Cathay Pacific Asia Miles will be devaluing mileage redemption rates in a few months. But don’t worry, folks, as Cathay Pacific is doing us a favor, assuring us that that the program is “confident that the changes will deliver more value to members.”
In this post:
Cathay Pacific’s new mileage award charts
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles will be changing its award charts for bookings as of October 1, 2023. Cathay Pacific publishes different award charts depending on the type of ticket you’re booking, so let’s take a look at a couple of them.
One award chart is for travel on Cathay Pacific. Here’s the old award chart, valid for bookings through September 30, 2023:
Here’s the new award chart, valid for bookings as of October 1, 2023:
As you can see, some of these changes for premium cabins are brutal:
- For ultra long haul flights, business class awards go from 85,000 miles to 110,000 miles (29% increase), while first class awards go from 125,000 miles to 160,000 miles (28% increase)
- For long haul flights, business class goes from 70,000 miles to 84,000 miles (20% increase), while first class awards go from 110,000 miles to 125,000 miles (14% increase)
- For medium flights, business class awards go from 45,000 miles to 58,000 miles (29% increase), while first class awards go from 70,000 miles to 90,000 miles (29% increase)
We are seeing some minor reductions in award costs in some regions. Longer economy award flights are decreasing in cost by around 10%, while some shorter economy flights are increasing in cost by around 25%.
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles also has its distance based oneworld multi-carrier award chart. Here’s the old award chart, valid for bookings through September 30, 2023:
Here’s the new award chart, valid for bookings as of October 1, 2023:
As you can see, the premium cabin award increases are fairly consistent. At the low end, first and business class awards are increasing by as little as 5,000 miles one-way, while on the high end, first and business class awards are increasing by up 40,000 miles one-way.
Cathay Pacific justifies mileage devaluation
Is there anything more patronizing than an airline announcing negative changes, and then publishing FAQs about the changes, claiming that the negative changes are actually supposed to be good for members? Well…
Here’s one of the FAQs from Cathay Pacific:
Previously I could redeem a flight award at a lower cost. Are you devaluing Asia Miles?
We are confident that the changes will deliver more value to our members. This will ensure that we are able to provide more redemption options to our members, so they can redeem their seats on their preferred flights.
C’mon Cathay Pacific. If you’re going to make up your own FAQs, shouldn’t you at least answer the questions you’re asking yourself? “Hey, are you devaluing your miles?” “Ummm, well, we’re confident that the changes will deliver more value to our members.” So is that a yes or a no?
Then there’s this question:
Why are you increasing the price of redemption tickets?
We strive to provide a better Cathay Membership Programme to our members and to continue to increase seat availability, we do review our programme on a periodic basis.
Yes, Cathay Pacific is increasing the cost of redemption rates in order to provide a better program for members!
The only half honest answer is this one:
There is a big increase in miles requirement especially for Premium Economy, Business and First cabin classes, how did you come up with the award chart?
There are both increases and decreases in the different zones and cabins. They are part of the holistic review of the programme which is based on the current market situation, and competitiveness of our offerings.
My take on Cathay Pacific Asia Miles changes
What’s my take on this Cathay Pacific Asia Miles devaluation?
- In fairness to Cathay Pacific, airfare to and from Asia is significantly higher than pre-pandemic, due to the extent to which mainland Chinese carriers haven’t rebuilt their networks
- Cathay Pacific’s award availability is currently so dismal that it almost doesn’t matter what award pricing is like, because good luck actually finding award space
- Airlines always love to claim that they’ll make more award seats available after a devaluation, but I don’t typically find that to be the case
- While I love flying with Cathay Pacific, the Asia Miles program has limited appeal to me, and that’s even more the case after this devaluation
Bottom line
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles is adjusting award costs for bookings as of October 1, 2023. The increases in many markets are steep, as we’re seeing first and business class award costs increase by nearly 30% in many markets. Meanwhile we’re seeing some modest reductions to some economy class awards.
