May 22, 2019, 7:13 am
Last edit by: JDiver
Earning American Airlines AAvantage Miles Flying CX / Cathay Pacific Airways (consolidated)
Including known issues (e.g. upgrades) with AA / CX
Including known issues (e.g. upgrades) with AA / CX
Earning AAdvantage Miles flying Cathay Pacific Airways
NOTE: Travel on Cathay Pacific and its affiliate airline counts toward qualifying for AAdvantage elite status membership. However, please refer to aa.com here for fare classes that earn AAdvantage miles, not Cathay Pacific.
AAdvantage Elite members members traveling on Cathay also enjoy:
If you fly CX as an AA codeshare / marketed flight, you will earn as if you were flying on AA.
Flying CX as CX, most discounted economy fare classes do not earn AAdvantage miles; See the chart. See Link to AAdvantage chart on earning miles and EQD flying CX.
Note: the CX website incorrectly indicates no AA miles for E fare; AA.com does and is correct
*Premium Economy fare W on a flight operated by Cathay Pacific will earn an additional 10% class of service bonus with the exception of W fares between Hong Kong and Bangkok, which will not earn a class of service bonus, and Premium Economy R or E, which earn no class of service bonus.
NOTE: Travel on Cathay Pacific and its affiliate airline counts toward qualifying for AAdvantage elite status membership. However, please refer to aa.com here for fare classes that earn AAdvantage miles, not Cathay Pacific.
- Economy / coach fares other than Y, B or H on CX do not earn AAdvantage miles
- B and H only earn fractional (75%) credit on AA
- Upgrades may book into ineligible fare classes, causing challenges getting AA to credit the originally purchased fare class
- there are a few fare classes that CX says do not earn AAdvantage miles, whereas aa.com says they will, as do members reporting their experiences here
- JFK-YVR and YVR-JFK do accrue EQ and miles on eligible fares. JFK-YVR-HKG accrues as if nonstop JFK-HKG.
AAdvantage Elite members members traveling on Cathay also enjoy:
- [*]
Flying CX as CX, most discounted economy fare classes do not earn AAdvantage miles; See the chart. See Link to AAdvantage chart on earning miles and EQD flying CX.
Note: the CX website incorrectly indicates no AA miles for E fare; AA.com does and is correct
*Premium Economy fare W on a flight operated by Cathay Pacific will earn an additional 10% class of service bonus with the exception of W fares between Hong Kong and Bangkok, which will not earn a class of service bonus, and Premium Economy R or E, which earn no class of service bonus.
Upgrading to First on CX / Cathay Pacific Airways and U, Z Fare Class Issues
Upgrading a paid Business fare to First on Cathay Pacific Airways puts the flight into fare class "Z", a class that is ineligible for AAdvantage miles accrual (as reflected on the accrual chart) because it is also an award classification for a First Class award.
Upgrading a paid Premium Economy fare to Business puts it into U class, another award fare class that earns no AA miles.
Members have recently reported success at having their upgrades acknowledged as miles-garnering (mid-June 2015).
and
Upgrading a paid Business fare to First on Cathay Pacific Airways puts the flight into fare class "Z", a class that is ineligible for AAdvantage miles accrual (as reflected on the accrual chart) because it is also an award classification for a First Class award.
Upgrading a paid Premium Economy fare to Business puts it into U class, another award fare class that earns no AA miles.
Members have recently reported success at having their upgrades acknowledged as miles-garnering (mid-June 2015).
I had the same issue. I upgraded from Biz to F using Asia Miles, but left my AA number in the reservation.
The outbound flight credited automatically without intervention.
The inbound flight did not credit and I submitted the Missing Mileage Request. That request got denied due to ineligible fare class. All I did was call the ExecPlat desk and ask for AAdvantage Customer Service, who had record of the denied claim. I explained I paid for Biz, upgraded to F, and provided them with my original ticket number (both ticker numbers were on CX stock). Call took about 5 minutes and miles (and EQM/EQP) posted to the account the next day.
The outbound flight credited automatically without intervention.
The inbound flight did not credit and I submitted the Missing Mileage Request. That request got denied due to ineligible fare class. All I did was call the ExecPlat desk and ask for AAdvantage Customer Service, who had record of the denied claim. I explained I paid for Biz, upgraded to F, and provided them with my original ticket number (both ticker numbers were on CX stock). Call took about 5 minutes and miles (and EQM/EQP) posted to the account the next day.
