Known for its exceptional service, premium seating, and membership in the Oneworld alliance, the Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific offers travelers a chance to explore the world in comfort and style. This guide will walk you through the process of booking Cathay Pacific flights with miles, from understanding the airline’s loyalty program to maximizing your miles for the best possible travel experience.
About Cathay Pacific Asia Miles membership
Offering a plethora of opportunities to earn and redeem miles across a network of airlines and partner companies, Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles is designed to reward loyalty with a range of benefits, such as flight upgrades, premium lounge access, priority boarding, and additional baggage allowance. The airline’s former elite loyalty program, Marco Polo Club, was incorporated under the same banner in 2022.
As a member of the Oneworld alliance, Asia Miles allows participants to accumulate miles not only through flights with Cathay Pacific but also more than 20 Oneworld partner airlines, as well as a variety of non-airline partners, including hotels, car-rental companies, and retail outlets.
How to earn Cathay Pacific miles
There are a number of ways to earn Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.
Flying
Probably the easiest way to earn miles for Cathay Pacific is by flying Cathay Pacific Airways or Oneworld-member carriers. You’ll get rewards for all of those fares — just credit your partner flights to Cathay, and they’ll accrue Asia Miles.
Credit cards
The Cathay Pacific Visa card charges a $95 annual fee and earns the following Asia Miles:
- 2x Asia Miles per dollar spent on Cathay Pacific purchases
- 1.5x Asia Miles per dollar spent on dining
- 1.5x Asia Miles per dollar spent on purchases outside the United States
- 1x Asia mile per dollar spent everywhere else
The Cathay Pacific Visa card also comes with a welcome offer that’ll give you 38,000 Asia Miles once you’ve spent $3,000 in the first three months after account opening.
Although the earning rates aren’t fantastic, the welcome bonus can be a good way to quickly build a stash of Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.
Transfer partners
An even better way to earn Cathay Pacific Asia Miles is by taking advantage of transfer partners. These include:
Each credit card issuer transfers its currency to Cathay Pacific at a 1:1 ratio, meaning 1,000 points will become 1,000 Asia Miles. With so many transfer partners available, it becomes easy to earn enough Asia Miles to find and book award tickets.
Shopping and dining
In addition to dining destinations in mainland China, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Macao, Cathay Pacific has tons of shopping partners through which you can earn Asia Miles, from American Tourister and Delsey Paris to Travelex and Expedia.
Travel
Cathay also has strong partnerships with all kinds of travel companies, whether you’re looking to book hotels or rental cars, purchase gas, or buy a vacation package (think: Avis and Hertz for cars, Shell and Esso for gas, and Raffles, Hilton, and Marriott Bonvoy for hotels). Each partnership allows you to earn Asia Miles with your purchases.
The fare types available on Cathay Pacific
Cathay Pacific has four cabin classes available to travelers:
- Economy: The standard economy seat
- Premium economy: More legroom and better food
- Business class: A high-end menu and lie-flat seats offering superior comfort
- First class: Huge seats with an ottoman, personalized service, and the ability to dine with a partner
Although Cathay’s premium products are generally a little older than other airlines’, they’re fabulously comfortable. And the service is excellent, no matter your cabin class.
How to book Cathay Pacific with miles
You can book Cathay Pacific flight awards using Asia Miles as well as miles from partner airlines. Provided you do it right, this can really play out to your advantage.
That’s because each airline charges a different amount of miles for a flight — even for the same flights, meaning Cathay Pacific’s own program isn’t even necessarily the best way to book Cathay Pacific–operated flights.
Confused? You’re not alone. It can be frustrating to figure out which airline charges which amount of miles — and that’s where point.me comes in.
Take this example of a one-way flight between Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) and Seoul, South Korea (ICN). As you can see above, point.me recommends booking with Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles, not Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.
That’s because it’s significantly cheaper to book with Alaska Mileage Plan than Cathay Pacific Asia Miles — you’ll spend half the points on the exact same award space.
