The ultimate guide to Asia Miles from Cathay Pacific

Cathay Pacific’s frequent flyer program is called Asia Miles. Within this program, you can earn points and book flights on Cathay Pacific or on Oneworld partners.

Cathay Pacific, a Hong Kong-based company, has an extensive network of routes connecting it to major cities around the world.

The link to register for Asia Miles is here. There is no charge for creating an account.

1. You must go to this page
2. Enter your personal information
3. Click on “Verify”
4. Select your communication preferences

Cathay Pacific’s elite status are not part of Asia Miles. A separate program, the Marco Polo Club, rewards Cathay Pacific travelers for their loyalty with benefits such as lounge access, upgrades, etc.

Unlike Asia Miles, a Marco Polo Club membership costs $100 USD.

In the Marco Polo Club, there are four levels of elite status: Green, Silver, Gold and Diamond.

To achieve elite status, you must earn a certain number of Club points when flying on Cathay Pacific or its partners. The number of Club Points earned will depend on the airline, route and class of service selected.

The following chart shows the number of Club Points you need to achieve or maintain in a program year (not calendar year).

Also, it should be noted that the number of Club points resets when a level is reached.

Then, it is possible to unlock benefits with a certain number of Club points, between two statuses.

Finally, in addition to these Club points, you must travel on at least one eligible segment on Cathay Pacific wings to qualify for elite status.

This status also provides certain benefits on Air New Zealand flights between Hong Kong and Auckland, such as preferential seat selection, priority check-in and boarding, access to the Air New Zealand Business Class lounge, etc.

When you travel on Cathay Pacific or its Oneworld partners, you can earn Asia Miles.

The number of Asia Miles earned will depend on the airline, fare class and distance traveled. So you’ll earn more Asia Miles on long flights in business class on Cathay Pacific than on a regional segment in economy class.

Asia Miles has a calculator to know the number of Asia Miles (and Club points if you are registered to the Marco Polo Club) that you will earn with your flight. For example, here is what you will receive after flying from Hong Kong to Vancouver in business class.

Likewise, it is possible to use the same calculator to determine the Asia Miles that can be earned on partner flights.

Finally, it should be noted that Asia Miles can only be earned on specific routes with certain “other” partners, such as Air Canada.

In fact, it is possible to earn Asia Miles when traveling with Air Canada on the following routes:

There is one credit card in the country that earns Asia Miles directly: the RBC Cathay Pacific Platinum Visa Card. You can receive up to 40,000 Asia Miles as a welcome bonus with this card!

In addition, you will automatically be granted Marco Polo Club Green status for the first year, without having to pay the membership fee.

There is no minimum income requirement, so anyone can easily apply for this card.

When Marriott Bonvoy points are transferred to the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program, a bonus of 5,000 miles is awarded. So, in this situation, a redemption of 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points is equivalent to 25,000 Asia Miles.

Then, by using an American Express Cobalt^TM Card on a daily basis, you can effortlessly earn 3.75 Asia Miles per dollar!

American Express Membership Rewards points and RBC Rewards points transfer easily to Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program.

This is the easiest and fastest way to earn miles outside of credit card welcome bonuses.

It is possible to redeem RBC Avion points for Asia Miles on the RBC side. Since there are has several RBC credit card with generous welcome bonuses, it’s easy to rack up a lot of Asia Miles.

Finally, on the HSBC Rewards side, there are occasional transfer bonuses that are quite interesting. In fact, you can earn up to a 15% bonus when you transfer to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles.

Cathay Pacific is a member of the Oneworld alliance. Therefore, Asia Miles can also be used on flights by Cathay Pacific and a large number of partners such as American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Qantas, etc.

In addition to Oneworld airlines, it is possible to use Asia Miles with Star Alliance and other airlines (with certain restrictions and limitations):

What is interesting with Asia Miles is the that it uses charts according to a number of fixed points based on distance. So, unlike other programs where the cost in miles is dynamic, there are multiple sweetspots with Asia Miles.

This third price list is particularly interesting for building Mini Round-The-World.

As with any loyalty program, we generally earn a higher value for our reward miles within the same program.

So booking a Cathay Pacific flight with Asia Miles is the best use you can make of these miles in almost all cases.