I just wanted to post the conclusion to my saga, that started with the brilliant idea to upgrade two CX flights in February (yes, 4 months ago).
Well, I Fedex'd a letter to the executive's office, which arrived Friday. Today, I received an email from an "executive liason" who said they agreed that "R" to "U" via an upgrade should be mileage earning and manually adjusted my account to receive credit. Account and status now reflects those flights.
So despite certain aagents and lower-level SUPs saying this is CX's problem and to go pound sand, AA actually can do something about it (albit at a higher level than a regular SUP, I assume). By the phrasing of the answer, I would say this isn't a one time exception but rather what is supposed to happen for these flights.
Godspeed to any other souls on this journey.
Well, I Fedex'd a letter to the executive's office, which arrived Friday. Today, I received an email from an "executive liason" who said they agreed that "R" to "U" via an upgrade should be mileage earning and manually adjusted my account to receive credit. Account and status now reflects those flights.
So despite certain aagents and lower-level SUPs saying this is CX's problem and to go pound sand, AA actually can do something about it (albit at a higher level than a regular SUP, I assume). By the phrasing of the answer, I would say this isn't a one time exception but rather what is supposed to happen for these flights.
Godspeed to any other souls on this journey.
Possible snail mail or FedEx to:
Suzanne Rubin
President – AAdvantage Loyalty Program, American Airlines
4333 Amon Carter Blvd
Fort Worth, TX 76155
Suzanne Rubin
President – AAdvantage Loyalty Program, American Airlines
4333 Amon Carter Blvd
Fort Worth, TX 76155
Wikipost as of 2018
ARCHIVE: Earning AA AAdvantage Miles on CX / Cathay (including Upgrade Issues)
Sep 7, 2015, 8:08 pm
#136
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Little dot in Asia
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Posts: 25,932
Hello everyone-
I am looking to book a series of Cathay Pacific flights through Vayama. Will I be able to earn AA miles?
The Fare Basis code noted in the flight details on Vayama site is VLWSPCL.
(Not sure what this code means either).
Any help is going to be appreciated.
Thank you,
-M
I am looking to book a series of Cathay Pacific flights through Vayama. Will I be able to earn AA miles?
The Fare Basis code noted in the flight details on Vayama site is VLWSPCL.
(Not sure what this code means either).
Any help is going to be appreciated.
Thank you,
-M
Sep 7, 2015, 9:53 pm
#137
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: NYC, ORD
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Sep 7, 2015, 10:16 pm
#138
Moderator: American AAdvantage
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Or, they could continue being generous with miles, but base status on points. We'll see what happens.
Sep 8, 2015, 5:34 pm
#139
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 275
If buying code share which costs more doesn't earn you the miles why would anyone want to buy the more expensive code shares?
Sep 8, 2015, 6:16 pm
#140
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
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What this means isn't about codeshares:
No, you will not earn AAdvantage miles on CX discount economy (V fare bucket), regardless of where you purchase the ticket. V is a zero earner.
* As CX 873, direct from CX. This will give you a choice of fare buckets, some of which will earn AA miles at higher cost.
* As CX 873, from AA or another non-CX online booking agent. This will almost certainly be offered in a non-AA-mile-earning fare bucket unless you go with a full-service agent.
* As AA 8931 direct from AA. This will earn AA miles regardless of the fare bucket.
* As AA 8931 from anyone other than AA. This will still earn AA miles regardless of fare bucket.
Picking arbitrary days in November, the 4rd (CX 893/AA 8943*)returning the 11th:
* CX directly - S out, N back - $808, no AA miles
* CX directly - H class - $1830, AA miles
* CX via Expedia - exact same S out, N back - $808 (no way to book H that I can see)
* CX via AA.com - exact same S out, N back - $808 (no way to book H that I can see)
* AA codeshare via AA.com - V class, $1201, AA miles
* AA codeshare via Expedia - exact same V class, $1201, AA miles
Is that any clearer?
(* CX873/AA8931 is more expensive that day, for some reason.)
