Jun 28, 2017, 8:46 pm
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
May 14, 2018, 12:38 am
#2086
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Seattle
Programs: AS MVP100K, Hilton Diamond, IHG Gold
Posts: 3,215
I had to double check this. You want to change from First Class and downgrade to Business on Cathay? Who wants to do that?
May 14, 2018, 3:40 am
#2087
Join Date: Sep 2008
Programs: A3 *G, AA exePlat, AS MVP 75k Gold, JL sapphire, UA silver
Posts: 4,035
I would downgrade to J if the refund is 20k miles but not for 7.5k miles.
I have F check in, F lounge and I mostly sleep on the plane.
I have F check in, F lounge and I mostly sleep on the plane.
May 14, 2018, 12:48 pm
#2088
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
Change and cancellation fee changes
This policy update will be effective for tickets purchased or last exchanged on or after June 5, 2018.
This policy update will be effective for tickets purchased or last exchanged on or after June 5, 2018.
May 14, 2018, 1:11 pm
#2089
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,387
Plus OP is issuing an award in a different class of service and then going to ask for another class of service... not sure that’s “one free change” on an existing ticket. It’s a different award. That being said, the original award could be cancelled for free under old rules, and a new award issued....
Last edited by eponymous_coward; May 14, 2018 at 1:22 pm
May 14, 2018, 4:23 pm
#2090
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,393
... if you find CX F > 1 60 days out instead of close in... not common.
Plus OP is issuing an award in a different class of service and then going to ask for another class of service... not sure that’s “one free change” on an existing ticket. It’s a different award. That being said, the original award could be cancelled for free under old rules, and a new award issued....
Plus OP is issuing an award in a different class of service and then going to ask for another class of service... not sure that’s “one free change” on an existing ticket. It’s a different award. That being said, the original award could be cancelled for free under old rules, and a new award issued....
I have no experience with this situation, under the current policy would AS charge you to change the award class > 60 days out even if it technically means a reticket? In other words do they treat all types of changes as a fee free change > 60 days out? If that is the case then I would think they would continue that policy for the 1 free change after June 5th.
May 14, 2018, 4:44 pm
#2091
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,387
I have no experience with this situation, under the current policy would AS charge you to change the award class > 60 days out even if it technically means a reticket? In other words do they treat all types of changes as a fee free change > 60 days out? If that is the case then I would think they would continue that policy for the 1 free change after June 5th.
May 14, 2018, 5:32 pm
#2092
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 25
Delete
Last edited by davethegr8; May 14, 2018 at 10:15 pm
May 15, 2018, 4:35 am
#2093
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
No idea what its about but I saw a posting in a facebook group. Someone claims their college friend is analyst for AS Revenue Management and is in HKG on a business trip.
May 15, 2018, 6:31 am
#2094
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 58
Quick data point - Flying next week, trying to upgrade from J to F to fly with my wife. 2 seats out of Logan, 1 seat out of JFK, Alaska saw nothing. In fact, they had zero availability the entire week. Whoops.
Will try calling back a couple more times.
Will try calling back a couple more times.
May 15, 2018, 9:30 am
#2095
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 58
And oddly enough, just called back a couple hours later, they could see everything BA website could see (even the flight that stops over in Vancouver). Snagged two last minute F from Boston.
May 15, 2018, 9:33 am
#2096
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
Some agents are just more knowledgeable than others. The one I talked to the last time I booked a CX award didn't see any space the first time she searched, but she knew how to massage the system to find the J seat and got it on the second try.
May 15, 2018, 10:28 am
#2097
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
I just changed BOS-HKG_DXB to BOS-HKG-BNE. Other than a long hold time as the rep had to have someone else do the manual change(new to me), everything went fine. Seattle rep found the space right away that I found on BA and have my new booking confirmation. BA went from J8 last week to J4 and while on hold it dropped to J3.
May 16, 2018, 8:11 am
#2098
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,066
I can't seem to find saver F awards on AS metal from 95% of the airports I tried (EWR, JFK, SLC, PHL, MSY, MSP, AUS, PDX, SEA etc) to all California airports with cities in Alaska-California being the exception.
I would like to do US City - SFO/LAX (stopover) - HKG- CGK on CX J; hence, I need to stick to AS on the US city - SFO/LAX portion.
ANC - LAX/SFO looks good as there are saver awards in F but getting to ANC from any of the lower 48 states cost an arm and a leg. Are there other major airports (preferably in a city with no/low sales tax) that I'm overlooking that might have saver F availability?
I would like to do US City - SFO/LAX (stopover) - HKG- CGK on CX J; hence, I need to stick to AS on the US city - SFO/LAX portion.
ANC - LAX/SFO looks good as there are saver awards in F but getting to ANC from any of the lower 48 states cost an arm and a leg. Are there other major airports (preferably in a city with no/low sales tax) that I'm overlooking that might have saver F availability?
May 16, 2018, 10:02 am
#2099
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
I can't seem to find saver F awards on AS metal from 95% of the airports I tried (EWR, JFK, SLC, PHL, MSY, MSP, AUS, PDX, SEA etc) to all California airports with cities in Alaska-California being the exception.
I would like to do US City - SFO/LAX (stopover) - HKG- CGK on CX J; hence, I need to stick to AS on the US city - SFO/LAX portion.
ANC - LAX/SFO looks good as there are saver awards in F but getting to ANC from any of the lower 48 states cost an arm and a leg. Are there other major airports (preferably in a city with no/low sales tax) that I'm overlooking that might have saver F availability?
I would like to do US City - SFO/LAX (stopover) - HKG- CGK on CX J; hence, I need to stick to AS on the US city - SFO/LAX portion.
ANC - LAX/SFO looks good as there are saver awards in F but getting to ANC from any of the lower 48 states cost an arm and a leg. Are there other major airports (preferably in a city with no/low sales tax) that I'm overlooking that might have saver F availability?
May 16, 2018, 11:18 am
#2100
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,387
I can't seem to find saver F awards on AS metal from 95% of the airports I tried (EWR, JFK, SLC, PHL, MSY, MSP, AUS, PDX, SEA etc) to all California airports with cities in Alaska-California being the exception.
I would like to do US City - SFO/LAX (stopover) - HKG- CGK on CX J; hence, I need to stick to AS on the US city - SFO/LAX portion.
ANC - LAX/SFO looks good as there are saver awards in F but getting to ANC from any of the lower 48 states cost an arm and a leg. Are there other major airports (preferably in a city with no/low sales tax) that I'm overlooking that might have saver F availability?
I would like to do US City - SFO/LAX (stopover) - HKG- CGK on CX J; hence, I need to stick to AS on the US city - SFO/LAX portion.
ANC - LAX/SFO looks good as there are saver awards in F but getting to ANC from any of the lower 48 states cost an arm and a leg. Are there other major airports (preferably in a city with no/low sales tax) that I'm overlooking that might have saver F availability?
I get that you're entitled to AS F, but it's not a huge deal compared to the long leg. Book the itinerary and keep an eye out for AS F later.
If you really want to be exotic: Hawaii and Mexico are allowed for CX redemptions.
There's TONS of saver Y across the network, just no saver F. If I was guessing I'd say AS is suppressing saver F nearly system-wide, since, really, COME ON, the difference between advance F fares and advance Ys aren't huge on the shorthaul West Coast routes. Might be because they're planning to start swapping around pmVX with F 8 and pmAS with mostly 12-16 towards the end of schedule, and if they give away 1/16th of the cabin and it turns into an 1/8th, oops, revenue management looks bad. Of course they look bad anyway if there's no saver F.
Last edited by eponymous_coward; May 16, 2018 at 11:28 am