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Cathay Pacific (CX) Award Redemption, Booking and Availability – 2017 and Later

Old Jun 28, 2017, 8:46 pm
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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.

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.
Routing Rules:
  • 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.
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Cathay Pacific (CX) Award Redemption, Booking and Availability – 2017 and Later

Old Dec 26, 2017, 1:37 am
  #1576  
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
Originally Posted by Orwaid
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.
ill try tomorrow what’s strange is I saw a seat on BA tool to connect to my flight in HKG. The first agent said she didn’t see anything. Then I called back and the second agent told me she couldn’t search from Colombo because you can’t redeem cathay to Colombo. Though I must say the second agent didn’t sound very confident.

Then I thought about it and you don’t hear many people redeeming miles to Colombo around here so maybe the second agent was right.

When you look at the redemption tool on Alaska when you select Asia, Colombo and Sri Lanka do light up.
Edgerfly is offline  
Old Dec 26, 2017, 1:48 am
  #1577  
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
Originally Posted by Edgerfly
When you look at the redemption tool on Alaska when you select Asia, Colombo and Sri Lanka do light up.
As has been mentioned many times around here: the map highlighting is not to be taken as an authority on award regions.
jinglish is offline  
Old Dec 26, 2017, 1:49 am
  #1578  
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
Just called back. Got an agent who sounded like she knew what she was doing and moved my award from Singapore to HKG to Colombo to HKG in under 5 minutes.
So yes you can redeem to Colombo on CX. I think what the agent before me honestly did not know what she was doing and just wanted to get me off the phone.

Last edited by Edgerfly; Dec 26, 2017 at 3:48 am
Edgerfly is offline  
Old Dec 26, 2017, 7:25 am
  #1579  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: HNL <-> BOS
Posts: 382
Datapoint about changing CX flights after the first segment has been flown.

Itinerary was SIN > HKG (stop) > LAX. SIN > HKG in J and HKG > LAX in F. A day before flight to LAX, space opened up on an earlier flight. (Space checked on QF. F5 on EF) Called the line and agent in Seattle picked up. Just asked to be changed onto the earlier flight. Put on hold and about 10 min later, came back and said everything was good to go. This was for 2 separate reservations flying the same itinerary.

CX reservation immediately changed and check-in went smoothly.

Gold 75K here if that may have had something to do with it.

Award space from original flight also went back into award inventory. (Checked on QF)
jamienbaker likes this.
reverted is offline  
Old Dec 26, 2017, 3:59 pm
  #1580  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: AA MM PP, MR LT Plat, Globalist
Posts: 991
Originally Posted by reverted
Datapoint about changing CX flights after the first segment has been flown.

Itinerary was SIN > HKG (stop) > LAX. SIN > HKG in J and HKG > LAX in F. A day before flight to LAX, space opened up on an earlier flight. (Space checked on QF. F5 on EF) Called the line and agent in Seattle picked up. Just asked to be changed onto the earlier flight. Put on hold and about 10 min later, came back and said everything was good to go. This was for 2 separate reservations flying the same itinerary.

CX reservation immediately changed and check-in went smoothly.

Gold 75K here if that may have had something to do with it.

Award space from original flight also went back into award inventory. (Checked on QF)
I had called 2 - 3 times but was unable to change my last leg, HKG-LAX, from J to F. One of the experienced agents even went to her manager for help but couldn't do anything. I think the reason was - they couldn't simply refund my whole trip (JNB-HKG-LAX) and then book a new award for the remaining itinerary - the award costs were different.

Thanks for the field report! If you have any guidelines we can advise future agents, let us know.
eethan is offline  
Old Dec 26, 2017, 4:06 pm
  #1581  
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
Originally Posted by eethan
I had called 2 - 3 times but was unable to change my last leg, HKG-LAX, from J to F. One of the experienced agents even went to her manager for help but couldn't do anything. I think the reason was - they couldn't simply refund my whole trip (JNB-HKG-LAX) and then book a new award for the remaining itinerary - the award costs were different.

Thanks for the field report! If you have any guidelines we can advise future agents, let us know.
This seems odd to me, and wrong. They should be able to just upgrade you, make necessary changes, deduct the additional miles and taxes, and reissue the ticket.

They shouldn’t have to totally redo the itinerary.

In fact I had a friend who was on the phone with an agent who told them they had to redeposit the miles and do what you’re describing, totallly redo the itinerary. It wasn’t an upgrade, it was just basically move the itinerary one day back in the same class.

I told my friend to tell the agent that’s not true, they can alter and change the itinerary, reissue the ticket, and collect any additional mileage and taxes and fees. Once she spoke up and said that, the agent listened.
Edgerfly is offline  
Old Dec 26, 2017, 4:29 pm
  #1582  
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,061
Originally Posted by rbw5t
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?
I'm relatively new to AS - got appproved for 3 cards within the past 13 months (1 personal, 2 biz), so might be possible for you to be approved for 4 cards in 15 months by doing personal and biz apps. If I were you, I would also apply for the 2 SPG then transfer to AS. Moreover, I would apply for Citi AA personal, Citi AA biz and Barclay AA (total 180K bonus miles from these 3 cards). With the above, still not enough but if you and your spouse both apply, it's much more achievable.
hightide is offline  
Old Dec 26, 2017, 5:20 pm
  #1583  
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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 pushing or shoving, but I do have an announcement to make:

For travel on Feb 6th I will be cancelling my HKG-LAX in F flight, and assume it will go back into the bucket to be re-released.