Last edited by nkedel; Sep 8, 2015 at 6:32 pm
Sep 9, 2015, 6:57 am
#141
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 275
Sorry, I was replying to JDiver's suggestion that AA might continue to give miles but change to EQP for status qualification. If that's the case, why would anyone want to buy codeshare flights that are more expensive? Most economy flights already earn half points and I'm pretty sure most people qualify on miles rather than points... Pay more, get less. Code shares are almost pure profit for AA. Market and sell the ticket at a higher price but no need to spend the $ on equipment, labor, etc...
Sep 9, 2015, 11:14 am
#142
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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If that's the case, why would anyone want to buy codeshare flights that are more expensive? Most economy flights already earn half points and I'm pretty sure most people qualify on miles rather than points... Pay more, get less. Code shares are almost pure profit for AA. Market and sell the ticket at a higher price but no need to spend the $ on equipment, labor, etc...
0.5 EQP/1 RDM per mile flown on (for example) a 14,000 mile round trip is still a lot more miles than 0 EQP/0 RDM per mile flown.
Also, lacking a JBV, it's also unclear how much AA pays CX for the underlying ticket; you assume the spread is entirely AA's profit, and that's certainly possible, but it's also possible that CX is charging AA more than it would for flyers booking directly.
CX-marketed PEY becomes an even better deal in that case; not much pricier than the H-fare (as sold by CX) and 1.5x EQP; I'm qualifying for EXP this year specifically because of that.
Sep 11, 2015, 2:14 pm
#143
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Philadelphia
Programs: AA/Plat, DL/Gold, SPG/Plat, HHonors/Gold, FoundersCard, Eagles Fan
Posts: 37
EQMs from E Bucket
Hi all -- not to beat a dead horse, but it seems in this thread that the CX premium economy E bucket does accrue AAdvantage eqm's, even though when booking the fare on the CX web site it says "AAdvantage: NO."
Is this correct? Because I'm a-gonna book.
Thanks.
Is this correct? Because I'm a-gonna book.
Thanks.
Sep 11, 2015, 3:13 pm
#144
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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(Shows up as "P" on the mileage statement:
Code:
CATHAY PACIFIC 0872 P HKG SFO 2/7/15 6,914 7,605 14,519
Code:
HONG KONG CX 872 E 07FEB 0100 ELWSPCL 07FEB 07FEB 2PC OK
Last edited by nkedel; Sep 11, 2015 at 3:25 pm
Sep 11, 2015, 3:14 pm
#145
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
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The CX website inaccuracy has been posted about many times.
Sep 11, 2015, 3:38 pm
#146
FlyerTalk Evangelist
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Addendum to the above:
I'm a big fan of the value proposition of Cathay PEY, both for the better seat than coach and especially given the relatively low change fees (recently went up from $50 to $100, but compared to $250-275 on AA or god help you $400-$500 on some I fares in business, that's still a big bargain).
It's also nice that E seats rarely fully sell out; I got that seat on the 7th on February 4th, as a flight change where I was originally returning several days later. No fare change at all.
There are E-seats available tonight at 1AM at essentially the regular fare -- about $2200 -- where the AA codeshare in coach is about $1900 and the H fare on Cathay itself about $2000 (with similar change rules to PEY).
Surprisingly for an under-24-hours purchase, AA is much cheaper: ~$1500 on the same days as the above (tomorrow, returning the 19th), or ~$1200 if one were to come back Tues. OTOH, it's an S fare, with a $250 change fee and 0.5 EQP per mile.
I'm a big fan of the value proposition of Cathay PEY, both for the better seat than coach and especially given the relatively low change fees (recently went up from $50 to $100, but compared to $250-275 on AA or god help you $400-$500 on some I fares in business, that's still a big bargain).
It's also nice that E seats rarely fully sell out; I got that seat on the 7th on February 4th, as a flight change where I was originally returning several days later. No fare change at all.
There are E-seats available tonight at 1AM at essentially the regular fare -- about $2200 -- where the AA codeshare in coach is about $1900 and the H fare on Cathay itself about $2000 (with similar change rules to PEY).
Surprisingly for an under-24-hours purchase, AA is much cheaper: ~$1500 on the same days as the above (tomorrow, returning the 19th), or ~$1200 if one were to come back Tues. OTOH, it's an S fare, with a $250 change fee and 0.5 EQP per mile.
