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| Loyalty Spotlight: Cathay Pacific Asia Miles |
| by Brian Kelly |
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The key to getting the most value out of your points and miles these days is leveraging foreign frequent flyer programs. Many foreign programs have not instituted the increases in award rates that we’ve seen in the U.S. Just look at any of the Big Three U.S. carriers when booking a flight to Europe, and your eyes will likely pop out of your head when you see rates of 200,000-plus miles each way for business class.
Luckily, there are some ways around these really high rates. Many foreign frequent flyer programs still have very low rates, which I’ve written about many times before, but today I’m going to highlight one option that maybe you have not considered before.
Cathay Pacific has a program called Asia Miles, which has a few sweet spots. The miles are easy to get. You can transfer points from many credit card programs, including American Express Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One, Citi ThankYou Rewards and even Marriott Bonvoy.
I’m going to cover how to save on taxes and fees with Asia Miles, and how to book an around-the-world bucket list trip that will save you a ton of miles.
But first, there’s currently a15% transfer bonus from Citi ThankYou Rewards. Citi generally has fewer transfer partners than the other programs, so taking advantage of transfer bonuses when available could make all of the deals I mention below even more valuable.
Save on taxes and fees for transatlantic flights on British Airways
If you’re going to Europe, one of the airlines that has the most award availability — especially in business class and first class — is British Airways. But if you’ve ever booked British Airways tickets directly, you know you are going to get hit with massive fees. However, Asia Miles offers lower fees on partner flights, such as British Airways flights.
So, I priced out a business-class flight on British Airways from Newark to London, which is 61,000 Asia Miles and just $236 in fees when booked through Cathay Pacific. The same exact flight would cost 57,500 miles and $890 in fees when booking through Alaska Airlines and 57,500 miles and $731 in fees when booking through American Airlines! By booking through Asia Miles instead of another Oneworld partner, you’re able to save on both miles and taxes, and if you take advantage of the current transfer bonus with Citi, it’s only 55,500 transferrable points.
Plan a trip around the world using Asia Miles’ Oneworld multicarrier award chart
If you’ve ever dreamed of an epic around-the-world trip, Asia Miles could be your program. The program rules are listed below, but here’s an example of where you could fly, all on a single ticket:
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