Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Asia Miles Award tickets - max. cities that can go?

Hi all,

I'm just planning to use my asia miles (around 75K) which will be expired soon. Just want to know how to use it in a wise way that I can maximize the no of cities that I can visit. From the Asia Mile rules, it seems that one can make 2 stopovers, 2 transit or 1 open jaw for the redemption tickets, so I would initially plan for the following trip, not sure if it can be issued within 60,000 miles as I want to plan 2 transits at Sydney and Brisbane to have a short visit to my friends there?

Hong Kong - Melbourne // (1st open jaw)
Hobart - Sydney (1st transit) - Hamilton Islands (1st stopover)
Hamilton Islands - Brisbane (2nd transit) - Perth (2nd stopover)
Perth - Hong Kong

Hi all,

I'm just planning to use my asia miles (around 75K) which will be expired soon. Just want to know how to use it in a wise way that I can maximize the no of cities that I can visit. From the Asia Mile rules, it seems that one can make 2 stopovers, 2 transit or 1 open jaw for the redemption tickets, so I would initially plan for the following trip, not sure if it can be issued within 60,000 miles as I want to plan 2 transits at Sydney and Brisbane to have a short visit to my friends there?

Hong Kong - Melbourne // (1st open jaw)
Hobart - Sydney (1st transit) - Hamilton Islands (1st stopover)
Hamilton Islands - Brisbane (2nd transit) - Perth (2nd stopover)
Perth - Hong Kong

You can't do all that under one award.

Transits, open jaws and stopovers all count towards your award.

You may do 1 open jaw, or 2 stopovers and 2 transits allowed (only if it is along the route - and the total mileage of all points will be added together). The point of turnaround is also counted as your stopover !

So if you're going to Hamilton Island, you can stopover in MEL, transit in BNE or SYD. No open jaw anywhere else and you would have to skip the PER route. I am even giving you the better option. Asiamiles might be even more restrictive!

Qantas has no direct flights between Hamilton Island and Sydney/Brisbane/Melbourne. There are only Jetstar or Virgin Blue services. And I don't think you can redeem award in Jetstar, despite it is being a subsidiary of Qantas. Can someone please verify this.

So, you might want to buy your own ticket to/from Hamilton Island.

Check Qantas domestic connection
http://www.qantas.com.au/content/dyn/routemaps/au/index

I suggest the following itinerary:

HKG-BNE
(stopvover)
BNE-SYD
(open-jaw)***
PER-HKG <- you can also consider transit or stopover in Singapore

Return Economy Award Zone C (2500-5000)


For the Brisbane stopover, you can buy your own ticket to/from Hamilton Island.

In the *** section,

SYD-HBA
(stopover)
HBA-MEL
(stopover)
MEL-PER

Return Economy Award Award Zone B (1200-2500 miles) with open-jaw within Australia ultilised

These two awards require 75000 Asiamiles in total.

You may do 1 open jaw, or 2 stopovers and 2 transits allowed (only if it is along the route - and the total mileage of all points will be added together). The point of turnaround is also counted as your stopover !

I'm reading the bolded text as: (x = transit, // = open jaw, o = stopover)

For 1 open jaw,
LHR-xHKG-BKK//PEN-xHKG-LHR

For 2 stopovers and 2 transits,
LHR-xHKG-BKK-oHKG-LHR

And both would qualify as a roundtrip award in zone D. The point of turnaround is BKK. Have I interpreted the rules correctly?

I am planning a similar trip and have called MPO (twice) to confirm the following is fine.

MAN-xLHR-oHKG-MEL//SYD-oHKG-xLHR-MAN

So you can have all five conditions in one ticket.

So, by ultilising all of 2 stopovers, 2 transits, one open-jaw, you can have maximum 6 flight sectors. Right?

How about flights with a short stop but has the same flight number ?
i.e. CX888/9: HKG<->JFK with a short stop at YVR. Does Asiamiles calculate as one sector or two, if your final destination is JFK.

That's clearly one sector if ticketed as HKG-JFK. The distance is the direct HKG-JFK distance, so no different from taking the non-stop flights.

Asiamiles also has their own interpretation of where one may stopover...

I once wanted a oneway from YVR to SIN oneway with a stopover in BKK so its a YVR-x/HKG-BKK-SIN. And I was told that I cannot do that and the stopover can only be at HKG even though the above routing is possible.

So really the only way to figure out if your routing is allowed is to call Asiamiles.

I am planning a similar trip and have called MPO (twice) to confirm the following is fine.

MAN-xLHR-oHKG-MEL//SYD-oHKG-xLHR-MAN

So you can have all five conditions in one ticket.

wow i thought the open jaw count as 1 of the stopovers!

It has done, whenever I've asked. I believe the itinerary MAN-xLHR-oHKG-MEL//SYD-oHKG-xLHR-MAN has one too many stopovers, so I would appreciate KO2456's confirmation when it has actually been ticketed.

Asiamiles also has their own interpretation of where one may stopover...

I once wanted a oneway from YVR to SIN oneway with a stopover in BKK so its a YVR-x/HKG-BKK-SIN. And I was told that I cannot do that and the stopover can only be at HKG even though the above routing is possible.

So really the only way to figure out if your routing is allowed is to call Asiamiles.

For one-way award, Asiamiles state that one stopover allowed. Unfortunately, this implicitly implies that they allow max. 2 flight sectors (2 different flight numbers) only (at least this is what Asiamiles think). So, they should say 'one transfer or one stopover' permitted.

I have a question about carriers, a bit out topic for this post..

"Mixed carrier award refers to a one-way/round-trip award which involves Cathay Pacific or Dragonair plus one other Asia Miles partner airline. Mixed carrier awards do not apply to class upgrades." from Asiamiles

Have anyone booked an award on CX and KA and another Asiamiles airline partner?

For example,
Can you have CX & KA & JL in a roundtrip award?

How about NU (Japan Transocean Air), does it count as JL group? Can you do CX + JL + NU??

Thanks!

i'm aiming for oneworld award once i get enough miles saved up and i just need a general idea of what would be a legitimate routing and what wouldnt
i guess im a bit confused on what's considered a stopover.

Here's what im thinking .

(x = transit, // = open jaw, o = stopover)
This one should work...
SEA-oLHR-oAMM-oDXB-BOM-//DEL-oNRT-xYVR-SEA

Final Destination: BOM
Stopovers: LHR, AMM, DXB, NRT
Open Jaw- BOM/DEL
Transits: 1 @YVR.

not sure about this one(wishful thinking:cool: ):

SEA-oLHR-oAMM-//DXB-BOM-//DEL-xHKG-oSYD-xSFO-SEA

Final Destination: Not really sure
Stopovers: LHR, AMM, SYD & (BOM?)
Open Jaw- AMM/DXB & BOM/DEL
Transits: 2 @HKG & SFO.

Totals: 4 stopovers, 2 open jaws, and 2 transits???? :confused: