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 28, 2018, 9:06 pm
#2416
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,538
Routinely. But if you’re looking for 2 simultaneously it’ll be inside of 14 days. I’ve booked 5 in F. But 2-5 were all within 10 days or so prior to departure, and even then, one at a time. So just book the single F at 330 and then chill until 2 weeks out.
Jun 28, 2018, 10:47 pm
#2417
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
Our flight was pretty light with quite a few J open. It doesn't make much sense from a revenue management perspective to open F space where there is a higher cost outlay per passenger when there are open J seats. Now if J was full CX might be more likely open F to potentially vacate a J seat that would be easier to sell than an F seat.
James
Jun 29, 2018, 2:50 am
#2418
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 4,538
I did 2 J awards HKG-BOS booked about 3 months out. At T-11 days one F opened up which I upgraded to. No other F seats opened up and we departed with three empty F so it isn't a sure thing that space will open last minute.
Our flight was pretty light with quite a few J open. It doesn't make much sense from a revenue management perspective to open F space where there is a higher cost outlay per passenger when there are open J seats. Now if J was full CX might be more likely open F to potentially vacate a J seat that would be easier to sell than an F seat.
James
Our flight was pretty light with quite a few J open. It doesn't make much sense from a revenue management perspective to open F space where there is a higher cost outlay per passenger when there are open J seats. Now if J was full CX might be more likely open F to potentially vacate a J seat that would be easier to sell than an F seat.
James
Jun 29, 2018, 4:15 am
#2419
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: British Columbia
Programs: AS MVPG100K, Marriott Marriott Titanium Elite, Hilton Gold
Posts: 7,263
Thats why I said “routinely” and not “consistently” or “without fail”. Must have been frustrating. Are you certain nothing was released that was bookable with other currencies, such as American? It’s well documented that Alaska doesn’t always see what’s broadly been made available to partners. My last trip, CX released 3 F but Alaska could only see two. So for the third I had to fund with American.
For me, I have had 100% success in booking CX awards with AS when using QF to check availability and giving AS specific flight numbers. It has never been off by one. I have booked 6 CX itineraries in the last 8 months. I had a CX MEL-HKG booked for a while and recently called to add HKG-LAX after a 2 month stopover. AS saw what I saw and added it to my itinerary within 10 minutes. I am doing DFW-SYD on a QF F Award then doing a RTW mileage run starting in ICN on KE, QF, LA, EK & CX, 8 flights, 3 Y, 5 J. I will return to NA on FJ. Two months later I will take that return to Australia and work my way back to HKG to pick up my CX F home. Fun way to requlify for MVPG75K.
James
Jun 30, 2018, 12:52 pm
#2420
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,066
Is it just me or is everyone else noticing less J space for March 2019 compared to a year ago for March 2018?
In early July 2017, I found abundant availability in J for JFK-YVR-HKG-CGK as well as JFK-HKG nonstop departing late March 2018. Also peeked LAX-HKG and SFO-HKG for the same time frame -- both routes had abundant availability as well.
In late May 2018, when I was ready to book my West Coast USA-HKG CX flight departing between 22-29 March 2019, there were no J award seats left for LAX-HKG. I resorted to SFO-HKG and the earliest date available was 26 March. JFK/YVR-HKG still had lots of availability a month ago. Now SFO-HKG, YVR-HKG and JFK-HKG J space are almost dried up.
Is LAX-HKG space much harder to get these days?
In early July 2017, I found abundant availability in J for JFK-YVR-HKG-CGK as well as JFK-HKG nonstop departing late March 2018. Also peeked LAX-HKG and SFO-HKG for the same time frame -- both routes had abundant availability as well.
In late May 2018, when I was ready to book my West Coast USA-HKG CX flight departing between 22-29 March 2019, there were no J award seats left for LAX-HKG. I resorted to SFO-HKG and the earliest date available was 26 March. JFK/YVR-HKG still had lots of availability a month ago. Now SFO-HKG, YVR-HKG and JFK-HKG J space are almost dried up.
Is LAX-HKG space much harder to get these days?
Jun 30, 2018, 1:11 pm
#2421
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: SEA
Programs: Hilton/Marriott Gold, Accor Silver
Posts: 2,036
Interesting experience with my upcoming J reservation: checked the res on my phone last night and got a schedule change message, so before I called AS this morning I checked on the CX site, and they'd switched my TPE-HKG segment to a KA flight. I was wondering if this would even work out once AS had to reticket, and then I spent twenty minutes on hold with AS to be told that CX would have to reissue the ticket. I'm probably going to just call back in and switch to a CX flight leaving a little earlier just to minimize the hassle.
Jun 30, 2018, 2:18 pm
#2422
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
Is it just me or is everyone else noticing less J space for March 2019 compared to a year ago for March 2018?
In early July 2017, I found abundant availability in J for JFK-YVR-HKG-CGK as well as JFK-HKG nonstop departing late March 2018. Also peeked LAX-HKG and SFO-HKG for the same time frame -- both routes had abundant availability as well.
