Upcoming Changes to the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Award Charts

Cathay Pacific has announced that there will be upcoming changes to the award charts in its Asia Miles loyalty program. Despite trying to spin it otherwise, the changes are negative, and premium cabin award costs are going up across the board.

While it’s not a shift towards dynamic pricing, the upcoming devaluation will make travel on Cathay Pacific and Oneworld partners more expensive, if you’re able to find award space in the first place.

Upcoming Changes to the Cathay Pacific Award Chart

Recall that there are two primary award charts in the Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program: one for flights with Cathay Pacific, and another for a Oneworld Multi-Carrier Award. While you can also book flights with Oneworld partner airlines, there isn’t a published award chart.

These charts will remain in effect until September 30, 2023, and as of October 1, 2023, there will be two new award charts. 

To begin, let’s take a look at the current award chart for flights with Cathay Pacific:

And here’s the new chart that will take effect on October 1, 2023:

As you can see, award pricing has gone up almost across the board, and especially for flights in premium cabins. Flights in economy class will either remain the same or drop slightly. 

For example, premium flights between Hong Kong and the West Coast of North America are taking a fairly significant hit with this upcoming devaluation, even though flights in economy are dropping by a few thousand miles:

• Premium economy flights are going from 45,000 Asia Miles to 50,000 Asia Miles, an 11% increase
• Business class flights are going from 70,000 Asia Miles to 84,000 Asia Miles, a 20% increase
• First Class flights are going from 110,000 Asia Miles to 125,000 Asia Miles, a 14% increase

Furthermore, award prices in the Ultra-long category, which includes anything over 7,501 miles in distance flown, are increasing by an even greater margin. While economy flights are dropping by a few thousand miles in this category, too, all other cabin classes are increasing:

• Premium economy flights are going from 60,000 Asia Miles to 75,000 Asia Miles, a 25% increase
• Business class flights are going from 85,000 Asia Miles to 110,000 Asia Miles, a 29% increase
• First Class flights are going from 125,000 Asia Miles to 160,000 Asia Miles, a 28% increase

It’s worth noting that the new chart will do away with two different tiers for the Long category, and the Short…