If you’re a frequent flyer to East Asia, you’re probably familiar with Cathay Pacific. Based out of Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific operates flights all over the world – though only into Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver in Canada.
All Canadians are welcome to join Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, the airline’s loyalty rewards program. As you make qualifying flights with Cathay Pacific and other oneworld alliance partners, you’ll earn miles to put towards travel and other rewards.
We should point out that the Asia Miles program was incorporated into the Cathay membership program in 2022. Asia Miles members (and their miles) were automatically transferred to Cathay.
Since you can continue to earn Asia miles, we’ll focus on how to earn them and redeem them through the Cathay program. The biggest difference is that you will earn Cathay status points to move up in the program’s elite tier system.
Key Takeaways
- Cathay Pacific offers service to 140 destinations in 29 territories around the world.
- Cathay Pacific is a founding member of the oneworld alliance, which includes 15 member airlines.
- Sign up for the Cathay World Elite Mastercard by Neo to earn a generous welcome bonus and Asia Miles on your purchases.
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What are Cathay Pacific Asia Miles?
Asia Miles is the loyalty program of Cathay Pacific, and members earn miles to be used towards travel rewards and upgrades. When you book travel through Cathay Pacific or a partner, you’ll earn reward miles and status points that you can put towards achieving elite status.
Cathay Pacific is a Hong Kong-based airline that flies all over the world. In Canada, Cathay operates flights to and from Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver – but as a founding member of the oneworld alliance, Cathay Pacific has 15 partner airlines (plus 11 other partners) that can help get you where you need to go.
How to earn Asia Miles
You can earn Asia Miles in several ways, which we can group into two broad categories: travel purchases and qualified credit card use.
Qualifying flights
As with most airline loyalty programs, the fastest way to earn miles is by flying. But with Asia Miles, there's no exact formula or chart to tell you how many miles you’ll earn per flight.
If you want an estimate, use the Asia Miles calculator tool:
- Navigate to the Asia Miles calculator
- Click on "Cathay Pacific" from the first drop-down tab
- Select your departure airport and destination
The calculator will provide you with estimated mile earnings for a one-way flight based on your fare class.
Here's an example for a flight from Toronto to Hong Kong:
It works the same with partner airlines, though you’ll select the airline name from the first dropdown. Here's an example of a flight from Calgary to Dallas on American Airlines:
You may notice that Air Canada is in the drop-down menu. Cathay Pacific and Air Canada have a codeshare agreement and you can earn Asia Miles while flying on Air Canada – but only on an Air Canada flight booking that gets you to a Cathay Pacific flight.
WestJet has an interline agreement with Cathay Pacific but you won't earn Asia Miles on WestJet flights.
Hotel stays and point transfers
Have some hotel points from other reward programs kicking around? There's a good chance you can either convert them to Asia Miles or simply earn Asia Miles instead of the hotel's program points.
There are 2 ways to convert your points, depending on the hotel program. Some of them will allow you to do it through their website but for others, you may have to make a phone call.
Here are just some of the hotel partners:
- Sofitel
- Novotel
- Fairmont
- Raffles
- Best Western
- Hilton
- Hyatt
- Marriott
- Westin
The typical transfer rate is between 2,000 to 10,000 points and the typical earn rate is 250 to 500 miles per stay.
You can see the full list on the Asia Miles hotel partners page. Click on each one to see the transfer rates and how to make the conversion.
Note: There are plenty of other ways to earn Asia Miles through travel, but they aren't available to residents of Canada.
Transfer miles from minors
If your kids fly with you, their earned miles should count for something, right? Cathay allows you to transfer up to 120,000 miles from a minor’s account to your membership every year. Even better – you won’t pay any transfer or service fees!
Cathay World Elite Mastercard by Neo
The co-branded Mastercard offered by Neo is the only Canadian credit card that earns you Asia Miles. You’ll get up to 60,000 miles just for signing up and a limited-time 10% discount on Cathay Pacific flights out of Canada.
To qualify for the card, you must meet the income requirement of $80,000 personal or $150,000 household and pay the annual fee of $180.
Once you’re a cardholder, you’ll earn miles on purchases in Canada and abroad, though the earn rate varies by purchase and partner. Typically, you’ll earn 1 mile for every $1 CAD spent in Canada and 2 miles for every $1 spent in foreign currencies. You’ll earn double the miles on Cathay Pacific flights booked on the Cathay World Elite Mastercard.
Other credit cards
You don’t need a co-branded credit card to earn Asia Miles; both RBC and Amex rewards programs allow you to transfer points to Asia Miles.
