Cathay Pacific has launched a new promotion which offers an uncapped 15% bonus on credit card points transfers, as well as retail partner points conversions, hotel and rental car bookings, dining and more.
This is valid for all conversions and accruals completed by 31 October 2024, and is the most generous bonus in recent memory, both in quantum and scope (other promotions have maxed out at 10%, and only covered credit card points transfers).
Cathay Pacific offering 15% bonus on Asia Miles accruals
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| Register Here |
From 18 September to 31 October 2024, Cathay members who register for this offer will receive an uncapped 15% bonus on any eligible mileage accrual transaction.
This includes:
- Payment– Miles earned by point conversion through our Finance Partners in the Participating Countries
- Shop with Cathay – Miles earned through shopping at Cathay Shop
- Shop with our partners – Miles earned by shopping through retail store partners in Southeast Asia and the rest of the world. This includes shopping transactions made with our online shopping partners and point conversion through our retail partners
- Holidays – Miles earned through transactions with Cathay Holidays, our hotel partners, and car rental partners in Southeast Asia and the rest of the world
- Dining – Miles earned through transactions with our dining partners in Southeast Asia and the rest of the world
The full list of eligible merchants can be found here.
The offer is valid for Cathay members with a residential address in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, or Cambodia.
If you plan to convert credit card points or earn with a merchant that does not offer instant crediting, do remember that your conversion or accrual must be completed by 31 October 2024 to be eligible for the bonus. Leaving it until the last minute may result in you missing out.
When will the bonus be received?
Members will initially receive the normal number of miles from their conversions or accruals, with the 15% bonus credited by 31 December 2024 (not 31 December 2025, as the landing page erroneously says!).
Members are responsible for notifying Cathay Pacific by 15 January 2025 if they do not receive their bonus miles.
Terms & Conditions
The T&Cs of this offer can be found at the bottom of this page
Which banks are eligible?
The full list of eligible banks can be found here. Be sure to change the location (at the top of the screen) to see the relevant partners for your country.
In Singapore, the following banks are participating:
| 💳 Minimum Transfer Blocks by Bank |
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| Bank | Points | Asia Miles (with 15% bonus) |
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400 MR points (Platinum, Centurion) |
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| 450 MR points (All others) |
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27,000 BOC points | |
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25,000 TY points | |
| 10,000 Citi Miles | ||
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5,000 DBS Points | |
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25,000 HSBC Points | Instant |
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12,500 TREATS Points | |
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1,000 90°N Miles | Instant |
| 1,000 VOYAGE Miles | Instant |
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| 10,000 OCBC$ | Instant |
|
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5,000 UNI$ | |
Do note that Bank of China and Maybank are not displayed on the website, but I’ve confirmed with a Cathay Pacific spokesperson that this is owing to a technical glitch, and both are included too.
Of the abovementioned banks, only HSBC and OCBC offer instant conversions to Asia Miles. That said, you wouldn’t want to use OCBC since its default conversion rate represents a 25% haircut compared to KrisFlyer.
AMEX, Citi, DBS, Maybank and UOB should complete transfers within 2-4 working days. Bank of China, on the other hand, takes around six weeks…so maybe don’t bother.
As a reminder, the bonus is fulfilled by Cathay Pacific, so you will not see it reflected on the bank’s transfer portal when making the conversion.
How does this compare to previous bonuses?
Cathay Pacific typically offers transfer bonuses in the range of 10-15%, so this is on the higher end.
| ✈️ Asia Miles Transfer Bonuses |
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| Date | Bonus | Bonus Cap |
| Sep 2024 | 15% | None |
| Dec 2023 | 10% | None |
| May 2023 | 10% | None |
| Jan 2023 | 10-15% | None |
| Sep 2022 | 10-15% | None |
| Jun 2022 | 15% | 5,000 miles |
More importantly, this bonus doesn’t just cover credit card points conversions; a lot more earning activities are included this time round.
Asia Miles sweet spots
Asia Miles last underwent a devaluation in October 2023, with the following award charts now applicable for travel on Cathay Pacific.
| ✈️ Asia Miles Redemptions for Cathay Pacific Flights (in 000’s) |
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| Distance | Y | PY | J | F |
| 1-750 | 7.5 | 11 | 16 | 25 |
| 751 – 2,750 (Type 1)* |
10 | 20 | 28 | 43 |
| 751 – 2,750 (Type 2)^ |
12.5 | 23 | 32 | 50 |
| 2,751 – 5,000 | 20 | 38 | 58 | 90 |
| 5,001 – 7,500 |
27 | 50 | 84 | 125 |
| 7,501+ | 38 | 75 | 110 | 160 |
| *Type 1: Routes to/from China, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea ^Type 2: Routes to/from India, Indonesia, Japan |
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Asia Miles no longer publishes an award chart for partner redemptions, but Australian Frequent Flyer has put together the following, which I believe to be accurate:
If you need to know the distance between two (or more) airports, you can use the GCMap to plot it.
Some potential sweet spots are:
| From Singapore to | Economy | Business |
| Malaysia (on MH) |
10,000 miles | 20,000 miles* |
| Hong Kong or Taipei (on CX) |
10,000 miles | 28,000 miles |
| Perth (on QF) |
15,000 miles | 33,000 miles |
| Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Milan (on CX) |
27,000 miles | 84,000 miles |
| Europe (on AY)^ |
40,000 miles | 89,000 miles |
| *Not so much for the flight, but the opportunity to do a oneworld lounge safari ^If you can position yourself to Bangkok, you’ll find cheaper rates of 27,000/63,000 miles in Economy/Business, and possibly better award space |
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The good news is that Cathay Pacific award space, which one year ago was close to non-existent, has improved somewhat.
How much are Asia Miles service fees?
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
When do Asia Miles expire?
All Asia Miles earned from 1 January 2020 never expire so long as you earn or redeem at least one mile every 18 months.
Apart from converting credit card rewards points, you can keep your Asia Miles balance active by:
- Making a flight redemption
- Crediting a paid Cathay Pacific or oneworld partner flight
- Booking a hotel through Kaligo or Rocketmiles
- Transferring Linkpoints
- Converting Esso Smiles points
- Buying a small item (like an iTunes song) or gift card on Cathay’s online store
- Contributing 100 Asia Miles to Cathay’s Fly Greener carbon offset programme
Given the wide range of options, there’s really no reason why your Asia Miles should be expiring.
Conclusion
From now till 31 October 2024, Cathay Pacific is offering an uncapped 15% bonus on credit card points transfers and other accruals from participating partners.
This has the potential to be useful, provided you can find an award you’d like to redeem. I’ll state my usual warnings about transferring points speculatively, though for what it’s worth, Cathay isn’t nearly as bad with the unannounced devaluations as Qatar!
Don’t forget that the bonus won’t be credited instantly; you’ll have to wait till 31 December 2024 for it to show up- which means you won’t be able to leverage it for year-end travel.
