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
Jun 29, 2017, 5:32 am
#752
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
Jun 29, 2017, 5:50 am
#753
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,538
Jun 29, 2017, 5:52 am
#754
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
Is there some lingo you can get the agents to see the availability? Im coming back from Macau and want the 4:35pm flight in F which is available but all they could see and book me on was the 9:25am flight which is a tough cookie to catch leaving so early having to trek from Macau.
Jun 29, 2017, 5:53 am
#755
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,538
It really depends on several factors.
We have traveled the US-HKG route on both directions many times. In general we try to travel on the same day same flight, 1 in F 1 in J is no big deal for us especially husband does not care whether he is in F or in J. For whatever reason, the purser and the FAs are particularly nice to him when he sits in J and I sits in F. He got the brownie points from all the cabin crews. lol. Last Sept the purser insisted to give him the F PJ even though he already changed into a PJ pants from QR. He claimed QR's more comfortable even though it was not "organic cotton" the CX's being made from, but manmade fabric albeit very soft.
I think the most important thing to keep in mind is - Reticketing could go wrong if the agent is not competent. AS agents are not anywhere near as competent as AAgents when handling reticketing on Partner awards. The extra 10K / $125 are very minor consideration. But a SNAFU made by the agent resulting one to lose the award seat is a real danger on the reticketing. The DPs reported here do not give me confidence to have AS reticket CX award at close in, let alone last minute when we are out of the country.
When we use AA award we would try to change the 1J to F when F opens up, not only AA does not charge, but AAgentd are quite accustom to last minute changes on upgrading CX flights, even up to a few hours to departure.
I did such change in Feb when we were in Hong Kong 2 days before flying. New ticket came within 3 hours. Husband's noon flight was wide open while my 4:30pm flight (the preferred time) did not see release. I finally gave up and called AA from Hong Kong to move myself to his flight which turned out only 2 of us for the whole F cabin.
When we use AS award, especially if it is a return from HKG to US, after a long trip, we dont want the complication to reticket with AS as there are enough DPs on AS screw up when doing last minute changes. It is hard enough to fix AS SNAFUs when this happens but you are still at home, haven't started your trip yet. It would be 10 times harder to try to get it fixed when you are in Hong Kong or somewhere in Asia, when AS agents just lost your booking in the process of rebooking. It did Happen every now and then. And the results are not pretty.
We sometimes do 1F on each flight that are a few hours apart. Our upcoming trip the inbound is booked with AS award. Right now we are on 2 flights 3.5 hours apart LAX-HKG. Then on the same flight LAX-SEA. Husband is once again on the earlier flight around noon from HKG, and I would be on the 4:30pm flight. In order for me to have enough time to clear immigration /. custom at LAX, I would need to have 3 hours connection upon arriving LAX. So husband would be "stuck" at AS LAX lounge for 6.5 hours. He does not mind that a bit.
Travel in CX premium cabins to us is primarily for the comfort and the quality of sleep. On our Feb return, husband had lunch at The Wing, went to sleep shortly after we were at cruising altitude. He did not wake up for breakfast until an hour before landing, and only because I thought he should eat something. So he had some congee and fruits - that was all the foods he had for the whole flight in F. That would be unimaginable for some here.
We dont need to "experience" the flight when we are doing this 2 to 3 times a year. It primarily is the more comfortable way to cross the Ocean. Nor do we need to be on the same flight / sit together / dine face to face - None of these means much to us. So we pick the schedules that would work for us, either travel in different cabins or different flights. But we would not travel on different date because that would make the logistics much harder.
At the end you would need to evaluate all the factors, which one is the most important to you and proceed accordingly.
We have traveled the US-HKG route on both directions many times. In general we try to travel on the same day same flight, 1 in F 1 in J is no big deal for us especially husband does not care whether he is in F or in J. For whatever reason, the purser and the FAs are particularly nice to him when he sits in J and I sits in F. He got the brownie points from all the cabin crews. lol. Last Sept the purser insisted to give him the F PJ even though he already changed into a PJ pants from QR. He claimed QR's more comfortable even though it was not "organic cotton" the CX's being made from, but manmade fabric albeit very soft.
I think the most important thing to keep in mind is - Reticketing could go wrong if the agent is not competent. AS agents are not anywhere near as competent as AAgents when handling reticketing on Partner awards. The extra 10K / $125 are very minor consideration. But a SNAFU made by the agent resulting one to lose the award seat is a real danger on the reticketing. The DPs reported here do not give me confidence to have AS reticket CX award at close in, let alone last minute when we are out of the country.
When we use AA award we would try to change the 1J to F when F opens up, not only AA does not charge, but AAgentd are quite accustom to last minute changes on upgrading CX flights, even up to a few hours to departure.
