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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


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

Old Jun 25, 2018, 6:22 am
  #2371  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 2,028
Originally Posted by jamienbaker
Agree major development! And happy to issue mea culpa should this be a return to the standards we've come to rely upon. Apologies for stubbornness

Jamie
I certainly hope it’s the case, as I’m currently booked HKG-DOH-USA a few days after July 8th and would love to switch to HKG-USA non-stop in F!
callmedtop is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 6:36 am
  #2372  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,517
Originally Posted by jamienbaker


many wish the same. Please establish a date at which point you’ll relent. Shall we agree on aug 1? Trust me, i’m willing to issue a mea culpa, but i unfortunately expect to be reading yours.

End of an era.
I take it all back. BA/QF now showing close-in awards. AA res able to see. Meaculpa meaculpa meaculpa
callmedtop likes this.
jamienbaker is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 7:28 am
  #2373  
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: SAT
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Posts: 5,898
I was looking for HKG-JFK and did not find J availability, but I found J space for HKG-YVR (via JFK), same dates. So you may want to check different destinations. You can always have a long stop-over in NYC
Deltahater is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 8:32 am
  #2374  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, DL PM, UA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, probably some others
Posts: 4,025
Have been looking at JFK-HKG space in May for weeks now. Was usually 4W 2J 1F available on the BA site for most flights. Now, seeing 2-3W, no J, no F available regardless of date.
steveholt is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 9:33 am
  #2375  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,386
Originally Posted by steveholt
Have been looking at JFK-HKG space in May for weeks now. Was usually 4W 2J 1F available on the BA site for most flights. Now, seeing 2-3W, no J, no F available regardless of date.
We are just coming out of an award embargo. Imagine if all gas stations shut down with no notice for 3 days what would happen when one opens with no notice and no explanation of why they were closed or why they were now open or if they would close again -- people will hoard and stockpile. I would not be surprised if this is happening now for CX awards. We do not know if they are back permanently so there is still a lot of fear out there.

You might want to be looking at backup options if you must go in May, or, possibly switch to new dates if you find availability.
skimthetrees is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 9:40 am
  #2376  
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: New York, NY
Programs: AA ExPl, DL PM, UA Silver, Hyatt Globalist, Marriott Titanium, probably some others
Posts: 4,025
Originally Posted by skimthetrees
We are just coming out of an award embargo. Imagine if all gas stations shut down with no notice for 3 days what would happen when one opens with no notice and no explanation of why they were closed or why they were now open or if they would close again -- people will hoard and stockpile. I would not be surprised if this is happening now for CX awards. We do not know if they are back permanently so there is still a lot of fear out there.

You might want to be looking at backup options if you must go in May, or, possibly switch to new dates if you find availability.
To be clear, I've booked an alternate option. I was just providing information for the board. I also do not suspect that every single J award for a matter of weeks came available last night and was immediately booked for hoarding purposes - I strongly suspect these seats were not made available after the embargo.
steveholt is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 10:13 am
  #2377  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Programs: UA, AS
Posts: 2,386
Originally Posted by steveholt
To be clear, I've booked an alternate option. I was just providing information for the board. I also do not suspect that every single J award for a matter of weeks came available last night and was immediately booked for hoarding purposes - I strongly suspect these seats were not made available after the embargo.
You are right. Sorry for jumping to conclusions. After a few searches I was unable to find any J availability. It looks like CX is not making J available from US-HKG, at least I have not found it yet.
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Old Jun 25, 2018, 12:09 pm
  #2378  
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,731
nothing change for Oct which I have been checking for weeks now hoping to change the current dates.

only thing I saw was PE for JFK-HKG, just like what it was before June 22nd. BA site is so slow it is hopeless. QF shows only E and PE. Nothing in J or F the whole Oct.

At close in, if you are willing to fly on different flights, it may still work, i.e. 1J on the 10am flight and 1F on the 3pm flight on Jul 12th.

Last edited by Happy; Jun 25, 2018 at 12:23 pm
Happy is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 1:32 pm
  #2379  
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: los angeles, calif.
Programs: Alaska Airlines Gold MVP
Posts: 7,170
Cathay availability for partners is back up and looks to be normal.

