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Cathay Pacific First Class is:
- awesome: full trip report
- cheap: 67,500 American Airlines miles one way between the United States and East Asia
- easy to book with miles
Cathay Pacific operates six-seat First Class cabins between the United States and Hong Kong, so there aren’t many seats to give away, and yet Cathay Pacific manages to regularly offer one seat up to 11 months before departure on tons of flights.
Cathay Pacific is also one of the airlines that releases a lot of its unsold premium inventory as award seats as departure approaches. (United and Lufthansa are two other airlines like that.)
I wanted to figure out the pattern for this last-minute release of award space, so I checked Cathay Pacific routes between the United States and Hong Kong for the next two weeks.
- What is the pattern of Cathay Pacific First Class award space between the United States and Hong Kong for the next two weeks?
- How can you search for Cathay Pacific award seats?
- How can you book Cathay Pacific award seats?
Cathay Pacific flies to five destinations in the United States (and adds Boston in May 2015). Newark is operated by a plane without First Class, so First Class is only available to/from:
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- San Francisco (SFO)
- New York (JFK)
- Chicago (ORD)
I searched all four routes in both directions from the next two weeks on ba.com (via Award Nexus).
From United States to Hong Kong
Days with award space in next two weeks:
- Los Angeles: 6
- Chicago: 4
- New York: 3
- San Francisco: 0
All the award space is in the next week, except for one day in week 2 with an award flight from Chicago to Hong Kong. The best days for award space are the next four days.
From Hong Kong to the United States
Days with award space in next two weeks:
- Los Angeles: 11
- Chicago: 5
- New York: 5
- San Francisco: 4
Every route has more award space heading back to the United States than heading to Asia.
Just like the other calendar, there is much more award space is in the next week, than there is 8-14 days out.
Booking Cathay Pacific First Class
Cathay Pacific is a member of oneworld, so its award space can be booked with American Airlines and US Airways miles. Neither collects fuel surcharges on Cathay Pacific award flights.
To book with American Airlines or US Airways, call the airline whose miles you’re using.
- American: 800-882-8880
- US Airways: 800-622-1015
American Airlines charges 67,500 miles each way to Hong Kong or anywhere in Southeast Asia in Cathay Pacific First Class.
US Airways charges 120,000 miles roundtrip in Cathay Pacific First Class to Hong Kong, 160,000 if you continue to Southeast Asia, and 140,000 if you fly all the way to Australia.
We know that the US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® will no longer be offered as soon as the US Airways and American Airlines frequent flyer programs integrate, some time in early 2015. That means that the chance to earn 40,000 bonus miles after first purchase will disappear soon. Check out all the places you can go with just the sign up bonus.
Recap
Cathay Pacific First Class award space is easy to book at the last minute. The best time to book is within the last week or even 4 days before departure.
There is ample award space in First Class on all American routes in both directions with Los Angeles having the best award space.
Book with American Airlines or US Airways miles and pay zero fuel surcharges. The US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® offers 40,000 bonus miles after first purchase.
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A couple questions..
Did you search for cathay award space on their website? Do i need to be an asia miles member to search for it?
I searched BA.com. –> https://milevalu.wpengine.com/free-first-class-next-month-searching-ba-com-to-redeem-american-airlines-miles/
Hmmm, in relation to the sweet spot on US Air’s award chart where you book first class from Central America or Caribbean to SE Asia for 120k, this would seem to be impossible to book more than one seat. Since Cathay only opens up one first class seat in advance, by the time they release more within the last week for the SE Asia trip, in all likelihoods, your C.A./Caribbean trip would already be over, unless they are back to back trips. Does that seem right?
I was hoping to book that sweet spot for my wife and myself, but it looks impossible, unless one of us sits back in business class.
I’ve got an end of year trip with my wife that finishes in Bali. We were hoping to use AA miles to transfer to Cathay and route through Hong Kong to NY in first class. The trip should end January 4th but I was told award space is really hard to come by then. If we leave our trip open ended, based on your advice, we should be able to find award space around the 4th for something later that following week? Would we be safe to wait then until the last minute to book that first class trip home?
Good observation. Thanks! One side comment: although both AA and US Air do not charge fuel surcharge, 4-7 days before the travel day would trigger close-in ticketing fee of $75, which should be taken into account even when we are willing to wait till that close.
Yes, very true. Thanks for reminding everyone.
This information is exactly what I needed to know. Great post. I am going to be in Hong Kong for a while and I want to try to book an award seat back to NY a week or so before like you have illustrated. But how do I call AA from Hong Kong on that 800 number? Should I learn how to Skype? Can you dial 800 numbers on Skype? I’ve run into problems calling airlines from European countries before, I’ve never mastered using phones in foreign countries.
I use my gmail account on my computer to call US 800 numbers for 1 cent per minute. There are a lot of ways to call the US.
Thanks, I think I should be able to manage that!
Ok, so ideally I’ll want to call around New Years for an award booking 8 days or more out? If they don’t have award space until the 4-7 days out, I suppose 75 isn’t too much to pay if it ensures a first class spot home.
I was curious though-
1) Does it cost the same amount (67,500) of points to fly from Hong Kong to LAX as Hong Kong to JFK? If so I’d take it all the way to JFK but I could fly to LAX if it’s cheaper and use the WN CP to get home from there.
2) Is there a best way to book the trip if I’m originating in Bali? Like do I need to find a single flight to get to Hong Kong and book the first class trip from there or can I book it as Bali to JFK routing through Hong Kong? Not sure how to go about that, this will be my first time using points for an award booking other than southwest and hotels. Thanks in advance, this has been an incredibly helpful post and thread of comments!
1. 67,500 miles each way in First Class between North America and Asia 2 (Hong Kong, China, S.E. Asia), so you don’t save any miles by flying into LAX vs. JFK.
2. DPS-HKG-JFK can be two flights on Cathay Pacific and you can book it as one award for 67,500 miles in first class (the first leg will be business, the long one first class).
If it’s your first booking, you may want to hire my award booking service.
Scott, that’s super helpful, thanks so much for the response. Just a heads up, I don’t want you to think I wasn’t thinking of your service when booking the trip- I did email you a few months back but my dates were around Dec. 20th-Jan.4th. I think your response was that award space would be too hard to come by for that time. We jumped on that mistake a couple months ago to book tickets from NY- Milan-Budapest-Kuala Lumpur- Bali all for 675. Now I just need the flight home. I really want to do that on Cathay Pacific first class but it sounds like we’ll have to wait until close to coming home to be able to book it.
Useful post, thank you!
Have you observed the same thing for business class seats, or do they open up space earlier?
Very different pattern for Biz Class space. Section on it here: https://milevalu.wpengine.com/how-to-get-to-angkor-wat-in-siem-reap-cambodia-with-miles/
Hi there – thanks for this very helpful article.
I just booked my wife and I in biz class from JFK to HKG for next May (going to look to upgrade to F a week out), and then on from HKG to DPS.
On that leg, however, we are stuck in economy for the ~5 hour flight each direction.
My question to you is, how best do you recommend I check for upgrades to that leg and from J to F on the JFK-HKG legs? Constant checking of the BA site, CX’s own site, or something else?
Thanks so much!
Try wandr.me