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)
Jan 15, 2015, 1:03 pm
#31
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: NJ USA
Programs: AA PLAT 2MM, MR TITANIUM 2M, HH DIA, Hyatt EXP, BW DIA, IC AMB, IHG PLAT, UA GLD
Posts: 1,086
No. Good idea. Thanks.
Jan 15, 2015, 2:25 pm
#32
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: NJ USA
Programs: AA PLAT 2MM, MR TITANIUM 2M, HH DIA, Hyatt EXP, BW DIA, IC AMB, IHG PLAT, UA GLD
Posts: 1,086
Jan 15, 2015, 4:48 pm
#33
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: in the vicinity of SFO
Programs: AA 2MM (LT-PLT, PPro for this year)
Posts: 19,781
Feb 14, 2015, 3:47 pm
#34
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 275
Elite status qualifications [flying & earning EQM on CX]
Tried searching for an answer on this but my search capability is obviously very lacking.
I see that flying CX on V class ticket doesn't earn award miles on AA but does it earn status qualification miles?
The AA equivalent flight (AA marketed but CX operated) is about $300 more so I'm thinking of buying the CX ticket instead.
Thanks.
I see that flying CX on V class ticket doesn't earn award miles on AA but does it earn status qualification miles?
The AA equivalent flight (AA marketed but CX operated) is about $300 more so I'm thinking of buying the CX ticket instead.
Thanks.
Feb 14, 2015, 3:55 pm
#35
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,405
Elite status qualifications
Short answer is no. Sort of obvious, but if a fare doesn't award redeemable miles, then it follows that it doesn't award EQM either.
Feb 14, 2015, 4:31 pm
#36
Join Date: Jun 2012
Posts: 2,342
The chart for earning AA miles on CX is here.
http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/ea...hayPacific.jsp
Don't see where it says you earn any kind of miles, redeemable or elite-qualifying.
http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/ea...hayPacific.jsp
Don't see where it says you earn any kind of miles, redeemable or elite-qualifying.
Feb 14, 2015, 7:12 pm
#37
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 275
Yeah I guess it's sort of obvious in a way. Too bad the fares for AA is consistently higher than UA and DL (at least for the dates I'm looking at - May/June).
Feb 14, 2015, 7:42 pm
#38
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
If the EQ miles are unimportant, fly the cheapest deal you can find.
Feb 14, 2015, 8:10 pm
#39
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 275
Yeah I'd like to get the EQ miles but not at 2x the fare price. ~$800 for UA and DL and $1600 for AA.
Feb 14, 2015, 9:33 pm
#40
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
Feb 14, 2015, 10:08 pm
#41
Join Date: Aug 2012
Programs: AA PLT, SPG Gold
Posts: 2,405
Elite status qualifications [flying & earning EQ on CX]
Look up premium economy too. Sometimes it's not too much more, and can be worth it for the bonus eqp and eqm. Plus slightly better onboard experience.
Feb 15, 2015, 4:53 pm
#42
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 275
CX is charging $2272 (5/6 - 6/2) from JFK/EWR to SIN for premium economy.
H class is $2052. Might as well go Premium Economy at that price
Additional thing I found on aa.com. I can lookup flights for "All carriers" in the aa.com booking tool. For example JL 5 followed by JL 11 to get to SIN on JAL. I'm assuming this is a JL ticket that doesn't earn EQMs since it doesn't have an AA flight number but operated by JL?
H class is $2052. Might as well go Premium Economy at that price
Additional thing I found on aa.com. I can lookup flights for "All carriers" in the aa.com booking tool. For example JL 5 followed by JL 11 to get to SIN on JAL. I'm assuming this is a JL ticket that doesn't earn EQMs since it doesn't have an AA flight number but operated by JL?
Last edited by kulflyer; Feb 15, 2015 at 5:07 pm
Feb 15, 2015, 6:01 pm
#43
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: CUR
Posts: 2,170
Additional thing I found on aa.com. I can lookup flights for "All carriers" in the aa.com booking tool. For example JL 5 followed by JL 11 to get to SIN on JAL. I'm assuming this is a JL ticket that doesn't earn EQMs since it doesn't have an AA flight number but operated by JL?
Feb 15, 2015, 6:14 pm
#44
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
CX is charging $2272 (5/6 - 6/2) from JFK/EWR to SIN for premium economy.
H class is $2052. Might as well go Premium Economy at that price
Additional thing I found on aa.com. I can lookup flights for "All carriers" in the aa.com booking tool. For example JL 5 followed by JL 11 to get to SIN on JAL. I'm assuming this is a JL ticket that doesn't earn EQMs since it doesn't have an AA flight number but operated by JL?
H class is $2052. Might as well go Premium Economy at that price
Additional thing I found on aa.com. I can lookup flights for "All carriers" in the aa.com booking tool. For example JL 5 followed by JL 11 to get to SIN on JAL. I'm assuming this is a JL ticket that doesn't earn EQMs since it doesn't have an AA flight number but operated by JL?
Feb 15, 2015, 7:39 pm
#45
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 275
Right. My apologies on not being clearer. I was referring to earning as if it's an AA flight (I flew Qantas last year but it was an AA flight number on AA ticket which earned full miles). Since these 2 flights are listed as JL only and not an AA flight Operated by JL I should follow the JL earning rates. Got it.