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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


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Cathay Pacific (CX) Award Redemption, Booking and Availability – 2017 and Later

Old Sep 4, 2017, 3:32 pm
  #1111  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Phuket Thailand
Posts: 223
Originally Posted by Edgerfly
This number is better: 1 (888) 280-7560 that's AS partner award desk. The agents are much more knowledgeable, and know more about finding premium space. I had an agent last night who wouldn't let me hang up until she found me something. It was the best, and funniest customer service experience I ever had on the phone. I said "alright looks like I'll have to wait and call back when there is space." To which she responded with "wait! before you go at least give me a chance to try to find you something else. We can try different city pairs!" Funny enough she actually did find me something in F.

Truth be told, for whatever reason, AS just doesn't have the same access as OW partners do. I've probably booked about 20 lifetime cathay awards about half last year, half this year, all in F, especially after EK became not worth it.

In my experience, you can either book like 5-8 months out and if you find availability on QF or BA tool on CX, it usually will also match up with AS. As the date grows closer (1-2 months), the availability doesn't align as much. You can hang up on AS and call back as much as you want, it's no help.

At about the 1-2 week mark is when they start opening things up, and AS agents can see things that are visible on the QF tool. I've also had lots of luck 1-2 days before departure. All this experience has been booking F.
Great information thanks for the reply. I will use that number and i can wait until 1 or 2 weeks out. Most of the time i dont even have a return ticket until 3 days before i want to come home
flguy is offline  
Old Sep 4, 2017, 4:06 pm
  #1112  
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
Originally Posted by flguy
Great information thanks for the reply. I will use that number and i can wait until 1 or 2 weeks out. Most of the time i dont even have a return ticket until 3 days before i want to come home
Oh if you're someone whose really flexible, then you should be fine. Just keep checking that availability on the QF calendar. What's great about the QF tool vs BA is the QF tool let's you take the whole month, and filter by the class of service you want. In addition, the award tool shows other AS partners like EK, and OW partners Alaska has which can be a big plus. What route, and class of service are you looking for, if you don't mind me asking?

Keep in mind, they almost never release two F seats together, especially on flights to/from the US. So if you and a companion want to both travel F, best way to do it is to book the one available F seat, and then book the second seat in J on the same flight. There's a good chance another F award seat will open later on that flight (route depending). Especially if you don't care THAT much about sitting together. Also if the J cabin is empty you can always downgrade yourself so you guys are in the same cabin together.

Interesting fact for others, I've found many times they will release an F seat on another flight, after an F seat is booked, and taken out of the inventory. Strange... not sure why. For example, I wanted the 00:15 departure out of LAX-HKG, but that flight was not available. The only thing in F was the 9:35 departure which is my least favorite flight to Hong Kong because then I have to get up at 3am to make it to LAX to catch the connection. Anyway, I booked the award at 9:35am flight. As soon as my booking was confirmed, an F seat opened on the 00:15 flight! This is a consistent anomaly, and I'm not sure why it is.

Last edited by Edgerfly; Sep 4, 2017 at 10:11 pm
Edgerfly is offline  
Old Sep 4, 2017, 5:49 pm
  #1113  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Phuket Thailand
Posts: 223
Im in florida so i need fly to a gateway city so im going to HKG in F 2 seats. I can go from either JFK, ORD, BOS
I did just book one with AA out of JFK in F need another one now but its still 7 weeks out so it should open
flguy is offline  
Old Sep 4, 2017, 6:07 pm
  #1114  
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
Originally Posted by flguy
Im in florida so i need fly to a gateway city so im going to HKG in F 2 seats. I can go from either JFK, ORD, BOS
I did just book one with AA out of JFK in F need another one now but its still 7 weeks out so it should open
Ah I see. In all honesty I don't ever check the BOS one to get to Seattle, so I can only comment on ORD and JFK flights. I don't know if you're going on a holiday weekend either here, or in China, so that obviously would effect things. My return actually is a HKG-JFK-SEA. I would say both ORD and JFK are about equal, but JFK probably has a slight edge.

Even though ORD only operates one flight a day, the rewards are usually plentiful in F from my experience and they seem to release all those seats in F if they're available up until departure date that I've seen. Also doesn't seem like many people are fighting over that flight for award space for some reason. Just my experience on what I've seen when booking. I can recall the ORD flight always eventually being open in both directions at some point in F on some days, so long as I was flexible with my days here and there. The problem, and reason I never took the ORD flight, was because I could never end up finding a way to Seattle.

That being said JFK has the most CX flights so F usually does open up, especially close to departure on something. This is almost always true; a certainty actually. Especially if you're willing to wait till last minute. The only problem I foresee for you is not getting two F seats on the same flight
flguy likes this.
Edgerfly is offline  
Old Sep 5, 2017, 5:02 pm
  #1115  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Phuket Thailand
Posts: 223
No weekends in gateway cities just layover till flight.
Was wondering will AS charge me if i book J and later get an F award besides the miles difference or pay a change fee also
flguy is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2017, 11:42 am
  #1116  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,517
As usual...

EWRHKG, BA shows 4 J, QF shows 4 J, AA res agents see 4 J...Alaska sees nothing.

Tried the 1am workaround trick, they DO see Y and Y+ so it isn't that the flight isn't showing up. They just can't access U inventory (award J).