These changes are rough, and even worse is Cathay Pacific telling members that we should basically be grateful, as the changes are designed to deliver more value to members.
What do you make of these Cathay Pacific Asia Miles changes?
Asia Miles was pesky in awarding miles. I had six flights and zero mile was given.
I think the devaluation is pretty fair — given the demand and premium they command on cash prices. What's really sticker shocked me recently with Cathay's redemption is their cancellation fee — US$120 for a flight cancellation?!
Event SQ only charges $75 on a saver award ticket cancellation. Instead of an immediate redeposit of miles, Cathay also take up to 3 weeks. This just seems a bit out of touch with the rest of the industry (no or lower change fee post-COVID).
Not a huge devaluation. Most of their customers are probably going on shorter journeys from the Chinese bay area.
Ha... looks very similar to Cathay Employee communications where they hand out pay cuts to employee groups accompanied by an FAQ that tries to spin your freshly received pay cut as a good thing.
Qu: "I have just received a pay cut. Why have they done this to me?"
Ans: "We are confident that your new lower pay scale is better for you overall. Your lack of fixed remuneration incentivises you to work a lot...
Ha... looks very similar to Cathay Employee communications where they hand out pay cuts to employee groups accompanied by an FAQ that tries to spin your freshly received pay cut as a good thing.
Qu: "I have just received a pay cut. Why have they done this to me?"
Ans: "We are confident that your new lower pay scale is better for you overall. Your lack of fixed remuneration incentivises you to work a lot harder for us for less money. Furthermore, by not locking your pay scales into any fixed contract, rather a fully flexible and amendable handbook, allows us to adjust these salaries down at will, should you start making too much money, which in turn increases profits to the company which is good for you overall."
These changes are probably the final nail in the coffin. As someone based in HK, Cathay is an obvious choice. But they are making it harder and harder to justify that choice.
I've never been able to redeem any tickets ever since after covid. It's ridiculous. For me personally, I only want to redeem business class or first tickets. Otherwise what's the point? Just pay for economy. If this opens up more space for redemption, I am all for it.
It amazes me how so many people can afford business class though. They all cant be redeeming can they????
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles hired a lot of Qantas has beens who are past their used by date. Expect to see a lot worse coming from Asia Miles.
CX and it’s Lifestyle Manager treat those most loyal as idiots . Making statements that are simply disingenuous and expecting us to believe the hype is reflective of the current state of this airline . I have been loyal to CX since 1991 and given this and other more recent devaluations to the once excellent loyalty program( Marco Polo Club ) now defunct , I will no longer provide my support .
They are being truthful in one way, if it costs more miles to redeem a ticket then it'll slow people's progress and more seats will be available. Seems clear they are trying to push people into redeeming more on economy.
After flying Cathay as our preferred airline for over 20 years, we decided a year ago not to waste our time anymore. Their pricing is high, their loyalty to members is low, so now we just go for the best deal and forget about collecting miles that cannot be used.
Hi Ben! This is the tip of the iceberg I suspect. The recent trend of programs offering miles for purchase with huge discounts or bonuses worries me. If airlines can get people to buy points upfront at a certain value and then devalue that point at a later date, they stand to make a lot of money. Do you fear this?
Thanks for the review! I live in Hong Kong and loyal CX flyer. Wondering if there is a better OneWorld program to join to get overal better redemption availability? Somehow I feel that eg BA/Qantas program members have better availability.
For the win: I’m only CX silver and love how this still gives priority check in and lounges acces
“Holistic review “? Did they just admit they were smoking some shit to make up this new chart?
In other words, an airline long-considered to be one of the best carriers in the world has become a middling has-been player with so-so service and rude/ condescending/ insulting treatment of their Chinese customers.
To herald this, they increase their award prices while not offering any availability.
Why did they even bother upping the redemption points required when they've already (effectively) shut off the spigot on redemptions anyway? Like, why further insult your customers...
