An online waiting room where interested customers can enter will give promotional codes to the lucky winners who can then book Cathay Pacific tickets with zero base fare.

Membership in the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program is mandatory to participate, though it’s likely possible to change the number during check-in for status benefits if one has oneworld status with another carrier.

Each eligible member can secure one round-trip ticket with only taxes, fees, and surcharges due at the time of sale.

All flights and travel dates must be decided at the time of booking. The minimum stay period for the ticket is 2 days, and the maximum stay period for the ticket is 1 month.

The complimentary tickets are offered from the gateways used by Cathay Pacific in the U.S. and Canada (other countries either already had their raffles or they’re still coming up).

• U.S. gateways: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York (JFK)
• Canadian Gateways: Toronto, Vancouver

Here is the landing page for U.S. participants:

Starting May 17 2023 at 5:00 PM PST/8:00 PM EST, a limited number of round-trip tickets to Hong Kong will be available from our US gateways. These tickets will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis. Each eligible member can secure one round-trip ticket with only taxes, fees, and surcharges due at the time of sale.

Eligible members at time of launch will be able to book one (1) economy round-trip ticket from one of our US gateways (Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York (JFK)) to Hong Kong on a first come, first serve basis.* All flight tickets are sponsored by Hong Kong International Airport.

To be eligible for the exclusive ticket offer, you must meet the following criteria:

• Be a Cathay member

These are the terms & conditions for this offer originating in the U.S.:

Download (PDF, 177KB)

This is easy enough, keep in mind though that “taxes, fees and surcharges” mean that the price could still be quite substantial but base fare zero is attractive IF you can manage to sit it out in Economy Class.

This is the landing page for Canadian participants:

Starting May 17 2023 at 6:00 PM PST/9:00 PM EST, a limited number of round-trip tickets to Hong Kong will be available from our Canadian gateways (Vancouver or Toronto). These tickets will be available on a first-come-first-serve basis. Each eligible member can secure one round-trip ticket with only taxes, fees, and surcharges due at the time of sale.

To access this exclusive offer, become a Cathay member today.

Ticket sales close on 23 May 2023, or until all tickets are sold – whichever comes first. All taxes, fees, and surcharges are at the cost of the traveler.

Here is the T&C sheet for participants in Canada:

Download (PDF, 175KB)

If you plan to participate in this campaign this evening, it’s a good idea to have a firm idea ahead of time when you’re actually able to travel, as demand is most likely going to outpace availability. This means you have to decide and book fast.

You should also take into consideration that hotel rates in Hong Kong have risen sharply, so please check the pricing for hotels and also the weather in HK. We’re nearing the summer, and it gets pretty hot/humid there. You can book up to nine months later though, which might be an attractive proposition.

Another item to note is that all tickets are non-transferable, non-reroutable, non-exchangeable, and only the tax & surcharges are refundable. I’m trying to get one of these tickets (fingers crossed) and see how they price out, especially which charges are attached.

Conclusion

Another round of Cathay Pacific’s and HKIA’s famous Free Ticket Giveaway will start tonight for residents in North America and there will be a separate campaign (online waiting room) for both Canada and the U.S. to raffle away these free tickets.

I included the landing pages for both countries above. If you’re interested I suggest to read it closely, familiarize yourself with the t&c of the campaign, and also try to firm up a travel date in advance that works in terms of your time availability and the pricing for local hotels either in points or cash.

Cathay has recently modified the way that pilots are paid, so extended flying (and taxiing time) would now result in increased payment, hence the motivation of pilots to spend as much rolling time as possible.

This deliberate running out the clock and pushing duty time costs the airline money, causes congestion on the tarmac and also delays passengers who have to catch connections.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, Cathay has sent an internal memo that this is no longer acceptable and the carrier will now take record of pilots who engage in such action, with consequences to follow.

Remember that you can always email us, send a message via Facebook or use Twitter and include photos too. We’ll try to cover a Compensation Clinic case here regularly.

I was thrilled when Cathay Pacific announced that their First Class would be making a comeback on some routes and that long-haul routes would be added soon as well.

Since I had to go on a quick trip to Hong Kong, I decided to book Cathay Pacific and was lucky enough to find First Class availability from Tokyo using Alaska Mileage Plan miles which I thought was a decent investment as the flight was almost five hours.

Unfortunately, there was some chaos at the check-in, and it took almost 40 minutes to get checked in, taking away from my time at the JAL First Class Lounge. Interestingly, Cathay also tries to push First Class passengers to their very own lounge at Haneda rather than telling them that there is an actual First Class lounge of JAL that they’re entitled to use.

On board it was the usual, comfortable First Class seat and good service by the crew, including a handwritten welcome note and a glass of preflight champagne. It wasn’t going to last.

After one glass of champagne, they ran out and served champagne from Business Class. Of course I noticed that immediately and asked what was going on.