How to redeem Cathay Pacific miles to get the best deal
Cathay Pacific uses a distance-based award chart for its flights and separate pricing for its Oneworld partners, making it easy to see where the best deals lie. For the cheapest award availability, look for ultra-short-haul flights, starting at just 7,500 miles in economy.
Looking to book a round-the-world ticket? Cathay Pacific also has a Oneworld multi-carrier award chart, which lets you build a RTW itinerary for a fixed number of Asia Miles.
There are 13 award zones and a maximum flight distance of 50,000 miles, and while it’s based on the distance flown from your departure city, there’s also a ton of flexibility allowed.
Booking Cathay Pacific first class with miles
There aren’t an awful lot of good deals left when it comes to redeeming miles for Cathay Pacific first class. This is due to two pretty brutal devaluations within recent years. The first came from Cathay Pacific itself, which increased the cost of booking first class by more than 100% in some cases.
The second came from Alaska Airlines, which had long offered the best deal for Cathay Pacific first-class tickets on long-haul flights. That evaporated when Alaska revamped its award chart in early 2024.
But if you want the premium experience while getting a great value for your miles, there’s one decent redemption left. Alaska Airlines’ award chart is still the best for this — it’ll charge you just 22,500 miles one way for a first-class ticket up to 1,500 miles in distance.
Booking a Cathay Pacific partner flight with miles
You can book a Cathay Pacific partner flight and redeem Asia Miles to do so. Unfortunately, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles doesn’t maintain an official award chart for Oneworld partners; instead, you’ll need to use Cathay’s online calculator to estimate how much it’ll cost.
Once you’ve got your rough estimate, you’ll log into your Asia Miles account and search for partner awards. If you’re looking to book a flight on Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Austrian Airlines, Bangkok Airways, Gulf Air, Lufthansa, Shenzhen Airlines, and SWISS International Air Lines, however, you’ll need to call in to book — you can’t do it online.
More ways to redeem Cathay Pacific miles
Redeeming your Asia Miles for flights is going to be the best use of your miles, whether it’s with Cathay Pacific or a partner program, such as American Airlines’ AAdvantage. But if you truly must, there are other ways to redeem Asia Miles too, including on hotels, car rentals, and shopping.
The worst ways to redeem Asia Miles
You’ll get the best value when you redeem miles for award tickets, particularly if you manage to score a seat in the Cathay Pacific first-class cabin. You can also use them for the following — although we generally don’t recommend it unless you’re flush with miles.
In our opinion, the worst ways to redeem your Asia Miles are:
- Hotels and car rentals
- Seat selection
- Extra baggage
- Miles-plus-cash bookings
- Online shopping
- Experiences
- Vacation packages
- Donations
Tips for finding Cathay Pacific award seats
As always, the best way to find award space is to remain flexible when traveling. This can be difficult if you have a rigid timeline, such as a school schedule, but keeping your dates and airports broad gives you the opportunity to nab seats when they become available. Cathay Pacific releases its award seats 360 days in advance, so that gives you plenty of time to finesse your plans.
If you’re looking for a particularly sought-after award, such as first class, you may also want to consider positioning to book an award. Positioning is the process of flying to another airport on a separate ticket so you can book award space without having to start from your home airport, which may not have availability.
Still, as we all know, booking award flights can be a little complicated — after all, how are you supposed to memorize which partner is going to give you the best value for your miles? With so many options, it can be overwhelming. And Cathay Pacific awards in particular can be tough to find, especially if you’re looking for first- or business-class award space — both are highly sought-after seats the airline would prefer to sell for cash rather than miles.
Instead of searching through each individual partner’s website for award availability, point.me’s search is one and done. Live results show you exactly what award ticket you can book at any given moment, whether it’s in the first-class cabin or way back in economy.
Frequently asked questions about booking Cathay Pacific flights with miles
What are Cathay Pacific’s airline partners?