In other words, an airline long-considered to be one of the best carriers in the world has become a middling has-been player with so-so service and rude/ condescending/ insulting treatment of their Chinese customers.
To herald this, they increase their award prices while not offering any availability.
Why did they even bother upping the redemption points required when they've already (effectively) shut off the spigot on redemptions anyway? Like, why further insult your customers when you didn't need to?
Pre-Covid CX, you'll be missed. RIP.
I also noticed now when I go to check a partner award (BA) it no longer shows a preview of the taxes & fees at the bottom like it used to. It appears you need the required miles in your account to view the taxes and fees.
Just atrocious! Currently, AsiaMiles has the lowest surcharge on flying BA's metal so this is a game changer for the worse but the worst part is the OneWorld Multi Carrier redemption. I have booked an 18,500-mile redemption this year for 165K miles in business and that same itinerary will cost 230K miles as of October, that's a 40% increase. How is that acceptable? It's so insulting that they're claiming that this change is for the good of the consumer.
Hi Ben, I was stunned that you did not take note of the decrease in long-haul economy award redemption in Cathay's own chart, which is a huge bright spot. It was right there in the chart and it's hard to miss. Your entire article only discusses the negative impacts on premium cabin redemption. But what about economy award? Can you please spare a thought for the tens of thousands of passengers, many of whom are...
Hi Ben, I was stunned that you did not take note of the decrease in long-haul economy award redemption in Cathay's own chart, which is a huge bright spot. It was right there in the chart and it's hard to miss. Your entire article only discusses the negative impacts on premium cabin redemption. But what about economy award? Can you please spare a thought for the tens of thousands of passengers, many of whom are Chinese students/HK locals and many more are readers of this blog, who either cannot afford or do not bother booking premium cabins and are relying on CX economy award tickets to burn credit card points for family visits and other travel purposes? Premium cabin tickets (award redemptions) are at best lifestyle choices; from capacity perspective they are almost irrelevant. It's the economy tickets (including award) that serve 80-90% of the plane and take care of most people's essential travel needs. So I was disappointed you do not make an effort to cover this side of the story that would have far greater impact to the majority of passengers.
You must be new to this site which focuses primarily on premium travels. I am sure there are other sites you can find that focus on economy travels.
Hi there, sorry I've been a reader of this blog for years. Sadly there are not "many sites" in the blogger sphere that focus on economy award redemptions; most of them have the same focus as this blog; so browsing Boarding Area (on this news for example) I am not learning anything other than premium cabin devaluation. How all the blogs miss out on the bright spot is puzzling to me. I am not suggesting...
Hi there, sorry I've been a reader of this blog for years. Sadly there are not "many sites" in the blogger sphere that focus on economy award redemptions; most of them have the same focus as this blog; so browsing Boarding Area (on this news for example) I am not learning anything other than premium cabin devaluation. How all the blogs miss out on the bright spot is puzzling to me. I am not suggesting that Ben and bloggers should not highlight and criticize the premium cabin devaluations, but bloggers should provide fair and balanced coverage for all award price movements, and in this case, economy award APPRECIATION is the obvious elephant in the room for its oddity (in an era of massive devaluations). I disagree with brushing this aside as a non-story because "we focus on premium travels." A story has many aspects and this is one, why not just mention it as a side note?
I appreciate that you and many others only care about premium cabins, but I thought it's important to make a point that "our side" exist too. As far as this article is concerned, it's truly not that difficult to add another paragraph discussing "what's the bright spot in this terrible devaluation? --- Look at long-haul economy award for flights to/from Hong Kong and the potential use case." Yes, Ben certainly won't take advantage of this "bright spot" after its implementation, but isn't blogs supposed to inform travelers of all aisles?
@Anonymous
Well this is a result of the Americanized propaganda in an echo chamber. Thanks to news, blogs, podcast, influencers, and other mass social media platforms. You sell stuff that people want to listen not what they should listen (otherwise no views, clicks, ads, therefore no revenue).