Turned out they had only ONE BOTTLE of champagne for First Class catered, and the cabin was full, all six seats were taken, so you do the math. 6x 1 glass, and the bottle is empty.

Who in the world is organizing Cathay’s catering? I wasn’t the only passenger irritated by that, a lady from Hong Kong was even more irate.

Anyway, for me, it was back to my favorite Cathay Delight after this:

What was also strange was that there was no Western dining option on the menu. Not even a Japanese one, just two Chinese dishes, one with fish and one with beef.

I’m not too fond of fish dishes in the air and chose the beef option. Even though the presentation was nice, the flavor wasn’t for me.

I think in international First Class, you should have AT LEAST one international option on the menu, to just have two choices, and both are Chinese dishes is just odd.

The crew promised to forward the complaints of passengers to customer care. After three weeks, I hadn’t heard anything, so I opened a file myself.

After just sending a lukewarm reply not offering anything, I asked specifically what compensation Cathay was offering for this and suggested either a bottle of the champagne delivered by mail or an upgrade certificate as they sent me before (which was rather difficult to use).

Thank you for your latest email.

Having received further communication from our Customer Experience team, as a goodwill they would also be sending you a red wine from the First. As such, you will receive one bottle of champagne and a bottle of red wine.

​​​​​​​As the delivery can be arranged swiftly, mailing address in Hong Kong would be preferred. However, it is not mandatory for the address to be in Hong Kong. You may provide us with your preferred mailing address and we will arrange for the delivery accordingly.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards

Customer Care
Cathay Pacific

That sounded fine to me, but then there were problems. For one, delivering them to Thailand was apparently not possible as, according to Cathay, the receiver needs a liquor license to receive alcohol shipments in Thailand!? Never heard of that. Paying import duty, yes, but a liquor license?

Their sales office in Bangkok couldn’t take delivery either, as I suggested to them. They also couldn’t ship to Japan.

After like 10 emails back and forth and them really trying to find a solution, they eventually decided to credit 25,000 miles to my Asia Miles account.

Thank you for your email.

As promised, I have arranged to credit 25,000 Asia Miles to your membership account. These miles will reflect in your account within 24 to 48 hours.

Thank you once again for contacting us.

Kind Regards

Customer Care
Cathay Pacific

I had actually not used the account for many years, and we had to reset the access and whatnot to get it going again. You can’t just sign up a new account with Cathay, their system is very good at detecting that you actually have an existing account with them, even if you change a few parameters. Frustrating to the max.

Anyway, the 25,000 miles were credited, and now I have to find some use for them. I could probably supplement the miles with a few more from Marriott or American Express and then look for a decent redemption, either intra-Asia or something else.

Conclusion

This was an unexpected Compensation Clinic case as I previously found Cathay Pacific First Class to be rather impeccable, even with their shorter routes in Asia. I knew they wouldn’t serve Krug Grande Cuvee but to actually have ONE bottle of champagne for the entire six-passenger cabin is cost-cutting at its best and totally unacceptable. This wasn’t a case of thirsty First Class passengers drinking the entire stock of several bottles – they only had one, and that’s simply a shoddy way of preparation.

I was also irritated by the lack of meal options and the issues at check-in, but those things were just minor. At least Cathay Pacific owned up to their shortcomings, and I have to say that the Customer Care representative really tried hard to make this champagne delivery work. In the end, it’s not worth running into trouble with that and the miles are probably the most straightforward way of compensating. A lot easier than the paper standby upgrade voucher I got twice in the past and which was difficult to use at all.

The campaign started in February (read more here), and it appears that Cathay Pacific slowly rolls it out country by country, and it will be available for flights ex-US on May 17, 2023.

You can access Cathay Pacific here.

What do you need to do to participate?

You must sign up for Cathay Pacific’s frequent flier program and await the invitation email on May 17, 2023.

Cathay’s Email:

Exclusive ticket offer: Launching May 17

28 April 2023

Get ready for take off! Keep an eye on your inbox on  May 17th to receive a unique code to claim this limited-time offer. Ensure everyone you know is signed up to Cathay to have more opportunity to secure tickets. There is a limit of one ticket per transaction while supplies last. We look forward to welcome you to rediscover our beloved home city.

*Terms and conditions may apply. Limited quota applies on first-come- first served basis

Hong Kong Free Ticket Giveaway:

Hong Kong To Distribute 700,000 Free Airline Tickets March – August 2023

Conclusion

Hong Kong’s government essentially funds this campaign, and one goal must be to keep the city’s airlines afloat.

Usually, a large percentage of “free” tickets like this go unused because people don’t find the time off due to other expenses involved with traveling (hotels and spending money).

I assume that these free tickets are gone very fast on May 17, 2023, and I wonder how Cathay distributes the invitations to participate.