Every year we hear these stories that something will change on Cathay and "this is it," every year I reliably book my last minute Christmas trip to Hong Kong in Cathay First.
MAH4546 is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 1:47 pm
  #2380  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
Originally Posted by Happy
nothing change for Oct which I have been checking for weeks now hoping to change the current dates.

only thing I saw was PE for JFK-HKG, just like what it was before June 22nd. BA site is so slow it is hopeless. QF shows only E and PE. Nothing in J or F the whole Oct.

At close in, if you are willing to fly on different flights, it may still work, i.e. 1J on the 10am flight and 1F on the 3pm flight on Jul 12th.
For Cathay I see CX881 October 4th has F available.

I am seeing many options on CX JFK-HKG. More F space than J. There are eight F options between July 2nd and July 6th. July 4th has F available on all three flights that day. In fact you can get TWO F on flight CX831 on BOTH Jul 2nd and Jul 4th.

James
Flying for Fun is online now  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 1:58 pm
  #2381  
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Location: Florida
Posts: 29,731
Originally Posted by Flying for Fun
For Cathay I see CX881 October 4th has F available.

I am seeing many options on CX JFK-HKG. More F space than J. There are eight F options between July 2nd and July 6th. July 4th has F available on all three flights that day. In fact you can get TWO F on flight CX831 on BOTH Jul 2nd and Jul 4th.

James
Close in has returned but I am talking about 2 award seats even on separate flights on the same day, even 1J 1F - not happening on what I am searching. Personally I could not care less about flying in F. I just want 2 seats in premium cabins either on same flight or flights within hours apart. Done this type of travel on our previous 3 or 4 flights either to or from HKG.

What I hope to be able to do is to move the departure date to second week of October, and then correspondingly going down to Australia a week or 10 days earlier than currently booked on Nov 8th Ditch the QF F returning US during Thanksgiving week, and just fly to Europe via DOH on AA award.

QF site is not showing any CX J or F seats between Oct 6 to Oct 24. Only MH flights are available.

Dont seem we will see availability returned to normal as 6 to 9 months ago.

Last edited by Happy; Jun 25, 2018 at 2:13 pm
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Old Jun 25, 2018, 2:05 pm
  #2382  
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OK, this thread is a bit of a freak-out these days, so I'll just ask this: has there been any change to the long-term prospects of finding 2 J seats on CX flights ex-USA to HK and then beyond HK to other points in Asia?

I'm date-flexible. Mid-to-late 2019 being the current target. I know 2 F is pretty much out of the question except for last-minute bookings. 1 J + 1 F would be okay too.
pinniped is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 2:13 pm
  #2383  
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Seattle, WA
Programs: AA PP, Alaska 75K, Marriott Platinum, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 8
Originally Posted by pinniped
OK, this thread is a bit of a freak-out these days, so I'll just ask this: has there been any change to the long-term prospects of finding 2 J seats on CX flights ex-USA to HK and then beyond HK to other points in Asia?

I'm date-flexible. Mid-to-late 2019 being the current target. I know 2 F is pretty much out of the question except for last-minute bookings. 1 J + 1 F would be okay too.
I'm looking to go during the same time period for two people (LAX/SFO/YVR to HKG) and I haven't seen any J/F available on any date, close-in or way out.
TheyCallMeEric is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 2:15 pm
  #2384  
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Originally Posted by pinniped
OK, this thread is a bit of a freak-out these days, so I'll just ask this: has there been any change to the long-term prospects of finding 2 J seats on CX flights ex-USA to HK and then beyond HK to other points in Asia?

I'm date-flexible. Mid-to-late 2019 being the current target. I know 2 F is pretty much out of the question except for last-minute bookings. 1 J + 1 F would be okay too.
You will have to search that yourself and see how the trend is formed, if there is a trend. No other way to tell how the availability would look like.
Happy is offline  
Old Jun 25, 2018, 3:51 pm
  #2385  
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Originally Posted by Happy
You will have to search that yourself and see how the trend is formed, if there is a trend. No other way to tell how the availability would look like.
I'm mainly interested in whether the rules have changed. I know that to find seats, I just have to search. Is searching QF still the way to go, and if I see it there is it bookable by AS?

Originally Posted by TheyCallMeEric
I'm looking to go during the same time period for two people (LAX/SFO/YVR to HKG) and I haven't seen any J/F available on any date, close-in or way out.
April 16th, nonstop. 1 F and 1 J on the same flight, CX 873, using QF to search. I'm probably not going to travel until August-November 2019, so my detailed searching won't start for a few months.

Plus a few other April dates with 1 F but no J.
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