Cathay Pacific has nearly 25 airline partners:
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Air New Zealand
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- Bangkok Airways
- British Airways
- Fiji Airways
- Finnair
- Gulf Air
- HK Express
- Iberia
- Japan Airlines
- LATAM
- Lufthansa
- Malaysia Airlines
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways
- Royal Air Maroc
- Royal Jordanian
- Shenzhen Airlines
- SriLankan Airlines
- SWISS International Air Lines
What are Cathay Pacific’s transfer partners?
Cathay Pacific accepts the following transferable points currencies from its partners:
- American Express Membership Rewards
- Capital One Miles
- Citi ThankYou Points
- Bilt Rewards
What are Cathay Pacific’s tier status levels?
Cathay Pacific has four levels of elite status:
- Green: Earned by joining the program. Allows you to earn miles.
- Silver: Earned after 300 status points. Grants benefits such as priority check-in, free seat selection, and priority baggage handling.
- Gold: Earned after 600 status points. Provides additional benefits such as complimentary premium seating, extra checked luggage, Oneworld Sapphire status, and airport lounge access.
- Diamond: Earned after 1,200 status points. Offers additional benefits such as first-class check-in counters, additional cabin baggage allowances, and first-class lounge access.
How do I earn Asia Miles with Cathay Pacific?
Earning miles on Cathay Pacific can be done in a variety of ways, including spending on a credit card, flying with Cathay or Oneworld members, taking advantage of a transfer partner, and shopping, dining, or booking travel.
How do I redeem miles with Cathay Pacific?
You can redeem miles with Cathay Pacific on Cathay Pacific’s website, where you can book award flights for business class, first class, economy, and premium economy.
How do I claim mileage on Cathay Pacific?
If you’ve flown with Cathay Pacific in the past and had your loyalty number on your ticket, you can still receive credit for your flight. You’ll just need to fill out a form to claim your missing miles.
How many Asia Miles do I need for a free flight?
Though the amount of miles you’ll need for a free flight varies depending on the distance you’re traveling and other factors, Cathay Pacific awards start at 7,500 Asia Miles one way.
Can I book Cathay Pacific flights with United miles?
No. Cathay Pacific is a member of Oneworld, and United is a member of Star Alliance, so you can’t use United miles for Cathay Pacific.
Can I use American Airlines miles on Cathay Pacific?
Yes, you can use American Airlines to book flights with Cathay Pacific by searching on the AA website.
Can I use SkyMiles on Cathay Pacific?
No. Delta is a part of SkyTeam, not Oneworld, so you cannot use Delta SkyMiles for Cathay flights.
Can I use Amex points on Cathay Pacific?
Yes, you can use your Amex points for flying Cathay Pacific. To do so, you’ll want to transfer your Amex points to Asia Miles.
Can I transfer Chase points to Cathay Pacific?
No, unfortunately, Chase points don’t convert to Asia Miles.
Do Asia Miles expire?
Yes, Cathay miles expire after 18 months of inactivity.
Can I transfer or gift my Asia Miles to someone else?
Yes, you can transfer Asia Miles as long as the recipient is a Cathay Pacific member. You’ll just have to pay a service fee.
Can I book a flight for someone else with my Asia Miles?
Yes, you can book a flight for someone else using your Asia Miles. You simply need to find award space and book using their name.
Can I book a Cathay Pacific flight using a combination of miles and cash?
Yes, you can book cash-and-miles flight tickets with Cathay Pacific. However, you’ll get better value from your points when booking an award ticket in full.
Getting started on point.me
Cathay Pacific business-class and first-class seats are some of the best around, but figuring out the award chart, learning the frequent flyer program, and actually booking an award flight can be a frustrating experience.
Rather than spending hours searching travel dates and transfer partners, point.me’s real-time search and booking engine can do the work for you. With live award-space results and recommendations on how best to redeem your points, you’ll barely need to lift a finger. Try it for free today.
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