The conversion bonus with most programs DOES NOT APPLY if you have converted partner points to Asia Miles from April 1, 2022, to April 11, 2023.

You can access this offer on Cathay Pacific’s website here.

The base bonus for Shangri-La and IHG One Rewards does apply even if you have converted between April 1, 2022 – April 11, 2023.

The additional bonus, however, does not.

The bonus with the following partners is only applicable if you have NOT converted between April 1, 2022, and April 11, 2023:

Conclusion

Cathay Pacific prefers bonusing only those who have NOT converted partner points to Asia Miles for roughly a year. However, would it not make more sense to offer this to everyone if the goal is to get some cash in from the partners?

Terms and conditions of this offer:

1. The “Points Conversion Campaign Q2 2023” (“Promotion”) is valid from 12 April 2023 (starting from 00:00 GMT+8) to 11 May 2023 (until 23:59 GMT+8), both dates inclusive (“Promotion Period”).

2. This Promotion is applicable to Cathay members (“Eligible Members”) who successfully convert their points from the 13 participating loyalty programmes (“Participating Loyalty Programmes”) into Asia Miles and fulfil the requirements of Offer 1, Offer 2 and Offer 3 during the Promotion Period will be entitled to Bonus Asia Miles (“Bonus Miles”).

3. Participating Loyalty Programme are listed below:World of Hyatt

   	Partners	Loyalty Programmes
   1	Accor Hotels & Resorts	ALL – Accor Live Limitless
   2	Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas	Anantara Vacation Club
   3	Esso	Esso Smiles Driver Rewards
   4	FLYERT	FLYERT Miles
   5	Hilton	Hilton Honors
   6	InterContinental Hotels & Resorts	IHG One Rewards
   7	Jinling Hotels & Resorts	Jinling Elite Program
   8	Landis Hotel & Resorts	Landis Club
   9	Marriott Vacation Club	Marriott Vacation Club
   10	Shangri-La Circle	Shangri-La Circle
   11	Shell	Shell GO+
   12	The Langham Hotels and Resorts	OUIDA
   13	World of Hyatt	World of Hyatt

4. Offer 1 (“Offer 1”): Eligible Members who successfully convert their points from Shangri-La Circle will be entitled to 30% Bonus Miles; from IHG One Rewards will be entitled to 25% Bonus Miles; from Esso Smiles will enjoy an eCoupon of extra HKD160 worth of Synergy™ Supreme + premium petrol.

5. Bonus 25% Offer (“Offer 2”): Eligible Members who have not converted any points from Travel, Hotel, Car & Transport’s Loyalty Programme (including the 13 Participating Loyalty Programmes, Best Western Rewards, Macau Golf & Country Club, Marriott Bonvoy and Regal Rewards) between 01 April 2022 (starting from 00:00 GMT+8) to 11 April 2023 (until 23:59 GMT+8) , and successfully convert their points from Shangri-La Circle, IHG One Rewards and Esso Smiles Driver Rewards will be additionally entitled to 25% Bonus Miles (apart from the Bonus Miles of Offer 1).

6. Bonus 15% Offer (“Offer 3”): Eligible Members who have not converted any points from Travel, Hotel, Car & Transport’s Loyalty Programme (including the 13 Participating Loyalty Programmes, Best Western Rewards, Macau Golf & Country Club, Marriott Bonvoy and Regal Rewards) between 01 April 2022 (starting from 00:00 GMT+8) to 11 April 2023 (until 23:59 GMT+8) , and successfully convert their points from the other Participating Loyalty Programmes (exclude Shangri-La Circle, IHG One Rewards and Esso Smiles Driver Rewards) will be entitled to 15% Bonus Miles.

7. To join the Promotion, Eligible Members are required to convert their points from any of the Participating Loyalty Programmes into Asia Miles (including auto-conversion) during the Promotion Period (i.e. the points conversion date (“Activity Date”)) for the relevant conversion transactions shown on the Eligible Member’s Cathay monthly statement must in between 12 April and 11 May 2023, and the regular Miles must be credited to the Eligible Member’s account by the 15 July 2023).

8. Bonus Miles of Offer 1 will be credited to the Eligible Member’s account by 15 July 2023, separate from the regular miles converted from the Participating Loyalty Programme, and may split into different statement transactions.

9. Bonus Miles of Offer 2 and Offer 3 will be credited to the Eligible Member’s account by 31 August 2023 with the description of “Points Conversion Bonus Q2 2023”, separate from the regular miles converted from the Participating Loyalty Programme.

10. The Bonus Miles of Offer 1,  Offer 2 and Offer 3 will be based on the regular miles converted from points of Participating Loyalty Programmes, and will be rounded up to the nearest whole Asia Mile. Bonus Miles will only be awarded for the regular miles earned by points conversion. Members cannot earn Bonus Miles on direct miles earned from hotel stays.

