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
Jan 11, 2017, 10:35 pm
#46
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Programs: AY Platinum, UA Premier Platinum, OneWorld Emerald, VA Platinum
Posts: 558
..deleted..
Jan 12, 2017, 7:59 am
#47
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,114
Alaska award stopover rules between North America and South Africa
Hi,
I have a trip to SE Asia and booked CX F award ticket using Alaska miles:
YVR-HKG-BKK (stopover)-SIN
Since, North America to Asia and North America to South Africa is the same number of miles using CX F award, I decided to see how far I can push award rules. I know that a stopover in BKK is allowed on North America-Asia award. But is it allowed on North America-South Africa award?
i called Alaska and tried to modify my award to
YVR-HKG-BKK (stopover)-HKG-JNB
The Alaska agent was super helpful and was willing to see if we can price this out, but the system was giving her an error. She supposedly checked routing rules and said that a stopover on North America-South Africa award is only allowed in HKG.
Is that correct? I know that some backtracking has been allowed on awards before, but I'm can't find any info supporting or opposing this.
Thanks.
I have a trip to SE Asia and booked CX F award ticket using Alaska miles:
YVR-HKG-BKK (stopover)-SIN
Since, North America to Asia and North America to South Africa is the same number of miles using CX F award, I decided to see how far I can push award rules. I know that a stopover in BKK is allowed on North America-Asia award. But is it allowed on North America-South Africa award?
i called Alaska and tried to modify my award to
YVR-HKG-BKK (stopover)-HKG-JNB
The Alaska agent was super helpful and was willing to see if we can price this out, but the system was giving her an error. She supposedly checked routing rules and said that a stopover on North America-South Africa award is only allowed in HKG.
Is that correct? I know that some backtracking has been allowed on awards before, but I'm can't find any info supporting or opposing this.
Thanks.
Jan 12, 2017, 8:20 am
#48
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,387
The agent is correct in that the rules only allow HKG stopovers. Read the wiki in the CX award thread.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alask...ility-f-j.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alask...ility-f-j.html
Jan 12, 2017, 9:00 am
#49
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
In general unless there is some sort of error, you can only transit the hub once. Also you can only stop-over in the hub or the international gateway. Although with CX there seems to be a rule that doesn't even allow stop-over in the international gateway but sometimes you can get an agent to get a stop-over in say LAX on the way to HKG. Every once in a while a stop-over in another city might get pushed through if its part of a published routing (for instance CX's TPE mini-hub on teh way to japan).
Another thing we have learned from from Missy at AS is that just because something does get booked does not mean its allowed (usually a good idea to kep those kind of things quiet if they work). That was told to us when someone was able to fly West coast - ORD-HKG when west coast CX must leave from a west coast CX city, no backtracking (although BOS-SEA-LAX-HKG works fine for those starting on east coast)
Another thing we have learned from from Missy at AS is that just because something does get booked does not mean its allowed (usually a good idea to kep those kind of things quiet if they work). That was told to us when someone was able to fly West coast - ORD-HKG when west coast CX must leave from a west coast CX city, no backtracking (although BOS-SEA-LAX-HKG works fine for those starting on east coast)
Last edited by CDKing; Jan 12, 2017 at 9:14 am
Jan 12, 2017, 4:02 pm
#50
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Canada
Programs: UA*1K MM
Posts: 23,301
The Alaska agent was super helpful and was willing to see if we can price this out, but the system was giving her an error. She supposedly checked routing rules and said that a stopover on North America-South Africa award is only allowed in HKG.
Is that correct? I know that some backtracking has been allowed on awards before, but I'm can't find any info supporting or opposing this.
Thanks.
Is that correct? I know that some backtracking has been allowed on awards before, but I'm can't find any info supporting or opposing this.
Thanks.
Since then, Alaska has put in better checks in place.
Jan 12, 2017, 4:08 pm
#51
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 7
How are people checking availability for close-in award seats (i.e., for travel within 1-3 days)?
I've seen it recommended to use Qantas's search tool, since BA and JAL won't show award space for close-in travel, but it appears that Qantas is subject to the same rule. For example, as of today (Jan. 12), Jan. 16 is the earliest date that Qantas will let me search for.
I've seen it recommended to use Qantas's search tool, since BA and JAL won't show award space for close-in travel, but it appears that Qantas is subject to the same rule. For example, as of today (Jan. 12), Jan. 16 is the earliest date that Qantas will let me search for.
Jan 12, 2017, 5:04 pm
#52
Join Date: Sep 2008
Programs: A3 *G, AA exePlat, AS MVP 75k Gold, JL sapphire, UA silver
Posts: 4,035
i remember the old award chart had something like
HKG to Europe.
But now the award chart is flying Cathay from Asia to Europe.
Does it mean that I can do say CTS HKG (stop) LHR as one award?
does intra asia allow a stopover in HKG?
Thanks
HKG to Europe.
But now the award chart is flying Cathay from Asia to Europe.
Does it mean that I can do say CTS HKG (stop) LHR as one award?
does intra asia allow a stopover in HKG?
Thanks
Jan 12, 2017, 5:49 pm
#53
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2006
Location: DTW, but drive to/from YYZ/ORD
Programs: Chase Ultimate Rewards 2MM, Diner Club points
Posts: 31,895
I've seen it recommended to use Qantas's search tool, since BA and JAL won't show award space for close-in travel, but it appears that Qantas is subject to the same rule. For example, as of today (Jan. 12), Jan. 16 is the earliest date that Qantas will let me search for.
You can also see how many revenue tix CX is willing to sell and if it's F0 then probably not worth it .
Last edited by rufflesinc; Jan 12, 2017 at 5:56 pm
Jan 13, 2017, 3:10 am
#54
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: YVR
Posts: 119
I'm using the JL website to look for CX F award from HKG-YVR and have not been able to find any available seat for my dates. I've also checked HKG-LAX and HKG-SFO and it is also not available.
I have noticed that HKG-JFK-YVR is available in F though. It is backtracking quite a bit and was wondering if this was valid?
I have noticed that HKG-JFK-YVR is available in F though. It is backtracking quite a bit and was wondering if this was valid?
Jan 13, 2017, 10:02 am
#55
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 210
Does Alaska Airlines consider Sri Lanka part of India or Asia? If Asia, CMB to NRT will be 45K round trip in business class?
Jan 13, 2017, 10:28 am
#56
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,345
Is it a common occurrence for BA and AS to show no J seats on a specific intra-asia flight while QF shows J availability on same flight?
Jan 13, 2017, 11:32 am
#57
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
You can thank a recent blog post for killing more good routings now even more checks are in place.
Jan 13, 2017, 11:36 am
#58
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 1,345
Hkg-mle. AS shows only Y and PEY availability. Same with BA. But qantas shows J too.
Jan 13, 2017, 4:38 pm
#59
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 507
I spoke with two agents who both claimed to be able to directly access the partner desk. Yet they couldn't see HKG-LAX on one day where BA showed 3 J seats and HKG-LAX on another day where BA showed 2 J seats. (They can see PY availability on those flights.) Update: Tried a 3rd date where BA is showing 3 J seats, and still nothing. They appear not to be able to see any of the flights departing late-afternoon and evening.
Would it help to call back after a couple of days? Any suggestions?
Would it help to call back after a couple of days? Any suggestions?
Jan 14, 2017, 12:37 am
#60
Formerly richh1833
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: SYD
Programs: QF P1, BA GGL, AS GMVP
Posts: 480