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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 Feb 25, 2017, 11:40 am
  #256  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: HK
Programs: CX Gold
Posts: 68
HKG -AMS

Hi all,

First time poster in the Alaska section!

Am trying to redeem a J seat from HKG to AMS using AS, however, twice I have tried calling them and they don't see any availability at all...only some LHR and CDG ones were found.

I read the wiki/online that some flights are just not available via AS (I did check on QF and the AMS CX flight I am looking at is available), perhaps this is one of those flight? Any experience? Thanks!
dunflyer is offline  
Old Feb 25, 2017, 3:12 pm
  #257  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,076
Originally Posted by dunflyer
Hi all,

First time poster in the Alaska section!

Am trying to redeem a J seat from HKG to AMS using AS, however, twice I have tried calling them and they don't see any availability at all...only some LHR and CDG ones were found.

I read the wiki/online that some flights are just not available via AS (I did check on QF and the AMS CX flight I am looking at is available), perhaps this is one of those flight? Any experience? Thanks!
Have you tried searching for the same flight on BA/JL and seeing if they show same availability?
pentiumvi is offline  
Old Feb 25, 2017, 7:56 pm
  #258  
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: HK
Programs: CX Gold
Posts: 68
Originally Posted by pentiumvi
Have you tried searching for the same flight on BA/JL and seeing if they show same availability?
Thanks, I have only checked QF on the basis that QF/BA/JL would get similar availability.

So you are suggesting any one of the above alone is not sufficient or that BA/JL reflect a better position of what could be available to AS? Thanks

Last edited by dunflyer; Feb 26, 2017 at 7:58 am
dunflyer is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2017, 2:41 am
  #259  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,076
Originally Posted by dunflyer
Thanks, I have only checked QF on the basis that QF/BA/JL would get similar availability.

So so you suggesting any one of the above alone is not sufficient or that BA/JL reflect a better position of what could be available to AS? Thanks
As far as I know, none of them really offer perfect indication of AS availability.

Having recently gone through the process though, I'd say if you find something that shows on both JL and BA, good chance AS will see them as well.
pentiumvi is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2017, 6:53 am
  #260  
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,341
So has discussed many pages back are individuals able to successfully "waitlist" awards?
nas6034 is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2017, 6:59 am
  #261  
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: LAX/SFO
Programs: AS 100k, BA GGL, UA 1k, DL DM, AC SE, B6 Mosaic4, Hyatt/Hilton/Wyndham/IHG Diamond, Marriot Ti
Posts: 1,202
Delete

Last edited by TalkingPoint; Apr 1, 2017 at 11:48 am
TalkingPoint is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2017, 7:49 am
  #262  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: YTZ
Programs: Aeroplan, Asia Miles
Posts: 81
Been crawling on this thread. I see everyone uses QF/BA/JL as basis to look for seat availability. Is there any reason why one doesn't use Asia Miles to do the search?

(Might be a noob question, but crawled 2/3 of the threads and couldn't figure out why. *puts flame jacket on*)
nnanlno is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2017, 9:10 am
  #263  
 
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Sunny Seattle
Programs: AS MVPG 75K, HH Diamond
Posts: 539
Originally Posted by nnanlno
Been crawling on this thread. I see everyone uses QF/BA/JL as basis to look for seat availability. Is there any reason why one doesn't use Asia Miles to do the search?
More award seats are available to Asia Miles members than to their partner airlines, so you'd get a lot of false positives.
Kieron is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2017, 3:56 pm
  #264  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,517
Originally Posted by fauxreals
Honestly, HKG Pier J lounge > JL NRT F lounge imo. And JL HND F lounge is even a small step down from NRT F as well.
I'll be using HND JL F soon. Do they have curry?
jamienbaker is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2017, 3:58 pm
  #265  
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,731
Originally Posted by Nazdoom
I'm looking to do ORD/BOS/JFK-HKG-SYD/MEL-HKG-ORD/BOS/JFK in August/September/October. The tpac would be F and the Aus flight J. I feel like I'm being very flexible because I'm open to most dates in a 90 day period and many combinations of cities.

Even at this awkward time (6-8 months early) I'm finding good tpac availability both ways but the aus flights are nonexistant.

1) Are aus flights generally more difficult and should I expect more space to open up soonish (or at close-in)?

Yes. Very difficult because these are also very popular Asia Miles redemption.

2) If I book an aus flight in economy and space opens, can I then upgrade to J? Any fee associated with this?

Yes. No fee if you are lucky to find the seats 60 days before departure. Not sure if the departure clock is based on the first flight (I assume) or the actual flight. What AS does is to refund the whole award and then rebook it in business.

Inside the 60 days window any change is $125 per ticket.


3) Any other tips or things to know about HKG-SYD/MEL-HKG availability? I'm tried JAL, I've tried BA, I've tried Qantas search engines for awards, the closest availability I can find is November...
No tips. The HKG-Australia routes are extremely tough to get.