11. Members who convert points from Best Western Rewards, Macau Golf & Country Club, Marriott Bonvoy and Regal Rewards into Asia Miles are not eligible to join this Promotion but are still able to earn regular miles in accordance with the earning proposition listed on www.cathaypacific.com.

12. Offer 1, Offer 2 and Offer 3 are combinable. The amount and frequency of Asia Miles converted from participating loyalty programmes are not limited during the promotion period.

13. The minimum conversion amount and conversion unit vary by Participating Loyalty Programmes. Terms and Conditions of the Participating Loyalty Programmes apply. Please refer to each individual partner’s webpage or each partner’s page on www.cathaypacific.com for details.

14. The registered name of the Eligible Member on Cathay membership account must be the same as the name in the Participating Loyalty Programme. Asia Miles Limited will not accept any liability in relation to any loss incurred due to incorrect information provided by the Eligible Member.

15. Once the points of Participating Loyalty Programme have been successfully converted to Asia Miles, the request for conversion cannot be cancelled or reversed.

16. The Bonus Miles awarded in this Promotion are not transferable or exchangeable for cash or credit.

17. The Eligible Member’s Cathay membership account must be valid when the Bonus Miles are to be credited.

18. Asia Miles Limited reserves the right to alter or terminate this Promotion or amend the terms and conditions at any time without prior notice.

19. All matters or disputes will be subject to the final decision of Asia Miles Limited.

20. Other Cathay Membership Terms and Conditions apply.

21. In case of any inconsistencies between the Chinese and English versions of these Terms and Conditions, the English version shall prevail.

Cathay Pacific has accepted requests for status matches on an individual basis, but this time the company designed a landing page though it’s unclear what exactly they intend to do with it.

Cathay has recently revamped their loyalty scheme which used to be a two-tier system of Asia Miles and Marco Polo Club.

Long-standing Cathay members may have been part of the Marco Polo Club. Last year, they “enhanced” the membership program by combining Marco Polo Club with Asia Miles program, creating a single unified membership structure.

And now this ill-fated project with the status match page that admittedly hasn’t been publicized or pushed by Cathay (it was reported by the Executive Traveler earlier).

You can access their landing page with the status match request form here (now displays an error).

A Cathay Pacific spokesperson told the Executive Traveller team that the online status match application form has been only “temporarily removed.”

There wasn’t really any official campaign attached to this site, according to the spokesperson, it was simply a surface to request a match based on existing tier levels with other loyalty programs.

You could still do the same through the regular channels, simply write to member services of Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. Of course there is no guarantee that they are going to approve it.

Typically (in the past) they granted a match of one level below the one you’re matching from so one would end up with either Asia Miles Gold or Silver.

Since this wasn’t a campaign with fix parameters, the landing page said

… ”If you’re a frequent flyer member with another airline, you may be eligible to match your membership account to Cathay membership and enjoy a range of respective status benefits, like priority check-in, lounge access and extra baggage allowance.” …

So members could submit pretty much any airline’s status for review and see if it gets accepted. There are no guarantees, of course.

Conclusion

Maybe this Cathay Pacific status match will come back at some point in some official form. I’d prefer when there are firm terms & conditions that members can rely on. To claim that acceptance of a match is subject to some individual review just leaves the door open to trouble.

Cathay Pacific still operates with a limited capacity on their worldwide network. Even though they are now bringing back flights, including some aircraft with First Class the airline is still a shadow of its former self. Hopefully, Cathay Pacific will come back strong, a status match campaign would make sense to scoop up more customers but of course, you also need the seat and route capacity to serve them.

Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll try to cover them here several times a week.

You can access Cathay Pacific here.

A reader messaged us about difficulty getting in touch with Cathay Pacific, and I asked them to put the experience on a note and send it to us:

I attempted to contact Cathay Pacific (CX) for a membership query ahead of an upcoming flight and would not have imagined this process to be so laborious.

Be it through the hotline, WhatsApp, Twitter or Messenger, getting in touch with CX is anything but plain sailing. Hotlines at CX have always been understaffed even pre-COVID, they now are overwhelmed. This whole issue has further amplified when Asia Miles and Marco Polo merged under the newly launched Cathay. With the reopening of Hong Kong’s borders, it seems to have reached a tipping point. I have tried to reach out to them through different channels, and here was my experience:

TWITTER

First, I contacted the airline through Twitter direct message. I received an auto-reply stating that it would take longer than usual to get a response. After 24 hours, I received a link to a satisfaction survey without my query being handled. Mentioning @cathaypacific does not seem an option either. Tweets from customers are either ignored or they get an template response telling them to send a DM (which in my case went unanswered).

EMAIL

With no hope on Twitter, I sent an email to the loyalty department. I received no acknowledgment. At the time I am writing this grievance, it’s been a week and still nothing.

