7 Brilliant Redemptions with Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

I’ve touched upon the strengths of the program in our Essential Guide to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, but in this post I wanted to take a deeper look at some specific redemption opportunities that represent great value for your Asia Miles.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Basics

Before we begin, remember that there are a variety of ways to earn meaningful amounts of Asia Miles in Canada, including transferring from Amex Membership Rewards at a 1:0.75 ratio, transferring from RBC Avion at a 1:1 ratio (with occasional 20% bonuses), and obtaining the RBC Cathay Pacific Visa Platinum Card for up to 25,000 Asia Miles in the first year, whether that’s as a new credit card application or as part of a product-switching strategy. 

Let’s also go over the key routing rules that you should be familiar with as you digest the below redemption sweet spots:

• The Asia Miles definition of a one-way redemption is rather strict: you’re only allowed to have two segments in total, so your redemption will very likely consist of a flight from your origin into one of the Oneworld airlines’ hub airports, followed by a second flight from the hub airport to your destination

• The award chart for redemptions on Cathay Pacific flights is distance-based, and reads as follows (if your itinerary consists of two segments, you add up to the two flights’ distances and look it up):

• There is no published award chart for redemptions on partner airlines; however, based on looking at the search results, one-way itineraries that include a partner airline generally seem to be priced at 5,000 more Asia Miles than the above chart for economy, premium economy, and business, and 10,000 more Asia Miles than the above chart for First Class.

  • As of September 27, 2019, one exception is the Medium distance zone, which requires 61,000 and 82,000 miles for business and First Class respectively.

• While Asia Miles used to allow a stopover on a one-way redemption, that ability has been phased out as of April 1, 2020.

1. North America to Oceania or South Africa for 85,000+ Asia Miles

Let’s start with a basic example of how Asia Miles’s distance-based award chart can be leveraged for very long journeys to distant continents.

Take note of the fact that the distance-based award chart tops out at the “Ultra-Long” distance band, which encompasses itineraries of 7,501+ flown miles. One such example might be a trip from North America to Australia or South Africa on Cathay Pacific or Japan Airlines business class, while transiting via Hong Kong or Tokyo respectively.

Cathay Pacific flies to Vancouver and Toronto, as well as a plethora of US gateway cities, out of its hub in Hong Kong. After a layover of up to 24 hours, you can continue onwards to Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Auckland, Johannesburg, or Cape Town, and you’ll only pay 85,000 Asia Miles for the whole thing.

This logic works for partner airlines as well. Japan Airlines serves Vancouver and several US cities, and after a layover of up to 24 hours in Tokyo, you’d be able to continue onto Sydney or Melbourne, all for 90,000 Asia Miles (although admittedly Japan Airlines business class space to Oceania seems very tough to find).

Both Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines hold firm places among the world’s leading airlines and have spectacular onboard products in business class.

You could even elevate to the First Class experience for 125,000 and 135,000 Asia Miles respectively, although First Class would only be available out of the US gateways and you’d only be able to enjoy it on the North America–Asia leg of the journey.

Oceania and South Africa are some of the most far-flung destinations you could reach on an Asia Miles award from North America. However, we can also generalize this sweet spot to all other global destinations that Cathay Pacific and Japan Airlines serve, such as Dubai, Bahrain, Tel Aviv, New Delhi, or anywhere in Europe (although you’d be flying “the long way around”).

2. Vancouver to Asia for 61,000+ Asia Miles

Instead of flying all the way to Oceania or South Africa, there are sweet spots when flying only to Asia as well. However, due to the distance-based nature of the award chart, departing out of Vancouver or the US West Coast will often be a better deal than departing from the East Coast.

From Vancouver, you can book a one-way flight to Tokyo on Japan Airlines business class for only 61,000 Asia Miles, since the total routing falls under the “Medium” distance band of 5,000 flown miles. You could also fly to Osaka or Nagoya via Tokyo and remain under the 5,000-mile threshold as well.

If you’d prefer to travel to Hong Kong and beyond on Cathay Pacific, then for 70,000 Asia Miles you can book a one-way journey of up to 7,500 flown miles. This means that you can either terminate in Hong Kong or continue to destinations like Taipei, Bangkok, Shanghai, or Ho Chi Minh City.