Which leads to, premium travel, or any other aspiration sells. No one wants to read or see depressed people cramped in a metal tube for 14 hours eating...
@Anonymous
Well this is a result of the Americanized propaganda in an echo chamber. Thanks to news, blogs, podcast, influencers, and other mass social media platforms. You sell stuff that people want to listen not what they should listen (otherwise no views, clicks, ads, therefore no revenue).
Which leads to, premium travel, or any other aspiration sells. No one wants to read or see depressed people cramped in a metal tube for 14 hours eating frozen microwave food. There is also the credit card aspect of which you get 'more value' redeeming premium cabin. Who would want to apply to a card if the value to redeem in coach is a fraction of premium cabin. A 1.7% return is always more attractive than a 0.9% return.
Bloggers need to sell content to make money. I've run into few a these influencers who stayed in motels or hostels and flying LCC out of pocket, but could not praise enough about their Four Seasons stays or all the premium cabin seats when they are paid for. I'm just pointing out that most bloggers are not living the life you see. It's work.
So you need propaganda to drive America and your wallet. The more divided the more revenue generated it seems.
That being said, while economy might serve most of the essential travel needs. It's the premium cabin that subsidizes these 'essential travel needs'. Just as what the award chart reflects. That's capitalism working there, even in China.
Anyone else notice that QR awards are not showing on CX for the past couple weeks?
yes! I have noticed this... very odd
Additionally though, a couple of times in the past the taxes and fees on Qatar booked through CX were hundreds and hundreds of dollars more than any other carrier... quite odd.
It is interesting to see the reactions here so unitarily negative, while locals are actually hailing for the reduction in Economy Award Pricing (the graph stated that but seems everybody missed that here)
While taking economy class would be a minority among the readers in this blog, 20K miles Hong Kong to Australia is a steal.
Of course, CX first started a 15% citi transfer bonus before announcing this.
Meh.. This is worrisome. It was one of the two best ways to get to Australia, New Zealand, or Asia for me with good award availability. AsiaMiles routing rules are what made it special. I could do DFW to HND to SYD in JAL business class for 90k miles and $200 in taxes/fees. Not amazing but there was always availability and combined with a transfer bonus or a double transfer bonus since Asia Miles often...
Meh.. This is worrisome. It was one of the two best ways to get to Australia, New Zealand, or Asia for me with good award availability. AsiaMiles routing rules are what made it special. I could do DFW to HND to SYD in JAL business class for 90k miles and $200 in taxes/fees. Not amazing but there was always availability and combined with a transfer bonus or a double transfer bonus since Asia Miles often did their own and it was great. Also... The super long way around the world to Australia was great. We did DFW to DOH to SYD last year for 112.1k miles in Qsuites and their first class on the A380. Best part was we intentionally did a 22 hour layover and got to truly enjoy Qatar's amazing first class lounge. Avios pricing is still solid, but I'm super worried only having one option for these types of bookings.
Here's a quote from an e-mail from CX this morning:
"I’m writing to let you know that our flight award charts will be updated for redemption tickets issued on or after 1 October 2023. This revision will include increases and decreases in the miles required to redeem flights with Cathay Pacific and our partner airlines. Our award charts were last updated in 2018. Back in January, we committed to doubling the number of award seats...
Here's a quote from an e-mail from CX this morning:
"I’m writing to let you know that our flight award charts will be updated for redemption tickets issued on or after 1 October 2023. This revision will include increases and decreases in the miles required to redeem flights with Cathay Pacific and our partner airlines. Our award charts were last updated in 2018. Back in January, we committed to doubling the number of award seats available per Cathay Pacific flight this year as there were in 2019. To continue offering you increased seat availability, we’ve decided to introduce the following changes after careful consideration...(new award chart)"
So they are arguing that in order to give out more redemption opportunities, they have to raise the price for award tickets. Sad! At least they give us an advance warning (hello Alaska!). In the meantime, we can still use the old award chart up to Sep 30, according to the e-mail.