CALL CENTRE

Let’s start with a positive spin. The service menu is quite easy to navigate, recognising the number you call from. Things get more tricky when it comes to prioritisation. Calls are queued based on membership level. If you are Cathay Green (basic), chances are you may need to wait for up to an hour and that is if the call doesn’t disconnect after half an hour. In some instances, customers have experienced waits of 2 hours. Having not flown CX for 5 years, I must be at the very bottom of the priority list. Membership related queries appear to get faster response than reservations. When I managed to get to an agent, I asked if he could see my email. He told me he isn’t able to see emails that are sent to their inbox but would send a note to the relevant department to tell them to follow-up. I guess the person I talked to is outsourced and has no access to tickets created by email.

WHATSAPP

It can take up to 12 hours to get a response so there was no point in even trying. WhatsApp is meant for live conversations and if a company isn’t able to handle it, they better scrap it and focus on hotlines.

LIVE CHAT

They previously had a live chat option, it seems gone now.

MESSENGER

Last option to find out whether my query has been recorded was Messenger. There are two handles: “Cathay” and “Cathay Pacific”. When trying to message “Cathay”, I got auto-responses in Chinese characters. No way to get something in English. When trying “Cathay Pacific”, I received a response after 3 hours. Then, I was told that since query is membership related, it would need to be transferred to another agent. This other agent responded after 4 and a half hours telling me that I would get an email response within 48 hours. The 48 hours have passed and guess what, I haven’t received anything!

CONCLUSION

I have no idea if my case was ever recorded and whether I will ever hear back from CX. The minimum one would expect from an airline charging premium fares is to have properly operating contact channels. It is obvious that many customers are feeling abandoned and helpless. Simply have a look at Twitter to understand customer sentiment. My case is membership related so it’s not affecting my travel but it surely is disappointing to see such lack of care coming from a 5 star airline. I wouldn’t want to be in the place of those customers with more pressing matters like lost luggage or overcharging. Senior management is aware of those problems. They have publicly pledged to allocate more resources in their call centres. We are yet to see the effects.

Twitter is full of Cathay members voicing their frustration:

Conclusion

It seems that nothing has changed with Cathay Pacific from 17 or so years ago when I had to call AsiaMiles to issue a partner award, and you had to call pretty much when the call center opened to have any chance of speaking to a live person.

Airlines should allow members to issue, modify, cancel, and refund all kinds of reservations online without having to call.

My personal preference is to deal with companies that offer good online services so that I am in control without having to contact them (not sure what has recently been going on with my AA award tickets that you can cancel online, but it doesn’t ensure that the taxes and miles are actually refunded without calling them).

Cathay Pacific must have let most of the customer service personnel go when Hong Kong was basically closed for international travel for two and a half years. So it will be difficult for them to ramp up the services that were never good.

I enjoy Cathay Pacific in the air and their ground services in Hong Kong, but I am staying away from their frequent flier program because I have no time to deal with customer contact center “headaches,” which the reader experiences when better options exist.

I hope that the reader can get their issue resolved.

The Pier First Class lounge will then join the Wing First Class, the Pier (Business Class) as well as The Deck lounges that are already open and which John already visited since then as reviewed here on LoyaltyLobby.

In addition to the reopening of The Pier First Class, Cathay Pacific has refreshed its Bangkok and Manila lounges and is working to reopen all of the Hong Kong lounges with The Pier being the last that is still lingering.

You can access the Cathay Pacific page for lounge access here.

Cathay Pacific’s product manager had an exclusive interview with the guys from Executive Traveler and confirmed to them that things are on track to reopen The Pier First Class by the middle of 2023:

… Under Cathay Pacific’s 2023 lounge roadmap, The Wing Business will reopen in the coming months, complementing The Wing First in offering a full proposition at the top end of Hong Kong’s Terminal 1.

That will be followed by The Pier First around the middle of the year, expects Vivian Lo, Cathay’s General Manager for Customer Experience & Design.

“This supports our offer in terms of passenger volume,” Lo tells Executive Traveller as the airline soars once more.

In the meantime, a section of The Pier Business remains currently roped off and reserved for first class passengers, Cathay Diamond frequent flyers and their Oneworld Emerald equivalents. …

These are very welcome news for loyal Cathay Pacific customers flying from or via Hong Kong. It was (and actually still is) a bit sad to see the once glorious Cathay Pacific teetering on the edge. They always had such great service, routes, and facilities but the pandemic came close to breaking its neck.

John recently wrote about Cathay reopening The Deck in Hong Kong as well:

Cathay Pacific Reopens The Deck Lounge At Hong Kong International Airport

And back in October, he wrote an extensive post about the Hong Kong departure experience:

Hong Kong International Airport & Cathay Pacific The Wing (FIRST) And The Pier (BUSINESS) Lounge Experience On October 1, 2022

Things have gotten very much back to normal since. In fact, I just left Hong Kong last Wednesday on the way to Vancouver and didn’t notice any inconvenience whatsoever anymore. You can even register for and use the frequent visitor e-channel again.