I did such change in Feb when we were in Hong Kong 2 days before flying. New ticket came within 3 hours. Husband's noon flight was wide open while my 4:30pm flight (the preferred time) did not see release. I finally gave up and called AA from Hong Kong to move myself to his flight which turned out only 2 of us for the whole F cabin.
When we use AS award, especially if it is a return from HKG to US, after a long trip, we dont want the complication to reticket with AS as there are enough DPs on AS screw up when doing last minute changes. It is hard enough to fix AS SNAFUs when this happens but you are still at home, haven't started your trip yet. It would be 10 times harder to try to get it fixed when you are in Hong Kong or somewhere in Asia, when AS agents just lost your booking in the process of rebooking. It did Happen every now and then. And the results are not pretty.
We sometimes do 1F on each flight that are a few hours apart. Our upcoming trip the inbound is booked with AS award. Right now we are on 2 flights 3.5 hours apart LAX-HKG. Then on the same flight LAX-SEA. Husband is once again on the earlier flight around noon from HKG, and I would be on the 4:30pm flight. In order for me to have enough time to clear immigration /. custom at LAX, I would need to have 3 hours connection upon arriving LAX. So husband would be "stuck" at AS LAX lounge for 6.5 hours. He does not mind that a bit.
Travel in CX premium cabins to us is primarily for the comfort and the quality of sleep. On our Feb return, husband had lunch at The Wing, went to sleep shortly after we were at cruising altitude. He did not wake up for breakfast until an hour before landing, and only because I thought he should eat something. So he had some congee and fruits - that was all the foods he had for the whole flight in F. That would be unimaginable for some here.
We dont need to "experience" the flight when we are doing this 2 to 3 times a year. It primarily is the more comfortable way to cross the Ocean. Nor do we need to be on the same flight / sit together / dine face to face - None of these means much to us. So we pick the schedules that would work for us, either travel in different cabins or different flights. But we would not travel on different date because that would make the logistics much harder.
At the end you would need to evaluate all the factors, which one is the most important to you and proceed accordingly.
Jun 29, 2017, 6:00 am
#756
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
This was a helpful post. I'll be searching for a last minute CX award in August. Last year, it came about 8 hrs before departure, and AA ticketed it. Is it your suggestion that I rely on AA in this case? I hate to pay 110k to AA considering the cost of AS, but I, too, have read stories of AS pax getting to HKG and finding they aren't ticketed. Thoughts?
Jun 29, 2017, 6:17 am
#757
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,538
This helps. With luck, 2 F awards will be released, I'll claim them both and then cancel the AA once AS tickets and I have a CX ticket number. But if only one is available 24 hrs out, I'm going to be somewhat nervous going with AS.
Jun 29, 2017, 6:20 am
#758
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: SEA, FLL, Martha’s Vineyard
Programs: AS MVPGold75K, Hilton Gold, IHG Platinum, Pan Am million-miler
Posts: 2,019
Very hard to get two F seats at the same time. Usually just book one F and one J and hope another F opens up later. Also you'd be surprised, CX is pretty good about releasing space in F if you are flexible.
Jun 29, 2017, 7:08 am
#759
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,538
Best to all, Jamie
Jun 29, 2017, 10:01 am
#760
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Chicago
Programs: Hyatt Glob, AA EXP, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 23
Very frustrated with AS's inability to see CX availability in J/F right now.
DP:
-Found 2-4 J on CX830 and 2-4 J on CX846 to JFK on 4 separate dates, agents can't see any of them
-Found 8 J on CX898 to LAX and agents can only see 2 (of course, there's no A or W space on AS for the connection for months)
Has anyone escalated this issue with Cathay/AS? Sure seems like an database connection issue to me.
DP:
-Found 2-4 J on CX830 and 2-4 J on CX846 to JFK on 4 separate dates, agents can't see any of them
-Found 8 J on CX898 to LAX and agents can only see 2 (of course, there's no A or W space on AS for the connection for months)
Has anyone escalated this issue with Cathay/AS? Sure seems like an database connection issue to me.
Jun 29, 2017, 10:35 am
#761
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 58
Not sure what can be done, if anything. Seems like above someone mentioned a GDS/database issue, but not sure when/how/if that will ever be fixed. Certainly frustrating.
Jun 29, 2017, 11:25 am
#762
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ORD [formerly] + HKG
Programs: CX Diamond, AA exExPlat, BAEC exGold, HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Starriott Titanium, GE
Posts: 2,966
Where did it ever say AS would see the same inventory as oneworld?
Everyone knows AS is the 'rudest' one in the CX yield-trashing game (well, CX's own mileage program is cheaper if you know the rules well)...and I wont be surprised if it tightens further down the road as AS miles are starting to get noticed in the HKG blogosphere...
