Cathay Pacific Asia Miles offering up to 15% transfer bonus

From now till 12 November 2022, Cathay Pacific is offering a 10% or 15% transfer bonus on credit card points to Asia Miles, valid in Singapore and worldwide. There is no cap on the maximum bonus that can be earned.

This is significantly better than the previous offer we saw in June, for a 15% bonus capped at a mere 5,000 miles. Moreover, members with expiring Asia Miles can make use of this opportunity to convert their entire balance to evergreen. 

Asia Miles 10-15% transfer bonus

Register Here

From 13 September to 12 November 2022, Asia Miles members will receive a 10% or 15% bonus when they convert credit card points. 

• Convert <30,000 miles: 10% bonus
• Convert 30,000 miles or more: 15% bonus

There is no cap on the maximum bonus that can be earned. 

Registration is required, and can be done via this link. You’ll receive a confirmation email upon completion. 

Don’t forget that your credit card points conversion must be completed by 12 November 2022 to be eligible for the bonus.

There will be some lead time involved with every bank, so don’t leave it till the last minute. I’d recommend giving yourself two weeks just to be on the safe side (i.e. initiating the transfer by 29 October 2022), and avoiding transferring points from Bank of China (not that their cards are any good anymore).

When will the bonus be credited?

Miles transferred under this campaign will be credited in two batches:

• The regular miles will credit initially according to the usual timeline
• The 10/15% bonus miles will be credited within 8-10 weeks after 12 November 2022 (i.e. by 21 January 2023)

Based on the previous campaign (which also had a similar crediting timeline), bonus miles were credited 54 days after the end of the promotion period, so I’d say you should expect them to appear on schedule. 

Members are responsible for notifying Asia Miles by 28 February 2023 if they do not receive their bonus miles. 

Terms & Conditions

The T&C of this offer can be found here.

Which banks offer transfers to Asia Miles?

Points conversions from all banks worldwide will be eligible for the transfer bonus, with the exception of Cathay Pacific cobrand cards. 

All card issuers in Singapore except for OCBC and Standard Chartered support transfers to Asia Miles. Points will be transferred according to the following table.

Residents of other countries can refer to this page for the full list of transfer partners. 

Convert expiring Asia Miles into non-expiring ones

Asia Miles Renewal Offer

Asia Miles earned from 1 January 2020 no longer expire, so long as you earn or redeem at least one mile every 18 months. 

If you have miles that were earned before 1 January 2020, Cathay Pacific is currently offering an opportunity to convert this expiring balance into a non-expiring one. From now till 30 September 2022, Asia Miles members who register and convert at least 30,000 Asia Miles from credit card points will have their entire expiring balance brought under the new activity-based expiry scheme. 

If you have pre-2020 miles, this would be a good opportunity to convert them into non-expiring ones.

How does this compare to previous bonuses?

The current offer of a 10-15% bonus with no cap is certainly better than what we saw in June 2022, and better than most offers after May 2018. 

Asia Miles sweet spots

Asia Miles is my backup programme to KrisFlyer, and while it certainly has some sweet spots, they’re undermined somewhat by the return of fuel surcharges on Cathay Pacific flights.

A bigger issue for Singapore-based members is the limited number of CX flights from Changi. There’s only 3x weekly service for September, and even though this is tentatively set to increase to 7x weekly by December, it’s still a far cry from the 9x daily pre-COVID service. 

Here’s a reminder of Cathay Pacific’s standard award chart.

Assuming you don’t mind a stop in Hong Kong, sweet spots include travel to Europe and the USA:

• San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York: 170,000 miles for R/T Business Class
• Barcelona, London, Manchester, Paris: 170,000 miles for R/T Business Class
• Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Milan, Rome, Zurich: 130,000 miles for R/T Business Class

The trick for Europe is to stay within the 7,500 miles band, so as not to attract the higher pricing. You can calculate mileage bands using GC Map (don’t forget: a stop in Hong Kong will be required)

Indicative taxes and fees for a R/T Business Class redemption between Singapore and the USA are S$810. 

Alternatively, you can consider oneworld awards with British Airways, Qantas and Qatar Airways, although all three airlines will have hefty fuel surcharges too. Finnair might be a good bet since its fuel surcharges are relatively more reasonable, but award space out of Singapore is very hard to come by.

As a reminder, Asia Miles levies the following service fees for award bookings:

• Date change: US$25 per person per sector (online) or US$40 per person per sector (phone)
• Destination change: US$100 per person per ticket
• Refund: US$120 per person per ticket 

Conclusion

From now till 12 November 2022, Asia Miles members can earn a 10-15% bonus for transferring credit card points, with no cap on the maximum bonus miles.

I’m generally hesitant to commit more points to Asia Miles until there’s some clarity on Hong Kong’s reopening timeline, because 3x weekly service to Singapore makes connections via HKG tricky. Moreover, partner award space through Asia Miles has been patchy at best, not to mention the high fuel surcharges for certain airlines. 

That said, if you don’t mind taking a punt then this would be a good opportunity to snag a bonus, while converting any expiring miles into evergreen ones.

(HT: Suitesmile)