Unfortunately, I did fly Cathay Pacific First Class going from Tokyo to Hong Kong and the onboard service was a shadow of its former self, even for intra-Asia routes which were never on the same level as long haul routes.

For example, they had ONE bottle of their listed champagne for First Class which meant that it was one glass for each of the six passengers pre-departure. After that, it was Business Class champagne.

Conclusion

Cathay Pacific is reportedly in preparation for reopening The Pier First Class section by the middle of this year. The lounge has been closed since the pandemic and Cathay Pacific has successively brought their lounges back online.

The last remaining lounges are The Wing Business Class and The Pier First Class after The Deck just reopened as well. It’s a good sign, last but not least, that Cathay is on the way back!

Are you going to fly Cathay Pacific more frequently again once their lounge network is fully operational?

The lounge joins the Wing (First Class) and the Pier (Business Class) lounges that are already open and which I visited back in October. In addition, the Cathay Pacific has refreshed Bangkok and Manila lounges and is working to reopen the Wing (Business) and the Pier (First Class – my favorite) lounges.

You can access the Cathay Pacific page for lounge access here.

My Lounge Visits In October:

Hong Kong International Airport & Cathay Pacific The Wing (FIRST) And The Pier (BUSINESS) Lounge Experience On October 1, 2022

And March 2020:

Hong Kong Airport (HKG) Very Quiet Experience

Update from Cathay Pacific:

Cathay Pacific’s ‘The Deck’ is now open

As more flights are resumed, the airline is progressively reopening its lounges for customers to enjoy before they fly

Monday, February 6, 2023 — Cathay Pacific is excited to announce the reopening today of The Deck lounge at Hong Kong International Airport, giving customers more ways to relax and pamper themselves before their flight.

The Deck joins The Wing, First and The Pier, Business as the Cathay Pacific lounges currently open to guests at the airline’s home hub. The airline is also working towards reopening The Pier, First and The Wing, Business within the coming six months as it continues to add more flights to its schedule.

As travel resumes, Cathay Pacific is also progressively reopening its global lounges. February will see the reopening of the Cathay Pacific lounges in Tokyo’s Narita International Airport and Singapore Changi Airport, while March and April will see the airline’s lounges at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport, respectively, reopen their doors to guests.

Customers can also look forward to enjoying the airline’s signature lounges at San Francisco International Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, and Vancouver International Airport in the second and third quarters of 2023.

Outside of Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific’s First and Business class lounges at London Heathrow Airport, and its lounges at Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Tokyo (Haneda) International Airport are already open to eligible customers.

Cathay Pacific understands its airport lounges are highly appreciated by its customers and the airline has used the time while these spaces have been closed to further invest in its lounge experience.

The Deck, Hong Kong

To mark the reopening of The Deck, Cathay Pacific has added a selection of new culinary delights at The Noodle Bar, an iconic favourite among guests at its signature lounges. Visitors to the lounge can enjoy Hong Kong fish ball rice-noodle soup, poached Chinese vegetables, and a delicious and nourishing Chinese soup alongside familiar favourites such the signature Wonton Noodles, Dan Dan Mien and dim sum. Meanwhile, comforting and familiar self-serve international dishes continue to be offered at The Food Hall.

Located close to Gate 6 in Terminal 1, The Deck is designed in the signature StudioIlse blueprint of Cathay Pacific’s award-winning lounges in Hong Kong and across its network. Unique to The Deck is The Terrace, an open-ceiling L-shaped verandah featuring both table and individual seating, enabling visitors to take in panoramic views of the airport’s apron, taxi-ways and northern runway whilst enjoying their choice of drinks and dining options.

Cathay Pacific Lounge, Tokyo (Narita)

Another exciting development is with the Cathay Pacific Lounge at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, which is not only reopening, but also finding a new home. The lounge has relocated to a new space by Gate 71 that is more than two-times larger than the previous lounge and offers almost double the number of seats, making for a more spacious environment.

Together with excellent views of the airport apron, the lounge features new artwork created by local Japanese studios Belle Fleur and the award-winning Arita Porcelain Lab.

Customers can look forward to a curated contemporary food and beverage offering when visiting the airline’s Tokyo (Narita) lounge. Traditional Japanese dishes such as sushi, grilled fish, miso soup and curry with rice feature alongside a selection of light and healthy salads, cheese and cold cuts.

Cathay Pacific Lounge, Bangkok and Manila

Cathay Pacific has also made enhancements to its Bangkok and Manila lounges ahead of their reopening. Both lounges have received a refresh to their interior décor, fixtures and furniture, providing guests with a rejuvenated ambience. This is in addition to the equipment checks and deep cleaning that all lounges undergo before reopening to ensure the wellbeing and comfort of customers.

