is easier to earn.

CX can do one-way awards and upgrades on AA and BA; AA cannot for less miles than RT. And 60K CX miles can get you to Europe in J on BA...

US based flyers can earn CX credit card miles via the SPG Amex Card. AA of course has several of its own CCs.

CX also allows one to hold a BA award for a long time before ticketing; I have been allowed up to a month before; a very nice feature.

AA allows you use your miles for anyone without complications; with CX you have to set up a redemption group (people you are going to redeem miles for; free tickets or/and upgrades) and pay $30 if you need to change who are included.

In my experience, BA transatlantic availability is way better than ANY US airline in the premium cabins. IE I got 6 Business seats together with wide open avail.

As a ba gold member the exec club is not a good deal. If I moved my address to asia I would have dual membership earning asia miles on ba flights with my 50% elite bonus whhile earning exec club tier points.
Which seems to me the best of both worlds as exec members whose address reside in asia cannot earn exec club award miles only asia miles. :)

Do paid ba tickets in order to be upgraded with asia miles have to be booked by asia miles?

Do paid ba tickets in order to be upgraded with asia miles have to be booked by asia miles?

NO. I booked a cheap ($600 all in) W+ itin on BA.com ORD-LHR return, then called Asia Miles to upgrade. No problem at all.

Upgrades on BA book into U inventory, the same as free bus tickets. So check bus redemption avail on BA.com, then purchase WT+ for those flights, then call Asia Miles to submit for upgrade. Unless U inventory changes while you are doing this, you are safe.

You cannot however do a one-way upgrade on BA using Asia Miles but can using BA only as an exception if both ways are not available. BA makes it VERY hard to do this as most reps do not know this exception even though it is stated on their website. A one-way BA miles upgrade took me 5 phone calls and about 5 hours of time on the phone to accomplish! :mad: Not worth it.

As a ba gold member the exec club is not a good deal. If I moved my address to asia I would have dual membership earning asia miles on ba flights with my 50% elite bonus whhile earning exec club tier points.
Which seems to me the best of both worlds as exec members whose address reside in asia cannot earn exec club award miles only asia miles. :)

I thought the 50% elite bonus applies only to cases when you're earning BA miles, and not when you're earning Asia Miles ? (although I'm not 100% sure on this)

If you have an asian address as a ba gold you earn exec club tier points but your mileage earning is through asia miles. So because it is a dual membership you will earn 50% gold elite bonus for all ba and qantas flights. Just as us or uk based exec club members earn 50% gold elite bonus.

yes I understand the part about "normal" BAEC members, Gold getting 50% bonus on BA Miles...but for dual-members, I am not that sure because I remember I was once a dual-member for a while before too and I don't recall getting the elite bonus, at that time I thought it's because I'm earning Asia Miles and not BA Miles...when all the references I read from BA only talked about 50% more "BA Miles"...

in fact, if I remember right, the materials they sent to Asia dual-members didn't talk about the elite bonus at all...but, anyway, I might be mistaken, and in fact I haven't kept track of the BAEC program for a while already and the rules might have changed too. thanks.

I recently scored big time thru Asia Miles. We wanted to go to France this summer and there were no FF tickets available conventionaly. Yes, Continental was willing to let me pay 100,000 points for an economy ticket (200,000 for the two of us) but that seemed ridiculous.

I have never booked a "partner" airline but here's what I did:

1. Joined Asia Miles
2. Called and asked re my itinerary - Newark, NJ to Paris.
3. I got two First Class tickets - ewr to lhr and lhr to cdg. Cost was 90,000 Asia Miles each. More importantly, they let me reserve without any points in my account and gave me thirty days to move the points.
4. Over three days, I moved 145,000 Starwood points over to Asia Miles. Starwood gives a 5,000 point transfer bonus for each 20,000 miles. So the 145,000 Starpoints equalled 180,000 Asia Miles. I believe that Business Class would have been 60,000 per person.

If you check out the price of those first class tickets, I got over 15 cents per points. We can't wait. They could not have made it much easier.

How long did the SPG --> CX transfer take?

How long did the SPG --> CX transfer take?

SPG/CX process SPG-CX transfers once a month. It does not matter how many days before this transfer date you initiate the transfer; your points will post when they process all of them. So I had my points hit in a matter of a few days once simply because I was lucky. The transfer would never take more than 30 days, unless something went wrong.

Perhaps it was wishful thinking on my part to assume there would be 50% gold elite bonus. It would be nice though.

SPG/CX process SPG-CX transfers once a month. It does not matter how many days before this transfer date you initiate the transfer; your points will post when they process all of them. So I had my points hit in a matter of a few days once simply because I was lucky. The transfer would never take more than 30 days, unless something went wrong.

Do you (or anyone else) happen to know what day of the month the transfers take place?

Do you (or anyone else) happen to know what day of the month the transfers take place?

No I don't know...my last two transferes (not real recent) hit on the 22nd and 25th of different months.