Cathay Pacific also joins the list: devaluation of Asia Miles points from Oct. 1
Point devaluation is the nightmare of all serial accumulators of points and miles, and today, unfortunately, we have to give [...]
Cathay Pacific
Oneworld
Point devaluation is the nightmare of all serial accumulators of points and miles, and today, unfortunately, we have to give news of a new award chart of the carrier Cathay Pacific that, as of October 1, will make it more expensive to issue award tickets with the Hong Kong-based company.
Honor to Cathay
In this article:
Before talking about the bad news However, I want to say that the behavior of the Asian company. Is most correct and to be admired. Of course devaluation is never good, but Cathay is announcing this today almost 3 months after the new table went into effect,
Travelers will then have more than 80 days to plan and book tickets before the devaluation, other companies in recent years have been changing prices night time, without any notice or warning, so this behavior by Cathay is appreciable.
The new award chart Asia Miles
The cost increase is noticeable and over all cabins and distances. Not to mention that of all the Asian airlines Cathay has always been one of the worst in terms of fees and surcharges, although they are nothing compared to what we see in Europe or with Emirates.
| Distance | Economy | Premium Economy |
Business | First |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra-short 1-750 miles(from HKG to Hanoi, Manila, Taipei, Xiamen) |
7,500 | 11,000 | 16,000 | N/A |
| Short - Type 1 751-2,750 miles(from HKG to Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore) |
10,000 | 20,000 | 28,000 | 43,000 |
| Short - Type 2 751-2,750 miles(from HKG to Jakarta, Mumbai, Tokyo) |
12,500 | 23,000 | 32,000 | 50,000 |
| Medium 2,751-5,000 miles(from HKG to Dubai, Sydney, Tel Aviv) |
20,000 | 38,000 | 58,000 | 90,000 |
| Long 5,001-7,500 miles(from HKG to Milan, Paris, San Francisco, Vancouver) |
27,000 | 50,000 | 84,000 | 125,000 |
| Ultra-long 7,501+ miles(from HKG to Chicago, New York, Toronto) |
38,000 | 75,000 | 110,000 | 160,000 |
This devaluation not only goes to affect standard award tickets, e.g. a flight from Milan to Hong Kong in business class goes from 70k points to 84k, but on building even a ticket to go around the world, Asia Miles has always been one of the most interesting programs to get an RTW.
Flying first class from Europe to Asia becomes more expensive than 25%, 125k AsiaMiles will be needed to fly from Hong Kong to London or Paris, 25 thousand more than what it costs today.
The increase will obviously also impact the cost of award tickets with OneWorld partner companies, although there is no specific award table.
One more area
In addition to the increase in the award table, the other change is the creation of a new zone. Zone 1, which previously covered all medium-haul routes between 750 and 2751 miles, is now divided into two based on the destination of the flight:
Type 1: Routes to/from mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea
Type 2: Routes to/from India, Indonesia, Japan
In doing so, for example, Hong Kong/Singapore flights will experience a Business Class fare increase of only 12% (from 25,000 miles to 28,000 miles), while a Singapore-Hong Kong-Japan route will increase by 28% (from 25,000 miles to 32,000 miles).
In conclusion
Cash tickets cost more it makes sense for carriers to increase award tables as well, a devaluation is never good news, but at least Cathay warned everyone well in advance.