Conclusion

Let’s hope Cathay Pacific can reopen its the Wing business and the Pier first class lounges soon.

You have to remember that Cathay Pacific only flew 30% of its pre-pandemic capacity by the end of 2022 and hopes to bring it back to 70% by December 2023.

Asia Miles bonuses points to miles conversions by 10% to 15% if you register and convert by the end of January 2023.

You can access this offer on Cathay’s website here.

Note that miles earned from Asia Miles-related credit cards are NOT bonused, only those that allow conversions to Asia Miles (you can find them on Cathay’s website).

Conversion Table:

Conclusion

There are quite a few offers from various card issues in Hong Kong that can be converted to multiple airlines, and, usually, Cathay Pacific is not the best conversion partner.

Perhaps these conversion bonus offers make Asia Miles more competitive on that front.

Terms and conditions of this offer:

Download (PDF, 465KB)

There will be one roadblock in getting to Hong Kong and flying from there, as the airline capacity has been decimated and Cathay Pacific only intends to fly roughly 30% of their 2019 schedule by the end of this year and 70% by the end of 2023.

You can access Cathay Pacific here.

Cathay Pacific laid off a large share of its employees during the pandemic and is now short on qualified cockpit and cabin crew, and recruitment and training in this sector always takes time.

Also, trying to hire expat cockpit crew will be a challenge after significant pay and benefit cuts that foreign pilots have endured.

Press Release from Cathay Pacific:

Cathay Pacific welcomes the Hong Kong SAR Government’s latest measures to facilitate travel to Hong Kong, especially the decision to remove the Amber Code restrictions under the Vaccine Pass for inbound persons entering Hong Kong effective tomorrow, 14 December 2022.

The adjustments will help further boost sentiment for travel, especially among inbound visitors, thereby facilitating the resumption of travel activities and strengthening of network connectivity at the Hong Kong aviation hub.

The Cathay Pacific Group, which includes passenger airlines Cathay Pacific and HK Express, has already added about 3,000 passenger flight sectors in the fourth quarter of this year. This includes Cathay Pacific resuming flights to popular destinations such as Tokyo (Haneda), Denpasar (Bali) and Zurich in November, as well as Sapporo, Fukuoka, Penang and Dhaka in December. More popular destinations are set to be resumed in 2023, including Phuket and Nagoya in January.

Meanwhile, HK Express has resumed flights to Tokyo (Haneda), Chiang Mai and Da Nang in December, with services to Jeju and Busan in the pipeline for January.

The Group remains fully committed to rebuilding the connectivity of the Hong Kong international aviation hub. As a Group, we are on track to achieve our target of operating up to one-third of pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity levels by the end of 2022. We anticipate that we will be operating around 70% of pre-pandemic passenger flight capacity by the end of 2023, with an aim to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2024.

Conclusion

There are significant obstacles for Cathay Pacific to rump up their operations in Hong Kong, and it likely is a challenge and expensive to fly to/from the city before more airlines return.

Also, the political climate and suppression of free speech in Hong Kong have made the city a less attractive place to do business for multinationals that have relocated their regional operations to other Asian megacities of Seoul and Singapore. As a result, there is less demand from business travelers.

There has been emigration among the population that values civil liberties, including Hongkonger who checked me in last night in London (they had left Hong Kong summer of 2021).

I certainly hope Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong can rebound from the unnecessarily long covid-restrictions and mainland influence. I have always enjoyed flying on Cathay, most recently in October.

Remember to email or message us via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with your airfare-related questions or discoveries!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

Flight Review: Cathay Pacific Premium Economy A350-900 [CX318 BCN-HKG]/B777-300ER [CX520 HKG-NRT]

fare: CATHAY PACIFIC (CX) EO99SGAR SIN to NYC

• Booking class: E/H
• Price: from $1,099 ($943 base fare + taxes & surcharges).
• Day/time restrictions: -/-
• Advanced reservation/ticketing restrictions: -/-
• Minimum stay: -/-
• Maximum stay: 3 months.
• Stopovers: unlimited stopovers permitted in HKG.
• Cancellations: charge SGD 300 for cancel/refund; charge SGD 350 for no-show.
• Changes: charge SGD 150 for reissue/revalidation; charge SGD 350 for no-show.

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This fare can be booked on CheapTickets:

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Cathay Pacific Asia Miles members can now convert their miles to Marriott Bonvoy points at an unfavorable ratio.

You can access Marriott’s page for airline partners here and Cathay Pacific’s page for Marriott conversions here.