Everyone knows AS is the 'rudest' one in the CX yield-trashing game (well, CX's own mileage program is cheaper if you know the rules well)...and I wont be surprised if it tightens further down the road as AS miles are starting to get noticed in the HKG blogosphere...
Jun 29, 2017, 2:14 pm
#763
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
This was a helpful post. I'll be searching for a last minute CX award in August. Last year, it came about 8 hrs before departure, and AA ticketed it. Is it your suggestion that I rely on AA in this case? I hate to pay 110k to AA considering the cost of AS, but I, too, have read stories of AS pax getting to HKG and finding they aren't ticketed. Thoughts?
There is actually a sob thread a couple months ago a guy tried to "maximize" his experience, changing his US-HKG flight from the shorter duration to a JFK-HKG flight when an F opened up on the JFK departure. The unfortunate outcome was, the agent was unable to grab the JFK-HKG seat but in the interim, canceled the other seat he was holding before the attempted change. Needless to say the poster was super-pissed off and went on here to rant. ... AS only promised him to work with CX thru liason - several of us including me, suggested that the lesson learned from this episode is NOT to tweak a reservation with AS in such stupid thing as in flying a couple more hours from JFK to "maximize the experience". OP held the attitude that it was Customer's Right to seek the best, and it was AS fault to screw it up.... Ture, But.... Tough Luck when airline screwed up your award reservation when you were to leave in 3 days!
Well, we have never heard an outcome of what eventually happened - given OP's attitude at that time, I am 100% certain he could come back to brag about it if everything finally worked out at the end. The most likely outcome probably was AS told him to pound sand - change his travel plan or got a refund of the award... That and previous DPs read here really do not institute confidence on AS handling reissue of tickets. It is very much depending on which agent you get, much more so than with AA. Some agents from the old partner desk are very competent - early last year when I tried to move a date which had only 1 J and 1 F left, I voiced my concern of losing the seats - the agent was very competent, she said with CX she could grab the seats first, (as a new booking?) then moved the existing itinerary over to the new seats.... She mentioned CX allowed holding the new seats for 10-15 min and that would be enough for her to get everything changed.
I dont know how she needs to do but she understood EXACTLY what I worry about and assured me everything would be fine.
Unfortunately that would be a pure Luck of Draw to get a super competent agent from the old partner desk.
AS is difficult enough to just send out the new tickets after their own flight schedule change.
About 50% of the time I dont get the new ticket email but have to call to ask for the new ticket numbers so I can compare with the old tickets to make sure they are indeed reissued.
The most recent case was a week or so ago, when I needed to change my LAX-SEA flight to a later one, and to also change husband's (I actually started a thread on this about the connection time worry), husband's reissued ticket never comes. Called again after a day and the agent who took the call said the ticket was reissued, and then did a research to figure out WHY no new ticket ever came - Guess what? He said, for whatever reason the previous agent put the email address in the box to Fax, not the box to email! How this happens? And has happened in the past very often, is beyond me. I never know the reason in the past why the reissued tickets never come, but now I know the possible reason - so next time the same thing happens I would know what to say to the agent!
The downside of the AA award of course is the much higher cost.
If you MUST fly F then that is the price to pay - be it higher mileage needed with AA, or the potential of AS Screw Up.
We? we just choose to fly different flights both in Fs to resolve this issue. The F bed is definitely more comfortable than the J bed, there is no denying of such. The F&Bs are not much better but that is another subject.
Last edited by Happy; Jun 29, 2017 at 2:27 pm
Jun 29, 2017, 2:31 pm
#764
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
he is known to double-booked even triple-booked (BA anyone?) a CX flight in F and decide which one to take at the last moment depending on how the family is placing on those flights.
As an AA EXP, he can cancel the expensive AA F without charge. BA cancellation only lose the cash portion though there are CX YQ involved on the outbound, there is none involved on the inbound originating from HKG. Given jamie would have a chase car to JFK to make sure no traffic issue would get in the way of family vacation, less be assured the cost to cancel a BA booking is no big deal.
he will not be surprised on how many Fs would be released close in, including just a few hours before departure.
Jun 29, 2017, 2:37 pm
#765
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
Where did it ever say AS would see the same inventory as oneworld?
Everyone knows AS is the 'rudest' one in the CX yield-trashing game (well, CX's own mileage program is cheaper if you know the rules well)...and I wont be surprised if it tightens further down the road as AS miles are starting to get noticed in the HKG blogosphere...
Everyone knows AS is the 'rudest' one in the CX yield-trashing game (well, CX's own mileage program is cheaper if you know the rules well)...and I wont be surprised if it tightens further down the road as AS miles are starting to get noticed in the HKG blogosphere...
All we could hope for is, CX and for that matter, JL award charts will not go the way of EK's next year. Though I am not hopeful on that!