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
Aug 8, 2018, 8:24 am
#2567
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: SJC / DPS
Programs: AS G75K, UA Silver
Posts: 1,756
Aug 8, 2018, 8:25 am
#2568
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 599
That's what I was told so I called CX and they were able to assign seats for me. It took only ~3 min.
Aug 8, 2018, 9:08 am
#2569
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: YYZ
Posts: 68
Made my first CX F redemption last night, absolutely buzzing about the whole thing, will be my first time in First on any airline.
How long generally does it take for the reservation to be ticketed? I have a confirmation from Alaska and a PNR for Alaska and Cathay but it has not been ticketed yet. Previously every other time I've purchased tickets or made redemptions on other airlines I've been ticketed within an hour or so of booking. Also at the same time we booked my wife into J while we wait for further F seats to hopefully open up (travel is for end of May 2019) and that has not been ticketed either. Neither of us can assign seats on the CX manage booking and checking Expert Flyer has shown no change in seats since before we booked.
This was our first time booking with Alaska so I'm not sure if this is totally normal or if I should follow up and check. Its just over 12 hours now since the bookings were confirmed.
Thanks for the Twitter note about making seat reservations, I'm assuming though that until we have been ticketed we won't be able to make them?
How long generally does it take for the reservation to be ticketed? I have a confirmation from Alaska and a PNR for Alaska and Cathay but it has not been ticketed yet. Previously every other time I've purchased tickets or made redemptions on other airlines I've been ticketed within an hour or so of booking. Also at the same time we booked my wife into J while we wait for further F seats to hopefully open up (travel is for end of May 2019) and that has not been ticketed either. Neither of us can assign seats on the CX manage booking and checking Expert Flyer has shown no change in seats since before we booked.
This was our first time booking with Alaska so I'm not sure if this is totally normal or if I should follow up and check. Its just over 12 hours now since the bookings were confirmed.
Thanks for the Twitter note about making seat reservations, I'm assuming though that until we have been ticketed we won't be able to make them?
Aug 8, 2018, 9:18 am
#2570
Join Date: Aug 2013
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold
Posts: 917
Made my first CX F redemption last night, absolutely buzzing about the whole thing, will be my first time in First on any airline.
How long generally does it take for the reservation to be ticketed? I have a confirmation from Alaska and a PNR for Alaska and Cathay but it has not been ticketed yet. Previously every other time I've purchased tickets or made redemptions on other airlines I've been ticketed within an hour or so of booking. Also at the same time we booked my wife into J while we wait for further F seats to hopefully open up (travel is for end of May 2019) and that has not been ticketed either. Neither of us can assign seats on the CX manage booking and checking Expert Flyer has shown no change in seats since before we booked.
This was our first time booking with Alaska so I'm not sure if this is totally normal or if I should follow up and check. Its just over 12 hours now since the bookings were confirmed.
Thanks for the Twitter note about making seat reservations, I'm assuming though that until we have been ticketed we won't be able to make them?
How long generally does it take for the reservation to be ticketed? I have a confirmation from Alaska and a PNR for Alaska and Cathay but it has not been ticketed yet. Previously every other time I've purchased tickets or made redemptions on other airlines I've been ticketed within an hour or so of booking. Also at the same time we booked my wife into J while we wait for further F seats to hopefully open up (travel is for end of May 2019) and that has not been ticketed either. Neither of us can assign seats on the CX manage booking and checking Expert Flyer has shown no change in seats since before we booked.
This was our first time booking with Alaska so I'm not sure if this is totally normal or if I should follow up and check. Its just over 12 hours now since the bookings were confirmed.
Thanks for the Twitter note about making seat reservations, I'm assuming though that until we have been ticketed we won't be able to make them?
Aug 8, 2018, 9:59 am
#2571
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: YVR, HNL
Programs: AS 75k, UA peon, BA Bronze, AC E50k, Marriott Plat, HH Diamond, Fairmont Plat (RIP)
Posts: 7,828
I’ve been trying to book a CX award since yesterday.
All of the agents I have gotten seem extremely competent and knew what they were doing. The first one thought the CX system was in the process of updating (like maybe a schedule update) as she gets a blank screen when she pulls up the route I was looking at. She said even if there is no availability, it still would show her F0,J0 etc. but when it is blank, it means the system is updating. She seemed to know what she was doing and had seen this before and said to try in an hour or two.
This morning, I call and get a fantastic agent. She sees the exact same thing - blank screen - and said the same thing, that if there was no space, it would be zero’d out but not just blank and it usually means CX updating their system but since she also saw it yesterday and I told her I had also tried yesterday, she wanted to dig a bit deeper as it shouldn’t take that long. I told her the space was showing on QF but no CX flights at all were showing on BA.