READ MORE: Marriott Bonvoy Rate & Bonus Points Offers

Conversion Ratio:

Marriott Bonvoy to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

3 Marriott Bonvoy points convert to 1 Asia Miles. If you convert 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, Marriott will bonus the transaction by 5,000 miles resulting in 25,000 Asia Miles.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles to Marriott Bonvoy

You need 2 Asia Miles for each 1 Marriott Bonvoy point.

Conclusion

It makes little sense to convert Asia Miles to Marriott Bonvoy points at this ratio.

I can understand a reason if you need a minimal number of Bonvoy points for an award and have an ample number of Asia Miles sitting in your account.

Terms and conditions of this offer:

“Conversion of Asia Miles to Marriott Bonvoy Points” Terms and Conditions:

1. These terms and conditions (“Terms and Conditions”) shall apply to any conversion of Asia Miles to Marriott Bonvoy Points.

2. As used in these Terms and Conditions:

• “Account” means a Member’s Cathay Membership Programme account that is active and valid and has not been suspended or terminated.
• “AML” means Asia Miles Limited, the operator of Cathay;
• “Asia Miles” or “Miles” means the mileage credits credited by AML to Members of Cathay (as those credits may be amended, re-branded, re-named or replaced from time to time);
• “Cathay” means the Cathay Membership Programme;
• “Marriott Bonvoy” means the loyalty program for Marriott International, Inc.;
•  “Member” means a current member of the Cathay Membership Programme that may earn and redeem Asia Miles through the Cathay Membership Programme; and
• “Points” means Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program points.

3. A Member may convert miles to Points in accordance with the criteria below and these Terms and Conditions:

• The miles must be in the Member’s Account at the time of initiating the conversion to Points.
• Conversions shall be at a rate of two (2) miles to one (1) Point.
• Each conversion requires a minimum of two thousand (2,000) miles and must be in increments of five hundred (500) miles.
• The maximum number of miles that may be converted into Points per Member per day is two hundred forty thousand (240,000) miles.

4. To convert miles to Points, a Member must be a member of both Cathay and Marriott Bonvoy.  The use of Points and participation in Marriott Bonvoy are subject to the terms and conditions of the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program which can be found here.

5. Registration to convert miles to Points is not required but may be subject to eligibility criteria, from time to time, as set forth by Cathay and Marriott Bonvoy.

6. Members are required to ensure that the name of the account holder of both the Cathay and Marriott Bonvoy membership accounts match to ensure that the conversion from miles to Points is successful.

7. Once miles have been converted to Points, Points will automatically be credited to the Member’s Marriott Bonvoy membership account.  In most cases, Points will be credited to the Member’s Marriott Bonvoy membership account in up to eight weeks.

8. Once a miles to Points conversion is initiated, cancellation, changes, reissuance, and/or refunds of miles are not allowed.

9. AML reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to prevent or cancel transactions where (i) AML has reason to believe that the identity of the Member converting the miles to Points does not match the identity of the person receiving the Points or (ii) where AML suspects there has been any fraudulent activity connected with the miles to Points conversion in relation to the Member’s Account.

10. AML and Marriott Bonvoy have the right to terminate any conversion of miles to Points or to change the miles to Points conversion criteria, policies, procedures, conditions of participation, benefits, awards and special offers, in whole or in part, at any time, with or without notice.

11. The use of miles and participation in Cathay is subject to the terms and conditions of Cathay which can be found here .

12. Miles to Point transfers are also subject to Marriott Bonvoy’s Miles to Points Terms and Conditions available here.

13. In the event of inconsistency between the English language version and any other language translations, the English language version shall prevail.

This has caused a massive headache for airlines, especially in Europe, that have used the trans-Siberian route to destinations in Asia. In addition, rerouting flights avoiding the Russian airspace has considerably increased flight time and made many destinations in Asia uneconomical for them to serve.

Now, Bloomberg is reporting that Cathay Pacific has decided to start routing flights to New York from Hong Kong, overflying Russia from November 1^st. The airline claims that they do this because other airlines are doing it as well (Chinese?).

Excerpt from the Bloomberg:

It cited strong headwinds and payload issues affecting its flights from the east coast of North America, and said its aircraft will overfly the far eastern part of Russia.

“There are other major airlines overflying Russian airspace and there are no sanctions which prevent Cathay Pacific overflying Russia,” Cathay said in the statement to Bloomberg.

In an operational note to pilots dated Oct. 28, Cathay outlined the policy change for flights from North America to facilitate a “safe and more efficient operation” for its crew and customers, according to people familiar with the notice.

The Polar Route “allows the airline to maximize the number of passengers and checked baggage carried onboard,” Cathay said.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, Cathay Pacific has decided to start utilizing Russia’s airspace when most major carriers do not.

Perhaps western countries should indicate to Cathay Pacific that flights utilizing Russia’s airspace are not welcome to land at their airports. The same applies to Qatar Airways and Emirates, which happily fly over Russia per FlightAware.