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Cathay Pacific Credit Card Now Offering 60,000-Mile Sign-Up Bonus

Brendan Dorsey
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Brendan Dorsey is an Associate News Editor at TPG who covers nearly everything for TPG including aviation, credit cards, points, miles, ride-hailing services and more. He previously worked for TIME.
April 02, 2018
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3 min read
Cathay Pacific A350 Business Class review
Cathay Pacific Credit Card Now Offering 60,000-Mile Sign-Up Bonus
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The Cathay Pacific Visa Signature Card has just increased its sign-up bonus to the highest it's ever been.

Now through June 30, 2018, you can earn up to 60,000 miles when signing up for the Cathay Pacific Visa Signature Card — earn 35,000 bonus miles after spending $2,500 within the first 90 days and earn an additional 25,000 bonus miles after spending an additional $7,500 within the first 12 months.

Based on TPG's valuations, Cathay Pacific's Asia Miles are worth 1.4 cents apiece, which means those 60,000 miles are worth $840. But that's a pretty steep spending requirement to earn the full 60,000 miles — a total of $10,000 in the first 12 months.

The card comes with a $95 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. Its category bonuses are decent for an airline credit card — you'll earn:

  • 2x miles on Cathay Pacific purchases
  • 1.5x miles on dining in the US and abroad
  • 1.5x miles on international purchases (those made outside the US)
  • 1x miles on all other purchases made inside the US

Still, in pretty much all cases, you're better off using a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve (3x points on dining and travel), the Platinum Card® from American Express (5x points on airfare) or the Chase Freedom Unlimited (1.5% cash back on purchases).

If you're interested in earning Asia miles and holding a card with great category bonuses, you'll want to take a look at the Citi Premier® Card , since you can transfer Citi ThankYou points to Asia Miles. It's currently offering a 60,000-point sign-up bonus after $4,000 spent in the first three months, and a $95 annual fee. You'll earn 3x points on all travel purchases, 2x points on dining and entertainment purchases and 1x points on everything else.

Earning and Redeeming Asia Miles

Remember that Cathay Pacific is a member of the Oneworld Alliance, so you can use Asia miles to book flights on all Oneworld carriers like American Airlines, British Airways and Qatar.

Asia Miles is transfer partners with American Express Membership Rewards (with a 1:1 transfer ratio), Citi ThankYou Rewards (also 1:1) and Starwood Preferred Guest (1:1 with a 5,000-mile bonus for every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer).

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Asia Miles uses a distance-based award chart, which can make for some interesting redemptions. You can also add multiple stopovers and open jaws to your itinerary.

You could fly in JAL business from the East Coast to Japan for 120,000 Asia miles round-trip.

Or fly from New York (JFK) to Paris (CDG) in American's business class and in Finnair's business back for 80,000 miles round-trip.

American Airlines 777 business class.

Be sure to read our guide to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, since booking trips through the program can get quite complicated.

Featured image by Use American AAdvantage miles for excellent partner redemptions, such as Cathay Pacific business class.