Last edit by: eponymous_coward
Cathay Award Guide Using Alaska Airlines Miles
Note: Cathay flights cannot be booked using alaskaair.com. Mileage requirements in chart form available on alaskaair.com.
Routing Rules:
North American Gateway Cities:
Western
Vancouver
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Seattle (Spring 2019)
Eastern (Can not be used if traveling to west coast)
Boston
Chicago
New York (JFK & EWR)
Toronto
Washington
Award Chart Links*:
Asia
Australia
Europe
India/Middle East
North America
Anyone with 90 posts and 90 days can edit the wiki. Everyone else if you want something added to the wiki please comment in the thread.
Note: Cathay flights cannot be booked using alaskaair.com. Mileage requirements in chart form available on alaskaair.com.
Request your Partner Award reservation on Cathay Pacific by calling Alaska Airlines Reservations at 1-800-252-7522 (TTY: Dial 711 for Relay Services) 5:00 a.m. - Midnight (PT), daily.
- If it's not on the award chart, it's not allowed. For example EUROPE is To/From HKG only.
- Stopover are only allowed on any CX award for North America awards as destination or origin. For instance: intra-Asia awards do not get a stopover. It must be a North America->Somewhere or Somewhere->North America award to qualify for a stopover.
- The only awards that do not break at HKG are intra-Asia or North American ones. For instance, Australia-Europe/Middle East/Asia outside of HKG will be two awards (breaking at HKG). The AS award chart can be misleading about this and give you the impression you can fly an award like Australia/Europe-ICN, but the chart for these award types will show "Hong Kong".
- One stop-over allowed on one way award. You can build open jaw and other advanced routings by booking multiple one way awards. Please note change fee rule below.
- Allegedly stop-over only in Hong Kong, but some have posted success in other enroute cities such as YVR or SEA.
- As of 5 June 2018 changes/cancellations made to a booking will incur a $125 fee which is waived for MVPG/MVPG75K. Bookings made prior to 5 June will be allowed one complimentary change or cancellation for up to 60 days prior to date of travel.
- Awards can be booked 330 days in advance.
- Cathay and Alaska (or an Alaska flight operated by SkyWest/Horizon on behalf of Alaska) are the only airlines allowed on a Cathay award. No other partner airlines may be used on a single award (e.g. American, JAL, Emirates).
North American Gateway Cities:
Western
Vancouver
San Francisco
Los Angeles
Seattle (Spring 2019)
Eastern (Can not be used if traveling to west coast)
Boston
Chicago
New York (JFK & EWR)
Toronto
Washington
Award Chart Links*:
Asia
Australia
Europe
India/Middle East
North America
Anyone with 90 posts and 90 days can edit the wiki. Everyone else if you want something added to the wiki please comment in the thread.
Cathay Pacific (CX) Award Redemption, Booking and Availability – 2017 and Later
#1561
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,068
This is an age old question. It happens all the time of it showing on all the search engines, but AS agents can’t see it. Im fairly certain AS is given different inventory than that of OW and their own Marco Polo members to choose from. The only times (in my experience) where an AS agent sees exactly what’s presented on the other search engines is when it’s about 6 to 8 or more months out planning.
Is AS intentionally withholding certain blocks of CX space and releasing them only when there is a change in schedule or CX flight cancellation?
#1562
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
No way. The problem is that AS sells all these miles with incredible deals and everyone and their grandmother loads up on AS miles, especially mileage brokers. I’m sure they hoard the miles with the intention of booking JL and CX tickets. So those airlines have to protect their dedicated customers, as well as their alliance partners customers. I think AS is fed availability out of a different tube in certain scenarios so this doesn’t become a problem for CX and OW members. As a result the availabilities will not always totally match up.
#1563
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,068
BTW: Considering JFK-YVR is an international itinerary, is a stopover possible? Say JFK-YVR (stopover)-SEA-ANC or JFK-YVR-SEA (stopover)-ANC or JFK-YVR (stopover)-SEA-YYC?
