Name: American Express® Gold Card
Brand: American Express

Asia Miles is the loyalty program of Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific and HK Express. These airlines connect Hong Kong with the world, as Cathay Pacific’s route network covers many major cities in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America.

The airline is also a Oneworld member, so you can earn and redeem miles with other major carriers like Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and British Airways. You can use its Oneworld award chart to book round-the-world trips on partner airlines or get a solid deal on Cathay Pacific flights.

Further, you can earn Asia Miles with hotels, car rental companies, retail partners and the program’s cobranded credit card. Asia Miles is also a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One and Citi ThankYou Rewards, so earning miles in the program is easy.

There are many ways to redeem your miles, but we recommend concentrating on flight rewards. These will give you the best value per mile, especially when you book tickets in premium cabins.

Here is everything you need to know about Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program.

What are Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles partners?

Cathay Pacific is a Oneworld member, which means you can earn and redeem Asia Miles with the following Oneworld airlines:

Alaska Airlines
American Airlines
British Airways
Finnair
Fiji Airways
Iberia
Japan Airlines
Malaysia Airlines
Qantas
Qatar Airways
Royal Air Maroc
Royal Jordanian Airlines
SriLankan Airlines

Additionally, Asia Miles partners with several airlines outside the Oneworld alliance. Be sure to read the specifics of each partnership, as some may have restrictions on reciprocal mileage earning and redeeming.

The non-Oneworld alliance partners include:

Air Canada (Star Alliance)
Air China (Star Alliance)
Air New Zealand (Star Alliance)
Austrian Airlines (Star Alliance)
Bangkok Airways
Gulf Air
LATAM
Lufthansa (Star Alliance)
Shenzhen Airlines (Star Alliance)
Swiss (Star Alliance)

Cathay Pacific elite status

Cathay Pacific has an elite status program that awards frequent flyers benefits like lounge access and advance seat reservations. These benefits can make the travel experience smoother and more luxurious when flying on any Oneworld carrier.

To earn status with Cathay Pacific, you’ll need to reach the following number of status points per year to upgrade or renew your elite status:

Green: 0 points
Silver: 300 points
Gold: 600 points
Diamond: 1,200 points

Meeting the status points requirements can qualify you for one of Cathay’s status tiers. You’ll earn status points when you fly on paid flights operated by Cathay Pacific or any of its partners. The number of earned status points depends on the airline you’re flying with, the route you’re flying and the class of service you’re traveling in.

You can use this calculator on Cathay Pacific’s website to calculate how many status points you’ll earn.

Cathay Pacific Earning Calculator — CATHAY PACIFIC

Check out the Cathay website for more information on elite status tiers and their respective benefits.

How to earn Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Cathay Pacific A350 — JIMMOYHT/SHUTTERSTOCK

You can earn Asia Miles both on and off the plane — here’s a look at all the best ways you can stock up on Asia Miles.

Earn Asia Miles by flying

When you fly with Cathay Pacific, you’ll earn Asia Miles based on the fare class you’re booked in and the zone you’re flying to, not on how much you spend. This means that longer flights in premium cabins will earn more miles.

You can view all earning rates on the Asia Miles website and use the program’s earning calculator to price out specific flights. For example, I priced out a ticket from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) in the W fare class (premium economy), which typically starts around $2,100 round-trip. This ticket earns 7,500 Asia Miles one-way.

Cathay Pacific Earning Calculator Showing SFO to HKG — CATHAY PACIFIC

Flights on Cathay Pacific's airline partners also earn miles based on distance flown and fare class. You can use the Cathay Pacific calculator to calculate the number of Asia Miles you'll earn on partner flights.

Asia Miles Calculator Showing An American Airlines Flight — CATHAY PACIFIC

Earn Asia Miles when you stay at hotels

You can earn Asia Miles instead of hotel points at thousands of hotels worldwide, including when staying at Accor, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and IHG brands. Look closely at these earning rates before you opt to earn Asia Miles instead of hotel points. Sometimes, you may find that you’re better off earning hotel points if you can redeem them for high-end hotel stays.

Convert hotel points to Asia Miles

Grand Hyatt in San Francisco — ROBERT ALEXANDER/GETTY IMAGES

If you have a stash of hotel points you want to unload, you can transfer them to Asia Miles. Again, ensure the transfer ratio makes sense for your specific redemption.

Hotel group	Transfer ratio
Accor Live Limitless	2:1
Best Western Rewards	5:1
Hilton Honors	10:1
IHG One Rewards	5:1
Marriott Bonvoy	3:1, with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 60,000 points transferred.
Shangri-La Circle	1:1
World of Hyatt	2.5:1
Radisson Rewards	10:1

Earn Asia Miles with your favorite rental car company

Asia Miles partners with a number of rental car companies, including big names like Avis, Hertz and National. Just note that you likely won’t earn rental car points if you opt to earn Asia Miles on your car rental. Make sure to assess which points you value more before you book your car.

