bagold

I'm helping me dad decide where to put his miles on CX now that the BA program is going getting more expensive.

1) I see that AsiaMiles have an Economy Class and Unrestricted Economy Class awards. Is the regular Economy award inventory hard to get?

2) I assume that business and first class awards are from a special award inventory and they don't have unrestricted awards like economy?

3) Does anyone know if the AsiaMiles award inventory on CX is the same as other 1W frequent flyer program inventory? I.e. If I have a US BA account and an AsiaMile account, do the awards for business and first come out of the same inventory? Or are there more seats in the AsiaMile award inventory?

Thanks.

cx_mpo

bagold, I can assist you with your query about Asia Miles.

Yes, Asia Miles is a good programme to put your miles into after the drastic measures taken by BA to increase the award levels. Simply does not justify the claims. Air New Zealand and Qantas is another animal in the game where they charge an arm and a leg for redemption.

Q: I see that AsiaMiles have an Economy Class and Unrestricted Economy Class awards. Is the regular Economy award inventory hard to get?

A: The difference is that Unrestricted Economy Class awards allow members to book flights during high or peak season. Unlike all other awards, Unrestricted Economy Class awards are not subject to inventory control; which make it easier to book a redemption seat if there are seats available on a selected flight.

EXPECT TO PAY A HIGH MILEAGE FOR UNRESTRICTED ECONOMY CLASS AWARD as they have to "no capacity restriction".

Q: I assume that business and first class awards are from a special award inventory and they don't have unrestricted awards like economy?

A: In line with other oneworld partners Cathay Pacific uses the standard subclasses for redemption booking and Business class is booked in "U class" and First Class is booked in "Z class". They do not have any special unrestricted awards like Economy Class.

Q: Does anyone know if the AsiaMiles award inventory on CX is the same as other 1W frequent flyer program inventory? I.e. If I have a US BA account and an AsiaMile account, do the awards for business and first come out of the same inventory? Or are there more seats in the AsiaMile award inventory?

A: From what I believe, the capacity is controlled by the airlines so if CX releases 20 Economy Class seats for redemption, then the 20 seats are available to all frequent flyer programme partner airlines. So basically, those 20 seats can be sold by any partner airlines programme. However, CX may set aside more seats for their members and therefore may not be available to other programme partners. If you travel on CX more, then it makes sense to belong to their programme as chances for last minutes inventory conversion is higher (i.e. closer to departure time, if you are waitlisted for a Business Class seat using your points and there is a revenue seat available say 24 hours prior to departure, then then CX would convert this seat from revenue to redemption on a last minutes basis. This is practiced commonly amongst many airlines in the world that operate a FFP).

I hope the answers provide a better insight to your questions. If you need further assistance, let us know and the CX experts (i.e. us - the travellers) can assist you with your query.

bagold

Thanks cx_mpo for the detailed response!

jkc22

It seem like with the addition of AS into the redemption game, it might become more difficult to redeem awards on CX if the number of award seats remains the same.

I don't have any objections to including AS into the game, however, since now I finally have something worthwhile to burn all those AS miles!