Originally Posted by
freed0m
People from Asia Miles can do both.
1. They can read blogs, buy AS miles and redeem Cathay Pacific premium cabins.
2. They can redeem through Asia Miles. But close to none in AS will ever redeem through Asia Miles.
Too bad that Asia Miles costs a ton to redeem Cathay premium cabins. But it has to be like that because too many people have too many miles. The one "hostile" towards AS definitely knows AS program and can take advantage of it.
I'll add that Cathay *does* release some space to Asia Miles before its partners as well as provide waitlist functionality. IMO that's the incremental value of the program. If the seat is already released to AS, then I would use AS to redeem it since it's cheaper. I'll use Asia Miles at worse redemption rates only when I need to, i.e. when I want to lock in the seat before it gets released to AS. Both programs have their uses.