Use the Asia Miles credit card for purchases

Cathay Pacific offers a cobranded credit card in the U.S. in partnership with Synchrony Bank. The Cathay World Elite Mastercard® earns 3 miles per dollar spent on Cathay Pacific and HK Express purchases, 2 miles per dollar spent on dining and eligible dining delivery services and 1 mile per dollar spent on all other purchases.

Additionally, the card is offering an elevated bonus of 38,000 miles after spending $3,000 with your card in the first 90 days of account opening. You’ll also receive several perks when flying Cathay Pacific, including priority check-in and boarding.

The information for the Cathay World Elite Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Transfer miles from credit card programs

Alternatively, you can transfer rewards from four programs with transferable currencies directly to Asia Miles:

American Express Membership Rewards
Bilt Rewards
Capital One
Citi ThankYou Rewards

Each has a transfer ratio of 1:1, so 10,000 points or miles equals 10,000 Asia Miles.

With larger welcome bonuses and higher earning rates than the Cathay World Elite Mastercard, you may consider a card that earns points or miles you can transfer to Asia Miles instead.

Here are some of our favorite transferable rewards-earning cards:

American Express® Gold Card: Find out your offer and see if you are eligible for as high as 100,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $8,000 on purchases within the first six months of card membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer.
The Platinum Card® from American Express: Find out your offer and see if you are eligible for as high as 175,000 Membership Rewards points after spending $12,000 on purchases with the card in the first six months of card membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer.
Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Cards: Earn 75,000 bonus miles after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening, plus receive a $300 credit to use on hotel and vacation rentals booked through Capital One Travel in the first cardholder year.

How to redeem Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Unlike many U.S. carriers, Cathay Pacific has continued to price award tickets based on a standard award chart. This means you’re not subject to dynamic pricing, and awards on both Cathay Pacific and its partners can be redeemed at a predictable rate — as long as there’s open award space.

That said, redeeming your miles can be a bit confusing. The loyalty program has three different award charts that cover different types of redemption. Here’s a quick overview:

Asia Miles award chart: Prices award tickets on Cathay Pacific-operated flights.
Airline partners award chart: Prices award tickets on Oneworld and nonalliance partner carriers.
Oneworld multicarrier award chart: Prices multistop award tickets operated by two or more Oneworld partners. You can use this to build round-the-world award tickets.

Note that the airline does pass on fuel surcharges, which are priced based on region and not fare type. Check out Cathay’s updated fuel surcharge chart to find out the cost.

Book Cathay Pacific flights with Asia Miles

While Cathay Pacific no longer publishes an official award chart for its flights, it does have standard award pricing based on the flight distance. This means that you'll pay more Asia Miles for longer flights.

We ran several test searches and found that awards should be priced according to the following chart. This only applies to award tickets where Cathay Pacific is the only operating airline.

Distance	Economy	Premium economy	Business class	First class
1 to 750 miles	7,000	11,000	16,000	25,000
751 to 2,750 miles (Type 1)	9,000	20,000	28,000	43,000
751 to 2,750 miles (Type 2)	13,000	23,000	32,000	50,000
2,751 to 5,000 miles	20,000	38,000	58,000	90,000
5,001 to 7,500 miles	27,000	50,000	88,000	125,000
7,501-plus miles	38,000	75,000	115,000	160,000

You'll notice that the 751- to 2,750-mile band has two prices. Type 1 refers to itineraries starting or ending in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Nepal or Sri Lanka. All other destinations in this distance band will be priced based on Type 2 pricing.

Book partner flights with Asia Miles

Asia Miles doesn’t officially publish an airline partner award chart. All partner awards have a mileage surcharge on top of Cathay Pacific awards of the same length.

For example, Cathay charges 7,000 miles for a flight up to 750 miles in length on its own metal, but booking a flight of this length on partner airline Alaska Airlines requires 10,000 miles, reflecting the partner mileage surcharges.

Cathay Pacific Award Ticket From San Francisco to Portland — CATHAY PACIFIC

To identify the partner award pricing, you’ll need to search on Cathay Pacific’s website. Just enter your origin, destination and airline. You will then see the pricing for all available cabins. Note that select partners are not eligible for online bookings.

Book award tickets online

You can book award tickets operated wholly by Cathay Pacific online. Just head to the award redemption page and sign in. Enter your search criteria at the center of the screen, and click the “Search flights” button to initiate your search.

The flight award search homepage for Cathay Pacific Asia Miles — CATHAY PACIFIC

However, the process for actually booking award tickets is a bit complicated. You can only book tickets for certain partners online. The following airlines show award space and should be bookable on the Asia Miles website:

Air China
Alaska Airlines
British Airways
Cathay Pacific
Finnair
Iberia
Japan Airlines
LATAM
Malaysia Airlines
Qantas
Qatar Airways
Royal Jordanian
S7 Airlines
SriLankan Airlines

If you’re hoping to book one of these airlines, follow the directions above for booking a Cathay Pacific award ticket. If not, follow our guide to searching for Oneworld award space to find the award ticket you’d like to book. Then, call Asia Miles when you’re ready to book.