#1564
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
#1565
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,421
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Dec 25, 2017 at 9:52 am
#1566
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
What if you overnight?
#1567
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,421
#1568
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
#1569
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,421
If the tickets are being issued... well, just be aware that it's a multi-thousand dollar fine for carriers who violate cabotage law. And FT awareness of itineraries that violate cabotage HAS caused the DOT to fine carriers (which then "fix" the problem).
Last edited by eponymous_coward; Dec 25, 2017 at 11:57 am
#1570
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,844
Please double-check your contention. This is one area where it is not "YMMV". I redeem that route frequently. They never have budged on any connection, unless additional miles were charged.
#1571
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 544
I'm in DC, and CX has recently announced a new IAD-HKG flight. I have never played in the AS sandbox before, but am strongly considering getting started with BofA AS cards to start building miles for a trip to Asia. Is the general consensus that CX and JA will continue to be available using AS miles? The numbers seem pretty incredible! I travel with my family of 4, so there and back in F is a stretch, but in J or even premium economy is nice enough for us. Roundtrip DC to Hong Kong in PE for 70k each (while still a hefty 280k total) is pretty awesome. Can 4 together in J or PE generally be found 11 months out? I figure if I can do a personal and business card every 3ish months, I should have the miles for a nice roundtrip in only a little over 15 months. If I start now, I should be there by May of 2019, and should be able to book a spring break trip, or summer vacation, for 2020. Sound reasonable?
#1572
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
I'm in DC, and CX has recently announced a new IAD-HKG flight. I have never played in the AS sandbox before, but am strongly considering getting started with BofA AS cards to start building miles for a trip to Asia. Is the general consensus that CX and JA will continue to be available using AS miles? The numbers seem pretty incredible! I travel with my family of 4, so there and back in F is a stretch, but in J or even premium economy is nice enough for us. Roundtrip DC to Hong Kong in PE for 70k each (while still a hefty 280k total) is pretty awesome. Can 4 together in J or PE generally be found 11 months out? I figure if I can do a personal and business card every 3ish months, I should have the miles for a nice roundtrip in only a little over 15 months. If I start now, I should be there by May of 2019, and should be able to book a spring break trip, or summer vacation, for 2020. Sound reasonable?
#1573
Join Date: Jul 2012
Programs: Delta Gold, Alaska Gold 75K, LATAM Black
Posts: 3,393
I'm in DC, and CX has recently announced a new IAD-HKG flight. I have never played in the AS sandbox before, but am strongly considering getting started with BofA AS cards to start building miles for a trip to Asia. Is the general consensus that CX and JA will continue to be available using AS miles? The numbers seem pretty incredible! I travel with my family of 4, so there and back in F is a stretch, but in J or even premium economy is nice enough for us. Roundtrip DC to Hong Kong in PE for 70k each (while still a hefty 280k total) is pretty awesome. Can 4 together in J or PE generally be found 11 months out? I figure if I can do a personal and business card every 3ish months, I should have the miles for a nice roundtrip in only a little over 15 months. If I start now, I should be there by May of 2019, and should be able to book a spring break trip, or summer vacation, for 2020. Sound reasonable?
#1574
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
Is this true? An AS agent just told me that you cannot route from Colombo-HKG-LAX-SEA because they are not allowed to redeem cathay to Colombo.
#1575
Join Date: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,621
Hi -
I do not know for certain, but it could very well be. When you look at the award charts, it lists "India", not "Indian Sub-Continent". Strictly speaking, that would kick out Colombo as a destination.
I would recommend calling Mileage Plan directly and not the res agents.
I do not know for certain, but it could very well be. When you look at the award charts, it lists "India", not "Indian Sub-Continent". Strictly speaking, that would kick out Colombo as a destination.
I would recommend calling Mileage Plan directly and not the res agents.