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 6, 2018, 1:36 pm
#2056
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: SFO, SJC, SEA
Programs: A3 Gold, AA Plat
Posts: 203
FYI - CPT flights have been loaded. Just exchanged my JNB flight for a CPT flight. Very limited seats (especially in J), so good luck!
May 6, 2018, 2:24 pm
#2057
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
May 6, 2018, 4:14 pm
#2058
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: SFO, SJC, SEA
Programs: A3 Gold, AA Plat
Posts: 203
I only checked December 23 and 25th, since those were the only days that would work for me. December 23rd had zero availability and the 25th had one seat left in PE and J. Quickly jumped on it as soon as I saw it. Seems like they are not releasing seats on every flight and if they do, it's only one seat. So if you see anything, grab it quickly!
Last edited by arthursiew; May 6, 2018 at 4:19 pm
May 6, 2018, 7:07 pm
#2059
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
I only checked December 23 and 25th, since those were the only days that would work for me. December 23rd had zero availability and the 25th had one seat left in PE and J. Quickly jumped on it as soon as I saw it. Seems like they are not releasing seats on every flight and if they do, it's only one seat. So if you see anything, grab it quickly!
May 6, 2018, 8:19 pm
#2060
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: ORD [formerly] + HKG
Programs: CX Diamond, AA exExPlat, BAEC exGold, HH Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, Starriott Titanium, GE
Posts: 2,967
I wasn't expecting much due to the short season. CX members have had a lot of time to grab them. So I'll either book when last minute space opens up or wait until 2019 when we should be able to grab space at the window. I remember when BOS-HKG was launched it took a few months before space started appearing and was lacking at first.
May 7, 2018, 8:05 am
#2061
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: ATL
Programs: DL PM
Posts: 53
Eff. I booked 1J and 1F ORD-HKG 11 months out and have been checking daily for the second F. The flight was F5 until 2 weeks ago. Now I'm 2 weeks out and it's F2. Am I screwed? Are Sunday flights normally packed in F? I assumed Saturday was the busy day but Saturday is only F4 with 1 available to book right now.
Last edited by kdavis527; May 7, 2018 at 8:27 am
May 7, 2018, 9:56 am
#2062
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: NYC
Programs: AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTT, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,664
Eff. I booked 1J and 1F ORD-HKG 11 months out and have been checking daily for the second F. The flight was F5 until 2 weeks ago. Now I'm 2 weeks out and it's F2. Am I screwed? Are Sunday flights normally packed in F? I assumed Saturday was the busy day but Saturday is only F4 with 1 available to book right now.
- I don't consider 1F and 1J being screwed
- It's not over until the fat lady sings
May 7, 2018, 11:13 am
#2063
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
I had booked HKG-BOS Jx2 which we flew in February. At T-11 days with F4 one opened up and I upgraded one into F. Watched until T-6 hours for another to open up. One never did and we departed with 3 empty F seats.
A busier flight is better than a light one. If J is full they are more likely to open upgrades to F as it is easier to sell a last minute J. If J is 1/2 full as it was on my flight, from a cost perspective, it makes no sense to offer upgrades to F and provide Pajamas, free flowing premium Champaign and Caviar when there is no offsetting revenue potential to cover those costs. It is cheaper to leave the F seats empty.
James.
A busier flight is better than a light one. If J is full they are more likely to open upgrades to F as it is easier to sell a last minute J. If J is 1/2 full as it was on my flight, from a cost perspective, it makes no sense to offer upgrades to F and provide Pajamas, free flowing premium Champaign and Caviar when there is no offsetting revenue potential to cover those costs. It is cheaper to leave the F seats empty.
James.
May 7, 2018, 12:04 pm
#2065
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 58
Same
Anyone ever seen this situation, and is there ever any "re-opening" of seats? Since the rest of these seats were booked so late, was hoping that maybe it's businessmen that might cancel/change closer in? Trying to be optimistic, I know...
May 7, 2018, 3:47 pm
#2066
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: NYC
Programs: AA 2MM, Bonvoy LTT, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,664
I have the same "problem". I'm in J, wife in F. Weds flights coming up, assumed an F would open up as it was F4 for months. Now about two weeks out, it's F0!
Anyone ever seen this situation, and is there ever any "re-opening" of seats? Since the rest of these seats were booked so late, was hoping that maybe it's businessmen that might cancel/change closer in? Trying to be optimistic, I know...
Anyone ever seen this situation, and is there ever any "re-opening" of seats? Since the rest of these seats were booked so late, was hoping that maybe it's businessmen that might cancel/change closer in? Trying to be optimistic, I know...
Friend and companion just flew 2Z seats today on 3PM JFK-HKG.
10 days ago, all JFK-HKG flights were F3Z0 or less.
5 days to departure, 3PM flight F4Z1 while other JFK-HKG flights were F2 or less. Grabbed 1Z on the 3PM while companion was J on JAL. They were travelling to SIN so it didn't matter as much they were connecting in different cities as both JL and CX arrived into SIN within 10 minutes of each other.
3 days to departure 10AM JFK-HKG F2Z1 while the 3PM was F1Z0. Placed companion onto 10AM flight while friend was on 3PM JFK-HKG; companion perfectly ok with being "stuck" in Pier F for 6 hours so that they can arrive in SIN together; we all know how horrible it would be to suffer thru the day bed, shower facilities, food options in Pier F. It didn't look they were going to travel together as F1 means no partner awards and both 10AM and 3PM were F1.
6 hours after placing companion on 10AM, the 3PM became went from F1 to F4. Dropped everything and called AA to move companion from 10AM to 3PM.
3PM was still F3Z2 4 hours to departure earlier today. All this time, the 1AM flight went from F3 to F0 and stayed F0.
The point is, that it can go both ways; stayed completed full or go from full to 3-4 Z seats being made available; thus it is not over until the fat lady sings.
Last edited by seawolf; May 7, 2018 at 6:39 pm
May 7, 2018, 6:09 pm
#2067
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 58
Love it. Been checking BA for the last two months, and your stories have just confirmed I'll keep doing it until I move to Qantas three days out. Fingers crossed!
May 7, 2018, 6:42 pm
#2068
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: BLI
Programs: Alaska MVPG
Posts: 206
We're all in the same boat. I'm looking for a couple F seats at the end of the month from HKG to anywhere in the US. Right now I have J booked and have been checking daily. Assuming if anything opens it will be last minute.
May 7, 2018, 8:59 pm
#2069
Join Date: Nov 2007
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Platinum, Hilton Honors Diamond, Delta Gold
Posts: 4,373
Was still less miles to book with AS plus BA than paying 70k for AA. Thanks for confirming that as of now Dragon flights cannot be booked with AS.
May 7, 2018, 9:17 pm
#2070
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 88
I was able to see J availability for both Tuesdays Dec 11 and Dec 18 on both Qantas and Avios search engines, but when I phoned into Alaska to inquire, they said that they could not see those seats.
Is it a case of phantom availability or CX restricting those seats to those FFPs only? The phone agent told me to just keep calling back and "hopefully" those seats might get loaded into their system.