As a point of comparison, Aeroplan would charge you 75,000 miles for the same routing, so both of these bookings are a pretty good deal. However, you do need to make sure that you remain within the specified distance thresholds, as anything further would fall into the next distance band and cost you a lot more miles.

Departing from the East Coast, the price points aren’t quite as low but can still be competitive. You could fly something like New York–Tokyo–Busan for 75,000 Asia Miles in Japan Airlines business class, or 120,000 Asia Miles with the long leg in Japan Airlines First Class. 

3. Much More Cathay Pacific Premium Space than Partner Programs

It’s worth noting that, as a general rule, Cathay Pacific makes a lot more award seats on their own flights available to Asia Miles members than to partner airlines like Alaska Mileage Plan or British Airways Avios.

Therefore, if your goal is to fly Cathay Pacific business class or First Class, you’re likely to have a much easier time making the trip happen using Asia Miles than going through Cathay Pacific’s partner programs, even if the mileage cost is higher.

For example, a First Class award from North America to Hong Kong costs 110,000–125,000 Asia Miles one-way (unless it’s a mixed-cabin award, as we’ll discuss below), depending on which gateway airport you’re flying to/from. That’s quite a significant markup compared to the 70,000 Alaska miles that you might pay for a similar journey.

Similarly, booking Cathay Pacific business class for 70,000–85,000 Asia Miles one-way is more expensive compared to Alaska’s price point of 50,000 miles one-way.

However, because Asia Miles members also get access to more award seats on Cathay Pacific, there are bookings that you’d be able to make with Asia Miles but not with Alaska, so you shouldn’t discount the option of booking through Asia Miles just because the price point is higher.

This is especially pronounced if you’re looking for multiple business class seats on the same flight, or if you’re hunting down last-minute First Class award space (alas, both Asia Miles and partner programs are restricted to one First Class award seat when the flights are first loaded into the schedule about a year in advance).

4. Qatar Airways Qsuites for 90,000 Asia Miles

One of the most aspirational business class products within the Oneworld airline alliance is Qatar Airways Qsuites, which is widely regarded as the best business class product in the world. Qatar Airways even operates Qsuites on the Montreal–Doha route, giving us a redemption opportunity that’s tailor-made for Canadians.

With the Ultra-Long distance band topping out at 90,000 Asia Miles for a one-way routing no matter how long, you can fly between Montreal and Doha and add on another flight from Doha to one of Qatar’s vast network of global destinations for just 90,000 Asia Miles in total.

The tricky part is that Qatar Airways imposes heavy fuel surcharges – think $500+ for such a one-way routing. The trick here is therefore to originate in a country that has banned fuel surcharges, like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Australia, or Brazil. 

Qatar’s routes from Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Auckland, Canberra, Sydney, and São Paulo are all equipped with Qsuites, so you could originate from any of those airports, have a layover of up to 24 hours in Doha, and then fly to Montreal all for 90,000 Asia Miles and minimal taxes and fees. Indeed, I recently booked Tokyo–Doha–Montreal for the return journey of a trip in early 2020 and paid only $90 in fees.

Meanwhile, the surcharges on a single Doha–Montreal segment aren’t too bad either (about $300), and you’re still getting excellent value out of your Asia Miles with the Qsuites experience. The outbound Montreal–Doha tends to be much more expensive at around $700 in surcharges, though.

If you’re planning a trip to Asia or Australia, you should keep this sweet spot in mind if you wanted to combine a separate redemption on the outbound with a Qsuites adventure on the way back. And indeed, if you just want to sample Qatar Airways Qsuites for yourself, I’d consider this the best way for Canadians to do so.

5. Qantas business class from West Coast to Australia for 75,000 miles

If you’re in the mood for a more conventional trip to Australia rather than criss-crossing the world, you’ll note that Qantas’s San Francisco–Sydney, Los Angeles–Sydney, and Los Angeles–Brisbane flights clock in at just under the 7,500-mile threshold for Asia Miles’s “Long” distance band, which means that a one-way redemption on these direct flights would run you 75,000 Asia Miles in business class.