Sep 11, 2015, 4:46 pm
#147
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Philadelphia
Programs: AA/Plat, DL/Gold, SPG/Plat, HHonors/Gold, FoundersCard, Eagles Fan
Posts: 37
nkedel: Thanks for the quick and detailed response, I've got an e-bucket EWR-HKG on 24 hour hold and was hoping someone would get back to me
jdiver: Yes, but after reading through the entire thread, I didn't feel comfortable enough to put a wad of cash/miles on the line. Now the answer is both recent and definitive.
Thanks, all.
jdiver: Yes, but after reading through the entire thread, I didn't feel comfortable enough to put a wad of cash/miles on the line. Now the answer is both recent and definitive.
Thanks, all.
Sep 12, 2015, 10:48 am
#148
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Dallas Area
Programs: AA EX PLT, Lifetime Platinum, Marriott Lifetime Gold
Posts: 149
This is one of the main reasons I avoid booking CX on flights.
I fly DFW NRT frequently to get to Taipei. If I book to low a fare (my company requires) I will not get AA miles on the CX flight.
I now book JAL form NRT to TPE.
The other issue is when searching flights to TPE on AA.com if you select the itinerary with CX flight and go to purchase the fare it kicks you out and tells you the fare is no longer available. Of course the new fare is significantly higher.
I have sent many angry emails to Doug Parker about this problem.
I fly DFW NRT frequently to get to Taipei. If I book to low a fare (my company requires) I will not get AA miles on the CX flight.
I now book JAL form NRT to TPE.
The other issue is when searching flights to TPE on AA.com if you select the itinerary with CX flight and go to purchase the fare it kicks you out and tells you the fare is no longer available. Of course the new fare is significantly higher.
I have sent many angry emails to Doug Parker about this problem.
Sep 13, 2015, 12:15 am
#149
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: in the vicinity of SFO
Programs: AA 2MM (LT-PLT, PPro for this year)
Posts: 19,781
The other issue is when searching flights to TPE on AA.com if you select the itinerary with CX flight and go to purchase the fare it kicks you out and tells you the fare is no longer available. Of course the new fare is significantly higher.
I have sent many angry emails to Doug Parker about this problem.
I have sent many angry emails to Doug Parker about this problem.
I assume it has a difference in cached vs. actual availability on partner flights, but it's really annoying.
Sep 21, 2015, 9:31 pm
#150
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Posts: 385
Chiming in here:
Going NYC --> PEK; SHA --> NYC. It's $1820 through the Cathay site (no AAdvantage miles) and $2935 through AA.com. V fare class to China; L on way home. Maybe I'm too much of a "n00b", but I'm honestly shocked this is even legal to pay such vastly different prices for essentially the same product.
Debating on just taking another airline (Cathay is actually the cheapest), but heard such good things about Cathay. Thoughts?
My options are:
1) Cathay (layovers in HKG)
2) JAL (layovers in NRT)($25 more)
3) China Southern (layover in CAN) to China; China Eastern NONSTOP to NYC ($150 more)
4) ANA (layovers in NRT) ($200 more)
5) Air China NONSTOP to China; Air China to NYC (layover in PEK) PREMIUM ECONOMY ($200 MORE)
6) United NONSTOP to China; JAL to NYC (layover in NRT) ($250 more)
Thanks!
Going NYC --> PEK; SHA --> NYC. It's $1820 through the Cathay site (no AAdvantage miles) and $2935 through AA.com. V fare class to China; L on way home. Maybe I'm too much of a "n00b", but I'm honestly shocked this is even legal to pay such vastly different prices for essentially the same product.
Debating on just taking another airline (Cathay is actually the cheapest), but heard such good things about Cathay. Thoughts?
My options are:
1) Cathay (layovers in HKG)
2) JAL (layovers in NRT)($25 more)
3) China Southern (layover in CAN) to China; China Eastern NONSTOP to NYC ($150 more)
4) ANA (layovers in NRT) ($200 more)
5) Air China NONSTOP to China; Air China to NYC (layover in PEK) PREMIUM ECONOMY ($200 MORE)
6) United NONSTOP to China; JAL to NYC (layover in NRT) ($250 more)
Thanks!