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
#1021
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: New York
Posts: 183
Been keeping track of last minute Cathay availability with Alaska for months now (Testing my theories and trying to book the second F for the honeymoon )
Few things I learned:
1. Subtraction system seems to be there for the J seats. (I.e BA shows 8, AS has 4) this was true for most of the routes I was looking at just to test out my theories.
2. Cathay reservation system definitely has a lag relative to BA and QF's award search. Sometimes I've called Alaska right after I see seats come up on BA, but multiple reps can't see it. However, 6/12 hours later *some reps can see the additional seats.
3. Most important: HUCA absolutely helps. I usually go through the MVP gold reservation line, but after trying the normal reservation line and finding a good agent that seems to know how to book a CX award ticket, they seem to always able to see the F seats and at least 1 J seat where BA shows availability (hence the delay theory in #2 )
TL;DR- Call the normal reservation and find agents that know CX well. Your chances of finding J/F seats increases significantly.
And yes, second F ticket was issued this morning after BA showed 2. (Only after 4 calls )
Few things I learned:
1. Subtraction system seems to be there for the J seats. (I.e BA shows 8, AS has 4) this was true for most of the routes I was looking at just to test out my theories.
2. Cathay reservation system definitely has a lag relative to BA and QF's award search. Sometimes I've called Alaska right after I see seats come up on BA, but multiple reps can't see it. However, 6/12 hours later *some reps can see the additional seats.
3. Most important: HUCA absolutely helps. I usually go through the MVP gold reservation line, but after trying the normal reservation line and finding a good agent that seems to know how to book a CX award ticket, they seem to always able to see the F seats and at least 1 J seat where BA shows availability (hence the delay theory in #2 )
TL;DR- Call the normal reservation and find agents that know CX well. Your chances of finding J/F seats increases significantly.
And yes, second F ticket was issued this morning after BA showed 2. (Only after 4 calls )
#1022
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,517
Data point - CX released 3 F awards HKGUSA on a flight that was F5, inside of 14 days. Alaska could only see 2. Several HUCAs. Each agent could only see two.
Jamie
Jamie
#1023
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,050
DAK
#1024
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,517
I'm going to try that. Split the kids, grab the one F that AS can see. If it doesn't immediately show the second, required seat, I'll grab the other via AA and just suck up the bad redemption value.
Jamie
#1025
Join Date: May 2006
Location: SIN
Programs: KF, MPC, BAEC // Bonvoy, WoH, Honors
Posts: 1,461
Am looking to travel HKG-DXB and BA (edit: and QF) is showing 8 open seats on CX745 and 2 open seats on CX731.
Alaska agents can't see a single seat. Is this normal? How far down the priority list are AS members?
Alaska agents can't see a single seat. Is this normal? How far down the priority list are AS members?
Last edited by Kilian Zoll; Aug 16, 2017 at 5:11 am
#1026
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 2,028
FYI I was able to book this morning for travel 331 days out. It was from Asia -> US so maybe that's why (time change) but just a tip for others looking to book at the opening of the window.
At the same time, I am dealing with a flight T-329 with 3 J seats available per BA/Qantas/JAL but 0 available to Alaska. The age-old frustration. I'm on HUACA #6 .
EDIT: Even tried long-selling to no success. That's 8 total agents I've spoken to. They are seeing 0 J for the entire week on DPS-HKG despite BA/Qantas/JAL sohwing J3 or J4 every day (and on the CX flight, not the KA one). Very frustrating. I will likely book with AA miles instead.
At the same time, I am dealing with a flight T-329 with 3 J seats available per BA/Qantas/JAL but 0 available to Alaska. The age-old frustration. I'm on HUACA #6 .
EDIT: Even tried long-selling to no success. That's 8 total agents I've spoken to. They are seeing 0 J for the entire week on DPS-HKG despite BA/Qantas/JAL sohwing J3 or J4 every day (and on the CX flight, not the KA one). Very frustrating. I will likely book with AA miles instead.
Last edited by callmedtop; Aug 16, 2017 at 7:47 pm
#1027
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Chicago
Programs: Hyatt Glob, AA EXP, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 23
HKG-DPS or DPS-HKG has been an anomaly. I've called once about them and they seem to not see any availability what so ever.....
#1028
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 2,028
I will call AA and put DPS-HKG at least on hold for now.
#1029
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,517
Just booked DPSHKG in J for later this week. Hardly an anomaly.
#1031
Join Date: Nov 2015
Location: Chicago
Programs: Hyatt Glob, AA EXP, Marriott Titanium
Posts: 23
#1032
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 2,028
Some dates had 3, some had 4, AS could see none. I know some people have said the rule is J-4 but I have seen many examples where that is not the case, and I also imagine intra-Asia is a bit more lax.
#1033
Join Date: Jul 2017
Posts: 2
What is the pattern of releasing award tickets in Y? I'm trying HKG-YYZ for June 2018 but only 2 days in the month have Y availability (one of the days has 7+ tickets, the other has unspecified number of tickets). Will more Y tickets be released sometime down the line?
Also, just wanted to confirm that NRT-HKG-YYZ is allowed as a one-way for 30,000 miles despite a little bit of backtracking?
Also, just wanted to confirm that NRT-HKG-YYZ is allowed as a one-way for 30,000 miles despite a little bit of backtracking?
#1034
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
What is the pattern of releasing award tickets in Y? I'm trying HKG-YYZ for June 2018 but only 2 days in the month have Y availability (one of the days has 7+ tickets, the other has unspecified number of tickets). Will more Y tickets be released sometime down the line?
Also, just wanted to confirm that NRT-HKG-YYZ is allowed as a one-way for 30,000 miles despite a little bit of backtracking?
#1035
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,517
I stand corrected. I've done several DPS bookings in the last couple of days but with American Airlines. I also post on their page. So I should not have commented here as I've not yet tried booking DPS via AS. I apologize for any confusion.