You missed the biggest change. Companion redemption. You need to have a business class ticket or higher moving forward to be eligible to redeem a companion ticket the way I read it. I cannot redeem my miles for my wife and kids if i don't fly business. Huge hit to me and will almost push me out of flying with Cathay if that’s the case. Not a smart move at all!!
Waiting for someone to blame China on this.
"Damn you, China, it's your fault!"
That what you're looking for?
Happy to help, you kooky kook you.
Now we need someone to defend China.
Considering how much AA charges for its metal on long haul flights - this is expected and is not as bad as the AA increases.
AA wants 900K for RT in business from US to Australia on AA.
Imagine if grocery stores took the same approach as frequent flier programs. "In response to customer feedback, beginning Jul 31, the price of bananas will be raised to $1.99/lb." "In order to provide a better grocery experience, the price of eggs, milk, and bread will be increasing in certain markets." It's almost like the marketing departments have this game of coming up with the most Orwellian statements to make their devaluations sound like a benefit...
Imagine if grocery stores took the same approach as frequent flier programs. "In response to customer feedback, beginning Jul 31, the price of bananas will be raised to $1.99/lb." "In order to provide a better grocery experience, the price of eggs, milk, and bread will be increasing in certain markets." It's almost like the marketing departments have this game of coming up with the most Orwellian statements to make their devaluations sound like a benefit we have all been asking for.
We heard it all nowadays, businesses spin the words around to create a positive impression.
Service downtime in telecommunications? "We are doing periodic maintenance to improve your experience and/or our services".
Flight reschedule? "In order to serve you better, we have change the schedule of your flights to..."
Well, thank you, it seems that businesses know our needs better than ourselves :D
Restaurants do this now.... add 5-20% service fees at the end for an "enhanced experience"
Another nail in the coffin of Hong Kong. Shame on you Cathay.
They’re now recruiting in mainland China for cadet pilots and cabin crew. Add two more nails.
The only points worth collecting nowadays are Hilton Honors points.
I know what I am talking about as a recently minted LIFETIME DIAMOND Hilton member.
G'Day
You're not even close to the real @DCS
Just to be clear, these changes will not affect partner award costs, correct? Only on Cathay metal?
@ R.E -- Partner awards are impacted as well. You can see the new oneworld award chart in the post. Cathay Pacific doesn't have an award chart for simpler partner redemptions, but I imagine those prices are going up as well.
I just cannot understand why Cathay is unable to provide a chart for partner award bookings flown on one partner. Surely those types of partner awards are more common than people using the oneworld chart that applies to bookings flying on multiple partners.
@Ben are you 100% sure about this? I can’t see anything on the notice that says partner only awards are changing. For example, an AA flight from LAX-SYD in business class currently costs 75K whilst a business class ticket on the same route on Qantas costs 90K. The website is still showing that you can book partner only tickets, so is this devaluation simplifying everything so that it all costs the same regardless of airline,...
@Ben are you 100% sure about this? I can’t see anything on the notice that says partner only awards are changing. For example, an AA flight from LAX-SYD in business class currently costs 75K whilst a business class ticket on the same route on Qantas costs 90K. The website is still showing that you can book partner only tickets, so is this devaluation simplifying everything so that it all costs the same regardless of airline, route, etc… and it’s purely based off of distance? I don’t understand why they would still publish partner award charts if they’re getting rid of those.
Yes, I recently paid 75,000 miles for a JAL flight Osaka to LAX (biz). Doesn't seem to fit into the current One World chart. I will say BA wanted 90,000 for same flight. It seems all the airlines are increasing the miles required...I remember when I could budget 200,000 points for roundtrip to Europe for two, now it is closer to 300,000-400,000
"We stopped flying Cathay Pacific to give more space for higher-paying customers"