However, if someone is interested in an equitable trade, I can change the itinerary and just put your name on it. PM if interested for details.
Edgerfly is offline  
Old Dec 28, 2017, 1:21 pm
  #1584  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: AA MM PP, MR LT Plat, Globalist
Posts: 991
Originally Posted by Edgerfly


This seems odd to me, and wrong. They should be able to just upgrade you, make necessary changes, deduct the additional miles and taxes, and reissue the ticket.

They shouldn’t have to totally redo the itinerary.

In fact I had a friend who was on the phone with an agent who told them they had to redeposit the miles and do what you’re describing, totallly redo the itinerary. It wasn’t an upgrade, it was just basically move the itinerary one day back in the same class.

I told my friend to tell the agent that’s not true, they can alter and change the itinerary, reissue the ticket, and collect any additional mileage and taxes and fees. Once she spoke up and said that, the agent listened.
Note that we already flew JNB-HKG. In replying to reverted, I surmised that agent had canceled his previous ticket and rebooked him in F on his remaining HKG-USA leg. If that was the case, I wonder how they handled the fee difference.

Otherwise, agent shouldn't be able to upgrade your last leg once trip has started.
eethan is offline  
Old Dec 29, 2017, 5:23 am
  #1585  
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: London
Posts: 224
Another data point:

BA/JL both showing 4 seats for LGW-HKG in J and 1 seat for LHR-HKG in F for a variety of dates in April. Just got off the phone with 2 different agents at Alaska who saw zero availability...
CkCrunch is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2017, 5:26 pm
  #1586  
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: AA MM PP, MR LT Plat, Globalist
Posts: 991
Agent tried to but could not price and finalize my mom's ticket. There is a CX confirmation code and CX shows the ticket as confirmed. Problem is that the ticket is in Alaska's "queue" and can take AS "up to 3 weeks" to finalize. In the meantime, I cannot add the final segment to this ticket.

Apparently, a certain Alaska partner department works from this queue and manually finalizes tickets when the normal process fails. I'll try to specially reach these guys next week when they're back in the office. Any advice and/or experiences?
eethan is offline  
Old Dec 30, 2017, 5:57 pm
  #1587  
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
Originally Posted by eethan
Agent tried to but could not price and finalize my mom's ticket. There is a CX confirmation code and CX shows the ticket as confirmed. Problem is that the ticket is in Alaska's "queue" and can take AS "up to 3 weeks" to finalize. In the meantime, I cannot add the final segment to this ticket.

Apparently, a certain Alaska partner department works from this queue and manually finalizes tickets when the normal process fails. I'll try to specially reach these guys next week when they're back in the office. Any advice and/or experiences?
I wonder what happened, Is yours far in advance? I just got off the pone booked CX award BOS-HHK-DXB with 2 day stopover in May, I had no issue.

Oh and for those keeping track. I was booking one ticket. I looked it up segment by segment on BA website before calling it in. I called the partner desk listed on my MVPG card and mentioned up front that I was booking CX so she knew what system to start with. I gave data and time as well since it was a 145am flight and agent had no problem finding and booking
CDKing is offline  
Old Dec 31, 2017, 9:39 pm
  #1588  
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: "the world is my country"
Programs: Alaska 100K (aka OWS)
Posts: 806
I recently "taught" my husband how to HUCA and he has scored some great tickets with that practice. The whole family (5 of us) are headed to a dive resort in Bali in CX J/F - SEA-SFO-HKG-DPS. He started by finding the route in coach and just kept calling back until all people were gradually upgraded when seats became available. It's taken some time finding the right agent, but he can now tell within 30 seconds whether the agent has skills in the CX booking system. Thanks to FT for all the great advice. We really like the CX F product, especially the pajamas!
QT31415 is offline  
Old Dec 31, 2017, 10:37 pm
  #1589  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SJC / DPS
Programs: AS G75K, UA Silver
Posts: 1,752
Originally Posted by flytoeat
Last month I added HKG-SGN to an existing YVR-HKG award reservation. I've also had no problem adding to an existing reservation when the first leg is available, but the second leg is still 330+ days out. Like almost everything at the partner desk, YMMV, but a note in your PNR should do the trick.
Originally Posted by Flying for Fun
Yes you can add the second segment later, you will be required to pay the additional miles and added taxes. There may be additional fees depending on your Elite Status.
Thank you both. Turns out I was able to book LAX-HKG on one call; towards the end of the call the agent couldn't 'see' the HKG-JNB availability so I had to call back in to have it added on. Seems like quite the manual process but totally possible.

I've since called in and changed a few dates around, and I truly think CX awards are bound by the HUCA rule.
pushmyredbutton is offline  
Old Jan 1, 2018, 7:13 am
  #1590  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,517
Originally Posted by QT31415
I recently "taught" my husband how to HUCA and he has scored some great tickets with that practice. The whole family (5 of us) are headed to a dive resort in Bali in CX J/F - SEA-SFO-HKG-DPS. He started by finding the route in coach and just kept calling back until all people were gradually upgraded when seats became available. It's taken some time finding the right agent, but he can now tell within 30 seconds whether the agent has skills in the CX booking system. Thanks to FT for all the great advice. We really like the CX F product, especially the pajamas!
thats excellent, and a fine example of percerverance. Just curious, where are you diving?
jamienbaker is offline  

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