Jamie
jamienbaker is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2017, 9:48 pm
  #1117  
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: HNL <-> BOS
Posts: 382
Originally Posted by flguy
No weekends in gateway cities just layover till flight.
Was wondering will AS charge me if i book J and later get an F award besides the miles difference or pay a change fee also
There is a change fee if you are within 60 days til departure. Otherwise, no. Just the mileage difference
reverted is offline  
Old Sep 6, 2017, 10:36 pm
  #1118  
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Phuket Thailand
Posts: 223
Originally Posted by reverted
There is a change fee if you are within 60 days til departure. Otherwise, no. Just the mileage difference
Ok thanks there will be as im trying for October
Im just so afraid AS will never show availablity in F and im stuck with all these miles and I dont have enough AA miles for 2 RT in F
I may have to move MR points to CX and try booking with CX
flguy is offline  
Old Sep 7, 2017, 7:09 am
  #1119  
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: TYO
Programs: JL JGP (OWE), NH SFC (*G), Mariott Titanium
Posts: 32
Trying to book JFK-HKG-(stopover)-HND in F next May. The dates I am looking at all show 1 F seat in BA, JL and QF. Called Alaska a few times on JFK-HKG but they see nothing there.

Today I asked for HKG-HND for the first time and the agent was able to locate the F even though she still can't see the JFK-HKG F. Anyway have the HKG-HND leg ticketed and we'll see if they can see the JFK-HKG leg eventually
kerufin is offline  
Old Sep 7, 2017, 3:06 pm
  #1120  
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: CGK/LAX
Programs: KF,JMB, OZ, SPG,AA,UA,AS
Posts: 1,163
Datapoint: BA/JL indicated 1 J seat was available on CX883 for a date in mid-January.

Called AS the first two agents could not find any space on the flight. Called a third time and agent was able to find and ticket it within about 10-minutes.
gpeso8 is offline  
Old Sep 8, 2017, 2:13 am
  #1121  
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Programs: IHG Diamond, HH Diamond, BW Diamond Select, Accor Silver, Marriott Gold
Posts: 4,219
Originally Posted by kerufin
Trying to book JFK-HKG-(stopover)-HND in F next May. The dates I am looking at all show 1 F seat in BA, JL and QF. Called Alaska a few times on JFK-HKG but they see nothing there.

Today I asked for HKG-HND for the first time and the agent was able to locate the F even though she still can't see the JFK-HKG F.
That's consistent with what I've experienced, which has been that HKG availability to/from USA (especially LAX) is severely reduced for AS, while CX flights to other places still have the same availability for AS as for other partners.

A month ago, a friend booked a pair of J tickets to PER for next year. The availability for LAX-HKG was much less than BA/JL/QF reported, but HKG-PER was identical.

Tonight, I booked a J ticket for next July. MEL-HKG availability for the whole week I was looking at was identical for that AS agent as BA/JL/QF showed. HKG-LAX was zero for the whole week for AS, despite BA/JL/QF showing a smattering of J seats on various days. She tried other airports and found CX892 HKG-SFO for 2 days that week, matching what other partners show. (She was able to book an onward connection to SEA in F, even though every SFO-SEA that evening showed high-tier 60k pricing.)
Kremmen is offline  
Old Sep 8, 2017, 4:38 am
  #1122  
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,517
Originally Posted by Kremmen
That's consistent with what I've experienced, which has been that HKG availability to/from USA (especially LAX) is severely reduced for AS, while CX flights to other places still have the same availability for AS as for other partners.

A month ago, a friend booked a pair of J tickets to PER for next year. The availability for LAX-HKG was much less than BA/JL/QF reported, but HKG-PER was identical.

Tonight, I booked a J ticket for next July. MEL-HKG availability for the whole week I was looking at was identical for that AS agent as BA/JL/QF showed. HKG-LAX was zero for the whole week for AS, despite BA/JL/QF showing a smattering of J seats on various days. She tried other airports and found CX892 HKG-SFO for 2 days that week, matching what other partners show. (She was able to book an onward connection to SEA in F, even though every SFO-SEA that evening showed high-tier 60k pricing.)
I was offered 5 J awards on JFKHKG, when BA/QF AND Asia Miles showed nothing. Happened yesterday for Aug travel.
jamienbaker is offline  
Old Sep 8, 2017, 7:21 am
  #1123  
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 669
Originally Posted by reverted
There is a change fee if you are within 60 days til departure. Otherwise, no. Just the mileage difference
Ive had them waive this fee when upgrading to a "higher" cabin.
ffman999 is offline  
Old Sep 8, 2017, 8:17 am
  #1124  
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 2,819
Originally Posted by jamienbaker
I was offered 5 J awards on JFKHKG, when BA/QF AND Asia Miles showed nothing. Happened yesterday for Aug travel.
That's a new one!
flytoeat is offline  
Old Sep 8, 2017, 5:28 pm
  #1125  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP, DL PM, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 2,028
Originally Posted by Kremmen
That's consistent with what I've experienced, which has been that HKG availability to/from USA (especially LAX) is severely reduced for AS, while CX flights to other places still have the same availability for AS as for other partners.

A month ago, a friend booked a pair of J tickets to PER for next year. The availability for LAX-HKG was much less than BA/JL/QF reported, but HKG-PER was identical.

Tonight, I booked a J ticket for next July. MEL-HKG availability for the whole week I was looking at was identical for that AS agent as BA/JL/QF showed. HKG-LAX was zero for the whole week for AS, despite BA/JL/QF showing a smattering of J seats on various days. She tried other airports and found CX892 HKG-SFO for 2 days that week, matching what other partners show. (She was able to book an onward connection to SEA in F, even though every SFO-SEA that evening showed high-tier 60k pricing.)
I agree with this, except for DPS-HKG. I have called over 20 times and agents can see 0 J space, despite there being 2-4 seats every day for the months of June and July. I ended up booking with AA.
callmedtop is offline  

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