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
May 3, 2017, 1:24 am
#556
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: YVR
Programs: OZ Diamond, Jiffypark Manhattan Gold
Posts: 4,485
Bummer...but I'll live, never flown BA and don't really see it in my future.
May 3, 2017, 3:54 am
#557
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,540
Hmm, I didn't know redemptions on JAL were possible as I only had been turned on to this via the idea of CX. Would I still be able to do a stopover in NRT if I go with JAL? Is it the same amount of miles for redemptions as with CX? When I search CX on the JAL website I get something that says $CX767
333 for the hkg-sgn flight on certain dates. I'm not sure if the $ sign in front of the flight number means I need to pay money for that intra asia segment? Given my goals is it a safe idea to just go ahead and purchase the package? It seems worth it for the flight alone even if I only redeem 3-4 of the seven nights on a stay. I could route to SIN or Bangkok if those are easier redemptions and then just purchase cheap flights to hop around once I am there. Sorry for all the questions.
333 for the hkg-sgn flight on certain dates. I'm not sure if the $ sign in front of the flight number means I need to pay money for that intra asia segment? Given my goals is it a safe idea to just go ahead and purchase the package? It seems worth it for the flight alone even if I only redeem 3-4 of the seven nights on a stay. I could route to SIN or Bangkok if those are easier redemptions and then just purchase cheap flights to hop around once I am there. Sorry for all the questions.
May 3, 2017, 6:56 am
#558
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,053
Hmm, I didn't know redemptions on JAL were possible as I only had been turned on to this via the idea of CX. Would I still be able to do a stopover in NRT if I go with JAL? Is it the same amount of miles for redemptions as with CX? When I search CX on the JAL website I get something that says $CX767
333 for the hkg-sgn flight on certain dates. I'm not sure if the $ sign in front of the flight number means I need to pay money for that intra asia segment? Given my goals is it a safe idea to just go ahead and purchase the package? It seems worth it for the flight alone even if I only redeem 3-4 of the seven nights on a stay. I could route to SIN or Bangkok if those are easier redemptions and then just purchase cheap flights to hop around once I am there. Sorry for all the questions.
333 for the hkg-sgn flight on certain dates. I'm not sure if the $ sign in front of the flight number means I need to pay money for that intra asia segment? Given my goals is it a safe idea to just go ahead and purchase the package? It seems worth it for the flight alone even if I only redeem 3-4 of the seven nights on a stay. I could route to SIN or Bangkok if those are easier redemptions and then just purchase cheap flights to hop around once I am there. Sorry for all the questions.
I took a look at HKG-SGN both June and next week. Plenty of availability in both business and economy. Right now the problem is JFK-HKG which will not start opening up until ~10-14 days before flight time.
DAK
May 3, 2017, 7:02 am
#559
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,540
The $ sign indicates that the class of service is not the same as that which you searched for. E.g. search NYC-SGN for First class and it will return JFK-HKG as First and HKG-SGN as Business (because there is no F cabin on that segment). The $ sign is to draw your attention to HKG-SGN being in business and not first.
I took a look at HKG-SGN both June and next week. Plenty of availability in both business and economy. Right now the problem is JFK-HKG which will not start opening up until ~10-14 days before flight time.
DAK
I took a look at HKG-SGN both June and next week. Plenty of availability in both business and economy. Right now the problem is JFK-HKG which will not start opening up until ~10-14 days before flight time.
DAK
May 3, 2017, 7:28 am
#560
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 45
Hi, I originally book a ticket from Vancouver to Hk next March and if I want to change to this month, any change fee for departure within 60 days?
May 3, 2017, 3:43 pm
#562
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
Does it cost additional miles to go HKG to SGN and back? In order to do this I have to use all my marriott points and all my spg points and 9k chase URs. The package would give me enough points for one way first class NYC-HKG and business class going the other direction. I don't think I have a way to add additional alaska airline miles. If it costs the same number of miles to go to SGN as it does HKG then I am set. Still if it costs the same amount of miles I don't know how I could book the intra-asia flight now before booking the nyc-hkg portion with no points to spare? I thought about signing up for the alaska airlines card to get the bonus but that will take awhile to post.