If you have UA miles you would be far better to spring up 30K / 40K to fly TG in J/F one way - as HKG-BKK-SYD. Availability is excellent (daily in J and almost daily in F) on both direction.

Between SYD and MEL, plenty of cheap paid options from both Qantas or Virgin. Sign up their newsletters so you would get sale alerts which are PLENTY.

If you only want to use CX to Australia - then downgrade the HKG-Australia segment but DONT expect you would be able to find J seat to go back to Biz. Personally I would go the UA route to fly on TG, especially in F.

Last edited by Happy; Feb 26, 2017 at 8:18 pm
Happy is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2017, 6:24 pm
  #266  
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: YVR
Posts: 1,076
Originally Posted by apple1122
so actually I asked the agent to check DPS-TPE (via HK with CX) and the agent said there is availability, but there is nothing available if just from DPS to HK.....that's odd...because it is the same flight from DPS to HK.
I've just tried to look for HKG-DPS/DPS-HKG availability and AS could find nothing at all.

I got the agent to look through a 2 month window... Lots of space in Y showing on BA/JL.

Wonder if for some reason CX is blocking award space on this route for AS...
pentiumvi is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2017, 8:55 pm
  #267  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 733
Originally Posted by Happy
No tips. The HKG-Australia routes are extremely tough to get.

If you have UA miles you would be far better to spring up 30K / 40K to fly TG in J/F one way - as HKG-BKK-SYD. Availability is excellent (daily in J and almost daily in F) on both direction.

Between SYD and MEL, plenty of cheap paid options from both Qantas or Virgin. Sign up their newsletters so you would get sale alerts which are PLENTY.

If you only want to use CX to Australia - then downgrade the HKG-Australia segment but DONT expect you would be able to find J seat to go back to Biz. Personally I would go the UA route to fly on TG, especially in F.
Thank you for your help Happy.

I decided AS redemption on CX to Australia would be too hard so I've instead routed to JNB. Fewer AS, more time to enjoy CX J, and a little more exotic. I've changed my farther out plans of an Aeroplan mini rtw in F to include SYD so I can then do TG F at no additional cost. Within Aus I agree and I'll try to find some cheap flights between cities.

Luckily I was finally able to find NA-HKG and HKG-JNB (took me an incredibly long time) rt in F and J respectively. On the phone right now. 140k points (20k less than AUS ) and 207$ in fees/taxes.

Last edited by Nazdoom; Feb 26, 2017 at 10:03 pm
Nazdoom is offline  
Old Feb 26, 2017, 11:48 pm
  #268  
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: YTZ
Programs: Aeroplan, Asia Miles
Posts: 81
Originally Posted by Kieron
More award seats are available to Asia Miles members than to their partner airlines, so you'd get a lot of false positives.
gotcha. thanks!
nnanlno is offline  
Old Feb 27, 2017, 12:12 am
  #269  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 733
Just a PSA.

I spent a LONG time on the phone even though I had already found availability and was ready to feed them to the agent. My BA cross-checked with JAL cathay F and J seats were visible to him but the delay was because he didn't know/believe that NA-HKG-JNB with the HKG stopover counts as one ticket (he wanted to charge for NA-HKG and HKG-JNB as two separate tickets).

Purportedly his supervisor during the first hold told him this but I tried explaining the award chart and routing rule and that there must have been a miscommunication and asked him to check again so he went on hold for almost an hour before giving the OK from supervisor #2.

They offered a couple AS points as an apology for the wait. But PSA: be prepared to be on hold for 2 hours after connecting to the agent.
Nazdoom is offline  
Old Feb 27, 2017, 1:00 pm
  #270  
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend, Moderator, Information Desk, Ambassador, Alaska Airlines
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: FAI
Programs: AS MVP Gold100K, AS 1MM, Maika`i Card, AGR, HH Gold, Hertz PC, Marriott Titanium LTG, CO, 7H, BA, 8E
Posts: 42,942
Originally Posted by nas6034
So has discussed many pages back are individuals able to successfully "waitlist" awards?
No.

Originally Posted by Nazdoom
Just a PSA.

I spent a LONG time on the phone even though I had already found availability and was ready to feed them to the agent. My BA cross-checked with JAL cathay F and J seats were visible to him but the delay was because he didn't know/believe that NA-HKG-JNB with the HKG stopover counts as one ticket (he wanted to charge for NA-HKG and HKG-JNB as two separate tickets).

Purportedly his supervisor during the first hold told him this but I tried explaining the award chart and routing rule and that there must have been a miscommunication and asked him to check again so he went on hold for almost an hour before giving the OK from supervisor #2.

They offered a couple AS points as an apology for the wait. But PSA: be prepared to be on hold for 2 hours after connecting to the agent.
I've had CX reservations before that have taken this long. I have never received any rebates due to the length of the transaction.
beckoa is offline  

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