In addition, there is no carrier surcharge on Cathay Pacific tickets.

Here is the price list for flights on Cathay Pacific.

We can see that a one-way business class flight from Toronto to Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific costs 85,000 Asia Miles (fixed price).

For comparison, a flight in the same cabin on Air Canada can cost 142,500 Aeroplan points (dynamic fare).

However, there are other Oneworld programs that may offer lower point costs, such as AAdvantage and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan, but flight availability will be greater for Cathay Pacific Asia Miles members.

In addition, it’s easier toearn Asia Miles in Canada through credit card transfer partners and application bonuses.

To book a flight with Cathay Pacific, simply log in to your account and proceed with the online booking.

As with Cathay Pacific flights, the number of Asia Miles required to book a ticket on a partner will be fixed price and zone specific.

On the other hand, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles does not have a fare schedule that we can consult to know the number of Asia Miles required for our destination.

Asia Miles does have a calculator. Just enter the details of the route you want to book and the different rates will be displayed.

Also, all flights with partners are subject to a carrier surcharge. Therefore, you will pay more taxes and fees when booking partner flights with Asia Miles.

For example, for the famous Qsuite flight from Montreal to Doha (distance of 6478 miles), you will spend 75,000 Asia Miles + $522.56 in fees (to get 75,000 Asia Miles, you will need to transfer 100,000 Membership Rewards points).

(Note that since Qatar Airways Privilege Club uses the Avios currency, it is more interesting to use it for this type of flight).

We recommend that you use the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles calculator before you start earning miles if you intend to book a ticket on a partner airline.

Then, compare with other loyalty programs before making transfers to determine the best program to book with (number of points and taxes and fees).

In most cases, prices and surcharge may be more expensive with partners. So, plan your strategy wisely.

The process of booking partner flights can seem complex. Indeed, only the following airlines can be booked online and the operation is identical to Cathay Pacific flights.

If you wish to book a flight with another partner not mentioned above, you will have to do it by phone.

As we have seen, reservations with a partner company are not always interesting. However, when you book an itinerary with at least two Oneworld partners, great opportunities with Asia Miles open up!

Indeed, with this price list, it is possible to set up “round the world” type itineraries at a good price with Asia Miles! It’s a great way to visit a few cities and try out several different airlines(AvGeek alert).

Here is an example that can be booked with this price list.

This route takes you a total of 20,207 miles. So a business class ticket will cost 185,000 Asia Miles plus taxes and fees.

Granted, I could have removed a stop or changed the distance traveled to be just under the 20,000 mile threshold to save some Asia Miles. It’s up to you to build your itinerary according to your goals!

This way, you can visit 5 different cities and try 5 different companies.

This type of itinerary brings back fond memories of the old Aeroplan round-the-world itineraries.

This way of using Asia Miles is a GREAT way to get the most value out of your miles. This isn’t the only sweetspot with Asia Miles, but it’s definitely why you should look into the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program.

To book this type of ticket, you must first find availability on each of the desired flights. Next, make sure you follow the rules of the route. Finally, simply call Asia Miles to make the reservation.

Asia Miles can also be used to upgrade to business or first class. The number of Asia Miles required is based on the distance traveled.

Again, there are several rules to follow; it is only possible to upgrade from Economy to Business class when there is no Economy Privilege class on the flight.

Secondly, not all fare classes are eligible for an upgrade with Asia Miles.

Another feature of the Asia Miles program is that it is possible to use miles to travel with a companion.

Indeed, on some roads, you can bring one person with you.

However, your ticket must be paid for in cash and in business class (J, C, D, I) or first class (F, A). As in all cases, you must determine the total cost (dollars + miles) and calculate the value of your Asia Miles.

Here is the price list for a companion award ticket (price for a round trip flight)

Finally, it is possible to exchange miles for merchandise, hotel nights, car rentals, etc.

However, we always recommend using points for what they were designed for. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles are travel points. Therefore, they should be used for airline tickets to get the best value.

Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program is often underestimated by Canadians.

The use of Asia Miles for world tours should not be overlooked, especially because of the earning these points directly or by transferring our American Express Membership Rewards, HSBC Rewards or RBC Rewards points to this program!