In late May 2018, when I was ready to book my West Coast USA-HKG CX flight departing between 22-29 March 2019, there were no J award seats left for LAX-HKG. I resorted to SFO-HKG and the earliest date available was 26 March. JFK/YVR-HKG still had lots of availability a month ago. Now SFO-HKG, YVR-HKG and JFK-HKG J space are almost dried up.
Is LAX-HKG space much harder to get these days?
In early July 2017, I found abundant availability in J for JFK-YVR-HKG-CGK as well as JFK-HKG nonstop departing late March 2018. Also peeked LAX-HKG and SFO-HKG for the same time frame -- both routes had abundant availability as well.
In late May 2018, when I was ready to book my West Coast USA-HKG CX flight departing between 22-29 March 2019, there were no J award seats left for LAX-HKG. I resorted to SFO-HKG and the earliest date available was 26 March. JFK/YVR-HKG still had lots of availability a month ago. Now SFO-HKG, YVR-HKG and JFK-HKG J space are almost dried up.
Is LAX-HKG space much harder to get these days?
As of now, for partners it seems only close in departures have availability in premium cabins. Between one to 11 months out, there are only Y and Prem Econ available with sporadic 1F here and there, but J is completely absent between the US-HKG routes, and the EU-HKG routes. When and IF they would return, is anybody's guess.
Jun 30, 2018, 5:40 pm
#2423
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: NY, NY
Posts: 695
CX is still not reliably releasing seats to partners. An example is HKG to JFK for March 31, 2019.
ExpertFlyer shows this:
EF showing CX flight availability for 3/31/19
As you can see EF shows CX830 and CX846 as having F6, which should mean that CX is likely to have at least one standard award on each of those two flights
AsiaMiles confirming standard awards available for CX830 and CX846, confirming the F6 from EF on those flights
Now, when we search QF, this shows up:
qantas showing no F for CX830 and CX846
Hopefully this resolves itself positively for the OW (and AS) partners
ExpertFlyer shows this:
EF showing CX flight availability for 3/31/19
As you can see EF shows CX830 and CX846 as having F6, which should mean that CX is likely to have at least one standard award on each of those two flights
AsiaMiles confirming standard awards available for CX830 and CX846, confirming the F6 from EF on those flights
Now, when we search QF, this shows up:
qantas showing no F for CX830 and CX846
Hopefully this resolves itself positively for the OW (and AS) partners
Jun 30, 2018, 8:42 pm
#2424
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Vancouver Island
Posts: 318
Is a CX/AS award possible starting from HAN? When I try to start an award from HAN on with the Qantas search engine it gives me an error that this isn't possible.
I've never been able to get the BA search tool to work.
I've never been able to get the BA search tool to work.
Jun 30, 2018, 11:16 pm
#2425
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: LAX
Posts: 10,909
You can prob get that short hop separately with avios if so...
Jul 1, 2018, 10:03 am
#2426
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Florida
Posts: 29,762
Avios can help in this situation but it still means higher total cost.
Jul 1, 2018, 2:44 pm
#2427
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,066
I was indeed unaware of the Asia miles devaluation and problems reloading J inventory between EU/US-HKG. Thanks for the heads up!
Jul 2, 2018, 5:44 am
#2428
Join Date: Nov 2010
Programs: IHG Platinum
Posts: 1,066
Funny -- SFO-HKG or SFO-HKG-CGK shows no space on CX873 departing 25 March. However, SFO-HKG-SIN/BKK shows 1J.
I have booked SFO-HKG-CGK on AS miles for another date but would prefer 25 March. If I change my booking to 25 March SFO-HKG-SIN and then change HKG-SIN to HKG-CGK (this one has space in J), would it work out? I booked back in May... do I only get one change or am I allowed multiple changes without penalty?
I have booked SFO-HKG-CGK on AS miles for another date but would prefer 25 March. If I change my booking to 25 March SFO-HKG-SIN and then change HKG-SIN to HKG-CGK (this one has space in J), would it work out? I booked back in May... do I only get one change or am I allowed multiple changes without penalty?
Jul 2, 2018, 6:27 am
#2429
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: BOS/ORH
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 18,323
Funny -- SFO-HKG or SFO-HKG-CGK shows no space on CX873 departing 25 March. However, SFO-HKG-SIN/BKK shows 1J.
I have booked SFO-HKG-CGK on AS miles for another date but would prefer 25 March. If I change my booking to 25 March SFO-HKG-SIN and then change HKG-SIN to HKG-CGK (this one has space in J), would it work out? I booked back in May... do I only get one change or am I allowed multiple changes without penalty?
I have booked SFO-HKG-CGK on AS miles for another date but would prefer 25 March. If I change my booking to 25 March SFO-HKG-SIN and then change HKG-SIN to HKG-CGK (this one has space in J), would it work out? I booked back in May... do I only get one change or am I allowed multiple changes without penalty?
Sometimes if you do a through search you get false positives. Make sure you look segment by segment and see if the space is really available.
Jul 3, 2018, 9:16 am
#2430
Join Date: Jul 2018
Programs: alaska
Posts: 4
what search tool did you find the J space availability on? BA? Qantas?
Last edited by wolfmiles; Jul 3, 2018 at 9:29 am