Cathay Pacific was once known for its easy-to-book award travel, with plenty of U.S. capacity and excess seats available for booking using American AAdvantage miles. However, since the pandemic hit, this has changed significantly as they have been slow to restore flights and hesitant to release award space. When they do release space, it is usually only available to members of their Asia Miles program and not to partner airline frequent flyer programs.
Despite these limitations, there is currently exceptional availability in both business and first class on the New York JFK – Hong Kong route for April and May. This availability can also be used to connect onward in Asia. Some limited space may show up with partner programs, but points transfers are not immediate from all banks such as American Express, Citibank, Capital One, and Bilt.
When booking Cathay Pacific first class, Asia Miles charges 160,000 points each way while business class costs 110,000 points each way. These prices also apply to flights beyond Hong Kong to other cities within the same distance bands.
At New York JFK, business class passengers can use the Greenwich lounge while first-class passengers can use the Soho lounge. In Hong Kong, passengers can access The Wing and The Pier lounges. For those who remember the days when Cathay Pacific released a lot of first-class award space during the Great Recession, this current availability is reminiscent of those times when American AAdvantage charged just 67,500 miles each way for first-class flights to Southwest Asia (“Asia 2”), including North American connecting flights at that price point. Many people described it as ‘living in’ Cathay first class during that period.