May 3, 2017, 3:58 pm
#563
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,053
Does it cost additional miles to go HKG to SGN and back? In order to do this I have to use all my marriott points and all my spg points and 9k chase URs. The package would give me enough points for one way first class NYC-HKG and business class going the other direction. I don't think I have a way to add additional alaska airline miles. If it costs the same number of miles to go to SGN as it does HKG then I am set. Still if it costs the same amount of miles I don't know how I could book the intra-asia flight now before booking the nyc-hkg portion with no points to spare? I thought about signing up for the alaska airlines card to get the bonus but that will take awhile to post.
You have 24 hours to make a change at no charge, after that AS will charge you $125.
As you will likely be doing this as two separate one-way tickets (because the return flight may not be available at the time you secure your outbound) I would book as J on the way out so you have sufficient miles for F on the way home... as I have seen many cases where CX has F award available on a flight close in to flight time but does not have J available.
btw... you can only use JAL web site up to about 4 days before departure. After that use QF... it is not as accurate as JL when it comes to availability for AS (or AA) redemptions, but it is the best you have when it comes really close to flight time.
Good luck.
DAK
May 3, 2017, 4:39 pm
#564
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
With AS miles on CX the number of miles is the same for all Asia, so yes SGN is the same number of miles as HKG from the USA providing you ticket as a single ticket (stopover in HKG allowed). Given that you said in an earlier post that you have flexibility on final destination if I were you I would get all my ducks in a row now (ie, get the miles into your AS account) and then monitor for availability on the JFK-HKG segment and as soon as something shows up for a date that works book it and take whatever final destination is available (e.g. SGN, SIN, BKK, whatever takes your fancy.
You have 24 hours to make a change at no charge, after that AS will charge you $125.
As you will likely be doing this as two separate one-way tickets (because the return flight may not be available at the time you secure your outbound) I would book as J on the way out so you have sufficient miles for F on the way home... as I have seen many cases where CX has F award available on a flight close in to flight time but does not have J available.
btw... you can only use JAL web site up to about 4 days before departure. After that use QF... it is not as accurate as JL when it comes to availability for AS (or AA) redemptions, but it is the best you have when it comes really close to flight time.
Good luck.
DAK
You have 24 hours to make a change at no charge, after that AS will charge you $125.
As you will likely be doing this as two separate one-way tickets (because the return flight may not be available at the time you secure your outbound) I would book as J on the way out so you have sufficient miles for F on the way home... as I have seen many cases where CX has F award available on a flight close in to flight time but does not have J available.
btw... you can only use JAL web site up to about 4 days before departure. After that use QF... it is not as accurate as JL when it comes to availability for AS (or AA) redemptions, but it is the best you have when it comes really close to flight time.
Good luck.
DAK
Last edited by Red259; May 3, 2017 at 8:13 pm
May 3, 2017, 8:16 pm
#565
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,053
I take it I do not need to book roundtrip to do the layover in HKG? So I could fly NYC-HKG-SIN and then SGN-HKG-NYC on the way back? I had planned to try to do F on the way out since I could take advantage of the the nice CX lounges on my departure date. Maybe what I could do is if no return first flights are available from HKG to NYC when I do the initial booking is plan my layover in HKG on the way out so that way I have a few days to unwind and can basically wait for something to open up? I'm thinking about hurrying up and apping for an alaska airlines card so I can earn the extra points to be able to top off my account and redeem first both ways.
CX first lounges in HKG are certainly nice. CX now use T8 in JFK so it is AA lounge which is under construction right now (as of early April new first class was open, business class was not and temp biz lounge is frankly hardly worth it).
On your return flight... you can't fly SGN-HKG then hang around a few days waiting for a seat to open up on HKG-JFK because you need to issue SGN-HKG-JFK as one ticket to have it priced out as one award. I do not know if you can make changes to a ticket once you have started the journey. E.g. could you ticket SGN-HKG for date A, HKG-JFK for date B then fly the first segment then try and change date B to date C. If you can do that (someone else would have to advise) then you could take any flight you can find even next year and change it when something opens up (at $125 fee if even possible).