Book a round-the-world ticket with the Oneworld multicarrier award chart

You can book a round-the-world ticket for relatively few miles using this chart. These awards are priced based on the distance flown and your cabin of travel. You can book these awards in any class you’d like, including first class. Here’s a look at pricing:

The routing rules are pretty straightforward:

You’re allowed a maximum of five stopovers, plus two transfers and two open jaws.
You can fly up to 50,000 miles.
You must return to the original point of departure.
You must fly at least two Oneworld partners, not including Cathay Pacific or Cathay Dragon.
You can’t add nonalliance partners to a multicarrier award.
You cannot travel in premium economy.

To book one of these tickets, find award space and ensure your ticket meets all the restrictions. Then, call Asia Miles to book.

Use Asia Miles for upgrades and companion awards

You can also use your miles to upgrade paid Cathay Pacific flights or take a companion with you on your journey. Here's a look at the companion award chart:

Cathay Pacific Companion Award Chart — CATHAY PACIFIC

And here's the upgrade award chart:

Cathay Pacific Upgrade Award Chart — CATHAY PACIFIC

Redeem Asia Miles for merchandise and other travel

You can also use your Asia Miles for merchandise, hotel stays and other nonair travel redemptions. That said, this is rarely a good idea. You almost always get a lower cent-per-point value when compared to booking premium airfare; in some cases, you get less than half of TPG’s June 2025 valuation of 1.3 cents per mile.

Our advice is to skip these redemptions if you can. They provide poor value, especially if you travel often and can use your Asia Miles for future flights.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles sweet spots

Cathay Pacific first- and business-class flights

Unsurprisingly, using Asia Miles for Cathay Pacific tickets can be a good deal. While the loyalty program doesn’t have the world’s best pricing on Cathay Pacific awards, you can still score a solid deal on premium cabin tickets, especially if you’re departing from the West Coast.

Here’s a look at Asia Miles’ one-way award pricing from U.S. destinations to its hub at HKG:

Route	Economy award price	Premium economy price	Business-class award price	First-class award price
Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) to HKG	38,000 miles	75,000 miles	115,000 miles	160,000 miles
Chicago's O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to HKG	38,000 miles	75,000 miles	115,000 miles	160,000 miles
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to HKG	27,000 miles	50,000 miles	88,000 miles	125,000 miles
New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to HKG	38,000 miles	75,000 miles	115,000 miles	160,000 miles
SFO to HKG	27,000 miles	50,000 miles	88,000 miles	125,000 miles

Note that business- and first-class award availability across the Pacific can be very difficult to find.

Round-the-world tickets with the Oneworld multicarrier award chart

The Oneworld multicarrier award chart can be extremely valuable for booking round-the-world tickets on Oneworld carriers. You can use these awards to book a ticket with up to five stopovers. These tickets span multiple regions if your ticket is 50,000 miles or fewer.

Be sure to allow plenty of time and flexibility to plan and book a round-the-world itinerary.

British Airways award tickets

Asia Miles charges lower fuel surcharges than other Oneworld partners on British Airways award tickets — even in premium cabins. You may pay slightly more miles than when booking with other carriers, but the cash savings may be enough to warrant the higher miles cost.

For example, you can fly round-trip from JFK to London's Heathrow Airport (LHR) in British Airways business class for 126,000 Asia Miles and $818 with no peak/off-peak pricing.

British Airways Award Ticket on Cathay Pacific's Website — CATHAY PACIFIC

Booking through the American Airlines AAdvantage program would set you back 115,000 miles plus nearly $1,783 in taxes and fees. British Airways Club adds similar surcharges, though you may be able to lower those costs by redeeming additional Avios.

If you’re transferring points or miles to book a British Airways ticket, be sure to compare the award pricing through British Airways and Cathay Pacific; the latter may offer comparable award prices with fewer taxes and fees.

Bottom line

Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles program may not be on your radar as the best program for earning (and redeeming) rewards in the Oneworld alliance. While it isn’t perfect, there are some excellent deals to be had. You’ll get the best deals when redeeming for Cathay Pacific flights from the West Coast to Hong Kong and multicarrier round-the-world tickets, especially if you book in premium cabins.

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American Express® Gold Card

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Rewards rate

Rewards rate
Rate	Category
4X	Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
4X	Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
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Intro offer

As High As 100,000 points. Find Out Your Offer.

Annual fee

$325

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Recommended credit

Excellent to Good

Pros + cons

Pros

Valuable dining and food-related credits
Flexible rewards with airline and hotel transfer partners
Multiple travel and purchase protections
No foreign transaction fees
Access to Amex Offers for additional savings (enrollment required)

Cons

Not as useful for those living outside the U.S.
Some may have trouble using Uber and other dining credits

More details

You may be eligible for as high as 100,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $8,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership. Welcome offers vary and you may not be eligible for an offer. Apply to know if you’re approved and find out your exact welcome offer amount – all with no credit score impact. If you’re approved and choose to accept the Card, your score may be impacted.
Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
Earn 5X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotel stays booked through AmexTravel.com or the Amex Travel App™.
Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked through AmexTravel.com, the Amex Travel App™, or purchased directly from airlines.
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