Quick help on buying miles
Jan 4, 2015 | 8:45 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 94
Quick help on buying miles
I have about 38K Asia miles. I was trying to redeem it for a ticket from BLR to SFO. Totally 66K miles are required for this leg and it wasn't available for my dates.
So I tried redeeming it for HKG to SFO, surprisingly there is availability. The miles required is 48K.
Should I just buy miles from the Cathay website (10K miles@300USD) or buy the miles from other websites like sellmyrewards.
Can I ask any friends to transfer miles or book for me? Does it work instantly or take 2-3 days.
So I tried redeeming it for HKG to SFO, surprisingly there is availability. The miles required is 48K.
Should I just buy miles from the Cathay website (10K miles@300USD) or buy the miles from other websites like sellmyrewards.
Can I ask any friends to transfer miles or book for me? Does it work instantly or take 2-3 days.
Jan 4, 2015 | 6:54 pm
#2
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Hong Kong
Programs: Marco Polo, Asia Miles, Hotels.com
Posts: 34
I tried topping up my miles on Cathay and transferring it from my family members before - truth be told, I find it rather expensive both ways. If you can find the miles on other websites for a lower price, I suggest doing that instead 
Jan 4, 2015 | 7:16 pm
#3
Ambassador, Hong Kong and Macau
Join Date: May 2009
Location: HKG
Programs: Non-top tier Asia Miles member
Posts: 22,134
Buying miles from cathaypacific.com means you get them instantly. Same with transferring miles. Not sure about the other methods.
P.S. sellmymiles does not appear to be a Asia Miles partner. Only points.com seems to be.
P.S. sellmymiles does not appear to be a Asia Miles partner. Only points.com seems to be.
Last edited by percysmith; Jan 4, 2015 at 7:24 pm
Jan 4, 2015 | 7:44 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Little dot in Asia
Programs: AA-PP, HL-DM, MR-LTP, HY-LTG
Posts: 26,017
I have about 38K Asia miles. I was trying to redeem it for a ticket from BLR to SFO. Totally 66K miles are required for this leg and it wasn't available for my dates.
So I tried redeeming it for HKG to SFO, surprisingly there is availability. The miles required is 48K.
Should I just buy miles from the Cathay website (10K miles@300USD) or buy the miles from other websites like sellmyrewards.
Can I ask any friends to transfer miles or book for me? Does it work instantly or take 2-3 days.
So I tried redeeming it for HKG to SFO, surprisingly there is availability. The miles required is 48K.
Should I just buy miles from the Cathay website (10K miles@300USD) or buy the miles from other websites like sellmyrewards.
Can I ask any friends to transfer miles or book for me? Does it work instantly or take 2-3 days.
Jan 4, 2015 | 11:37 pm
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 94
The math works in my favor even though I pay for the HKG trip.
The BLR-HKG trip is about USD400. The HKG-SFO (EP seat) after purchasing miles will cost USD350. So total around 750$.
This is still cheaper than paying for BLR-SFO, which is about $1200-1800 on Cx.
On other airlines, the cheapest I found was $1100.
Jan 5, 2015 | 2:38 am
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 94
If I transfer using points.com, is the transfer instant ?