She put me on hold for a long time and came back and said she found out this is a known issue with CX right now and they are working on it right this minute. I said known as in known for a long time now or just something that started yesterday. She said this particular issue, the blanked out screen, (not phantom space or CX not releasing to AS even though the flight is on QF or any of the other glitches we’ve seen) just started as of a few days ago. She said they are actively working on it with CX and are hoping to get it resolved soon but it likely won’t be today.
I really believe she knew what she was doing; both agents seemed to be very familiar with how it should look and the blanked out screen was not normal; and she really did check into it as she was perplexed as well. So this seems different than the phantom space issue as the agents in that case see F0, C0 etc. Right now, they are just getting blanks when they pull up a CX route. So hopefully this is all true and it will be fixed shortly.
All of the agents I have gotten seem extremely competent and knew what they were doing. The first one thought the CX system was in the process of updating (like maybe a schedule update) as she gets a blank screen when she pulls up the route I was looking at. She said even if there is no availability, it still would show her F0,J0 etc. but when it is blank, it means the system is updating. She seemed to know what she was doing and had seen this before and said to try in an hour or two.
This morning, I call and get a fantastic agent. She sees the exact same thing - blank screen - and said the same thing, that if there was no space, it would be zero’d out but not just blank and it usually means CX updating their system but since she also saw it yesterday and I told her I had also tried yesterday, she wanted to dig a bit deeper as it shouldn’t take that long. I told her the space was showing on QF but no CX flights at all were showing on BA.
She put me on hold for a long time and came back and said she found out this is a known issue with CX right now and they are working on it right this minute. I said known as in known for a long time now or just something that started yesterday. She said this particular issue, the blanked out screen, (not phantom space or CX not releasing to AS even though the flight is on QF or any of the other glitches we’ve seen) just started as of a few days ago. She said they are actively working on it with CX and are hoping to get it resolved soon but it likely won’t be today.
I really believe she knew what she was doing; both agents seemed to be very familiar with how it should look and the blanked out screen was not normal; and she really did check into it as she was perplexed as well. So this seems different than the phantom space issue as the agents in that case see F0, C0 etc. Right now, they are just getting blanks when they pull up a CX route. So hopefully this is all true and it will be fixed shortly.
Aug 8, 2018, 11:17 am
#2572
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: YYZ
Posts: 68
It is normal to take up to 48 hours in my experience. Theres nothing to worry about. For seats on your Cathay flights, call Cathay directly once you get the confirmation email. You might be able to do it sooner, but this far out there is definitely no reason to be in a rush.
Aug 8, 2018, 4:20 pm
#2574
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: IHG Diamond, HH Diamond, BW Diamond Select, Accor Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,227
Aug 8, 2018, 4:25 pm
#2575
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
James
Aug 9, 2018, 9:30 am
#2576
Join Date: Aug 2018
Programs: Alaska, Aeroplan, MArriott
Posts: 16
Ive been trying to book a CX award since yesterday.
All of the agents I have gotten seem extremely competent and knew what they were doing. The first one thought the CX system was in the process of updating (like maybe a schedule update) as she gets a blank screen when she pulls up the route I was looking at. She said even if there is no availability, it still would show her F0,J0 etc. but when it is blank, it means the system is updating. She seemed to know what she was doing and had seen this before and said to try in an hour or two.
This morning, I call and get a fantastic agent. She sees the exact same thing - blank screen - and said the same thing, that if there was no space, it would be zerod out but not just blank and it usually means CX updating their system but since she also saw it yesterday and I told her I had also tried yesterday, she wanted to dig a bit deeper as it shouldnt take that long. I told her the space was showing on QF but no CX flights at all were showing on BA.
She put me on hold for a long time and came back and said she found out this is a known issue with CX right now and they are working on it right this minute. I said known as in known for a long time now or just something that started yesterday. She said this particular issue, the blanked out screen, (not phantom space or CX not releasing to AS even though the flight is on QF or any of the other glitches weve seen) just started as of a few days ago. She said they are actively working on it with CX and are hoping to get it resolved soon but it likely wont be today.
I really believe she knew what she was doing; both agents seemed to be very familiar with how it should look and the blanked out screen was not normal; and she really did check into it as she was perplexed as well. So this seems different than the phantom space issue as the agents in that case see F0, C0 etc. Right now, they are just getting blanks when they pull up a CX route. So hopefully this is all true and it will be fixed shortly.
All of the agents I have gotten seem extremely competent and knew what they were doing. The first one thought the CX system was in the process of updating (like maybe a schedule update) as she gets a blank screen when she pulls up the route I was looking at. She said even if there is no availability, it still would show her F0,J0 etc. but when it is blank, it means the system is updating. She seemed to know what she was doing and had seen this before and said to try in an hour or two.