As for stopover rules.... https://blog.alaskaair.com/alaska-ai...nal-stopovers/
DAK
Last edited by dkerr; May 3, 2017 at 8:18 pm Reason: Added link for stopover blog
May 3, 2017, 8:41 pm
#566
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
I doubt that the bonus miles from the credit card would get through in time for a June travel.... maybe for late june if you get the required spend done in the first billing cycle. But certainly no harm in trying.
CX first lounges in HKG are certainly nice. CX now use T8 in JFK so it is AA lounge which is under construction right now (as of early April new first class was open, business class was not and temp biz lounge is frankly hardly worth it).
On your return flight... you can't fly SGN-HKG then hang around a few days waiting for a seat to open up on HKG-JFK because you need to issue SGN-HKG-JFK as one ticket to have it priced out as one award. I do not know if you can make changes to a ticket once you have started the journey. E.g. could you ticket SGN-HKG for date A, HKG-JFK for date B then fly the first segment then try and change date B to date C. If you can do that (someone else would have to advise) then you could take any flight you can find even next year and change it when something opens up (at $125 fee if even possible).
As for stopover rules.... https://blog.alaskaair.com/alaska-ai...nal-stopovers/
DAK
CX first lounges in HKG are certainly nice. CX now use T8 in JFK so it is AA lounge which is under construction right now (as of early April new first class was open, business class was not and temp biz lounge is frankly hardly worth it).
On your return flight... you can't fly SGN-HKG then hang around a few days waiting for a seat to open up on HKG-JFK because you need to issue SGN-HKG-JFK as one ticket to have it priced out as one award. I do not know if you can make changes to a ticket once you have started the journey. E.g. could you ticket SGN-HKG for date A, HKG-JFK for date B then fly the first segment then try and change date B to date C. If you can do that (someone else would have to advise) then you could take any flight you can find even next year and change it when something opens up (at $125 fee if even possible).
As for stopover rules.... https://blog.alaskaair.com/alaska-ai...nal-stopovers/
DAK
May 3, 2017, 9:14 pm
#567
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
No award holds. Booking F out, taking the HKG stopover outbound, and J back in hopes the miles post and you can change your return before you fly, is probably your best course.
May 3, 2017, 9:27 pm
#568
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: NYC
Programs: Marriott Plat, Hilton Gold, UA Silver
Posts: 2,272
Do you know if in a scenario like SGN-HKG-JFK if I can take the SGN-HKG portion and change the date on the HKG-JFK segment if there is F space that opens up a few days later or do I need to build in the layover time from the very start of the booking? My concern is that F space will open up but it may not line up with my intra-asia flight. Also depending on where I am in SE asia I suppose if push came to shove and an F award opened up a few days later I could rebook the whole award (minus the sgn-HKG or wherever I am flying out of) and just try to purchase a cheap ticket into Hong Kong. Granted its economy and probably not the best plane ride but for just under 3 hours it would do in a pinch
Last edited by Red259; May 3, 2017 at 9:34 pm
May 4, 2017, 6:51 am
#569
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: SEA, but up and down the coast a lot
Programs: Oceanic Airlines Gold Elite
Posts: 20,391
No voluntary changes once you fly a segment on your award. As I said, do the HKG stopover outbound so you don't run into this.
You will pay change fees of $125 USD if you change close in. Dropping SGN-HKG is not going to be required if you add a segment, as long as you haven't flown it.
You will pay change fees of $125 USD if you change close in. Dropping SGN-HKG is not going to be required if you add a segment, as long as you haven't flown it.
May 4, 2017, 7:00 am
#570
Join Date: Aug 2001
Posts: 1,053
No voluntary changes once you fly a segment on your award. As I said, do the HKG stopover outbound so you don't run into this.
You will pay change fees of $125 USD if you change close in. Dropping SGN-HKG is not going to be required if you add a segment, as long as you haven't flown it.
You will pay change fees of $125 USD if you change close in. Dropping SGN-HKG is not going to be required if you add a segment, as long as you haven't flown it.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/alask...t-segment.html
Date Change on Award Ticket After Initial Segment
Google !
DAK