Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Devaluation October 2023

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.”

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.

More from OMAAT How To Redeem Cathay Pacific Asia Miles For Best Value Read more

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?