This morning, I call and get a fantastic agent. She sees the exact same thing - blank screen - and said the same thing, that if there was no space, it would be zerod out but not just blank and it usually means CX updating their system but since she also saw it yesterday and I told her I had also tried yesterday, she wanted to dig a bit deeper as it shouldnt take that long. I told her the space was showing on QF but no CX flights at all were showing on BA.
She put me on hold for a long time and came back and said she found out this is a known issue with CX right now and they are working on it right this minute. I said known as in known for a long time now or just something that started yesterday. She said this particular issue, the blanked out screen, (not phantom space or CX not releasing to AS even though the flight is on QF or any of the other glitches weve seen) just started as of a few days ago. She said they are actively working on it with CX and are hoping to get it resolved soon but it likely wont be today.
I really believe she knew what she was doing; both agents seemed to be very familiar with how it should look and the blanked out screen was not normal; and she really did check into it as she was perplexed as well. So this seems different than the phantom space issue as the agents in that case see F0, C0 etc. Right now, they are just getting blanks when they pull up a CX route. So hopefully this is all true and it will be fixed shortly.
I've had a similar experience but it's been almost a month now. Agents who say it looks like something wrong with the Cathay inventory, it doesn't show that the space isn't available, just that it's not updated. Some have said there's a known issue, and to check back in a few days. I was watching the availability for a few weeks, and when I went to actually book ALL of the availability for my route (HKG-BKK) disappeared - all days, all fare classes. I've been assured by a couple fo international desk agents (who again, sound like they know what they're talking about) to just be persistent. But I'm getting a bit concerned!
Aug 9, 2018, 11:01 am
#2577
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
I've had a similar experience but it's been almost a month now. Agents who say it looks like something wrong with the Cathay inventory, it doesn't show that the space isn't available, just that it's not updated. Some have said there's a known issue, and to check back in a few days. I was watching the availability for a few weeks, and when I went to actually book ALL of the availability for my route (HKG-BKK) disappeared - all days, all fare classes. I've been assured by a couple fo international desk agents (who again, sound like they know what they're talking about) to just be persistent. But I'm getting a bit concerned!
You guys should follow the main thread in CX forum for the ongoing issues post June 22nd CX "Updates" (devaluation).
What you have encountered is Married Segment issue that has affect virtually all partners but especially true for AS and BA due to these 2 programs can NOT book Married Segment and later after ticketing, let you drop one segment, like AA can.
Go to CX forum and read the Post June 22nd thread and understand the current issues that also affects Asia Miles / Marco Polo members so you dont keep wasting your time to call AS because as of now, there is NO solution because CX just would not play ball, not even with their own members.
Aug 10, 2018, 9:10 am
#2578
Join Date: Aug 2018
Programs: Alaska, Aeroplan, MArriott
Posts: 16
Try to search an itinerary with HKG as the middle connection point you will see lots of availability but AS could not book those. This has been going on since June 22nd and greatly affecting the HKG based Asia Miles members, when CX employs this tactics to prevent partner redemption.
You guys should follow the main thread in CX forum for the ongoing issues post June 22nd CX "Updates" (devaluation).
What you have encountered is Married Segment issue that has affect virtually all partners but especially true for AS and BA due to these 2 programs can NOT book Married Segment and later after ticketing, let you drop one segment, like AA can.
Go to CX forum and read the Post June 22nd thread and understand the current issues that also affects Asia Miles / Marco Polo members so you dont keep wasting your time to call AS because as of now, there is NO solution because CX just would not play ball, not even with their own members.
You guys should follow the main thread in CX forum for the ongoing issues post June 22nd CX "Updates" (devaluation).
What you have encountered is Married Segment issue that has affect virtually all partners but especially true for AS and BA due to these 2 programs can NOT book Married Segment and later after ticketing, let you drop one segment, like AA can.
Go to CX forum and read the Post June 22nd thread and understand the current issues that also affects Asia Miles / Marco Polo members so you dont keep wasting your time to call AS because as of now, there is NO solution because CX just would not play ball, not even with their own members.
Aug 10, 2018, 10:18 am
#2579
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,740
Thanks for the info! I actually can't find the thread, but that's useful. However I see the route I want available on a number of other dates? I saw in another thread that October-November dates were released after June 22? So I'm still a bit mystified by what's going on!
Latest developments, good or bad, you likely would find it reported in the above thread first.
Aug 10, 2018, 6:01 pm
#2580
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 1,232
Can AS book flights on Cathay Dragon ? Looking at J class award on route that served only by Cathay Dragon .