RBC Avion cards let you transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio. Here are the cards that can do this:
| Credit card | Welcome bonus | Earn rates | Annual fee and income requirements | Apply now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 55,000 bonus points (terms) | * 1.25 points per $1 spent on travel * 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases | * $120 * $60K personal or $100K household | Apply now | |
| 55,000 bonus points (terms) | * 1 point per $1 spent on all purchases | * $120 * None | Apply now | |
| Up to 70,000 bonus points (terms) | * 1.25 points per $1 spent on all purchases | * $399 * $200,000 household | Apply now |
Amex Membership Rewards cards also earn you Asia Miles, though the transfer rate isn’t as good as RBC Avion cards. You’ll get 3 Asia Miles for every 4 Amex points. That said, these cards earn you more points on your purchases. Here are your options:
| Credit card | Welcome bonus | Earn rates | Annual fee and income requirements | Apply now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 $100 GeniusCash + Up to 15,000 bonus points (terms) | * 5 points per $1 spent on eligible groceries and restaurants (up to $2,500 spent per month) * 3 points per $1 spent on eligible streaming services * 2 points per $1 spent on eligible gas, transit, and ride share purchases * 1 point per $1 spent on foreign currency purchases * 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases | * $191.88 * None | Apply now | |
| Up to 60,000 bonus points (terms) | * 2 points for every $1 spent on gas, groceries, drugstores, and travel * 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases | * $250 * None | Apply now | |
| 10,000 bonus points (terms) | * 1 point per $1 spent on all purchases | * $0 * None | Apply now | |
| Up to 100,000 bonus points (terms) | * 2 points per $1 spent on restaurants and travel * 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases | * $799 * None | Apply now |
To convert your Amex rewards points into Asia miles, you’ll need at least 1,000 Amex points. This earns you 750 Asia miles.
Cathay Pacific elite status
When you fly with Cathay Pacific, you’ll earn status points in addition to rewards miles. As a new member, you’re automatically placed in the Green tier, which gives you benefits like priority online check-in (up to 48 hours in advance), extra baggage redemption, extra legroom seat redemption, and free 24-hour cancellation on flights.
As you earn more status points, you move up in the program, earning better deals and perks. Just keep in mind that you must earn the required status points each year to keep your elite status.
| Green | Silver | Gold | Diamond | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Status points required | - | 300 | 600 | 1,200 |
| Lounge access redemption and purchase | - | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced seat reservations | - | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Special rates on miles for shopping and dining | - | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Business class lounge access | - | - | Yes | Yes |
| Priority redemption on lifestyle events, experiences and travel packages | - | - | Yes | Yes |
| Special rates on miles on flight redemption when using Miles Plus Cash | - | - | - | Yes |
| Complimentary in-flight WiFi | - | - | - | Yes |
Cathay Pacific rewards you with mid-status bonuses for reaching the halfway point towards the next tier. For example, you might earn complimentary first-class or business lounge passes, the option to upgrade your fare, or the ability to gift a Gold tier membership to a friend or family member.
You can also earn discounts with partners – the higher the tier, the better your deal. Partners include Hertz, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, The Refinery, and more.
How to redeem Asia Miles
Like many programs, there are quite a few ways to redeem your miles – but some offer more value than others. Here are your options and a breakdown of the average value per mile for each one.
Cathay Pacific flights: 2.9 CPM
In addition to Cathay Pacific, you've got plenty of partner airlines where you can redeem your Asia Miles. First, there is the oneworld Alliance, including::
- American Airlines
- British Airways
- Japan Airlines
- Qantas
But Cathay has partners outside of oneworld, too, including:
- Air Canada
- Air New Zealand
- Lufthansa
- Swiss
Air Canada is an interesting one here since you can’t straight-up redeem miles with Air Canada. The only way you can redeem Asia Miles with Air Canada is to include the flight as part of your journey with Cathay Pacific. Even then, the Asia Miles Air Canada page only lists a handful of cities that you can fly from.
The value of Asia Miles when used towards Cathay Pacific flights depends on the destination, departure, dates, fare class, and your membership tier – though we value points at approximately 2.9 cents per mile. Cathay provides a flight award chart for how much fare upgrades and companion flights cost. Unfortunately, the airline doesn’t provide a chart with the actual flight redemption values.
Car rentals: 0.72 CPM
The primary rental agency for booking car rentals with Asia Miles is Hertz, for which you’ll get an average value of 0.72 cents per mile. To get this value, we looked at rates for a 1-day compact car rental at major airports in Canada.
Free hotel nights: 1.8 CPM
You can also redeem your miles for hotel stays, giving you a solid value of 1.8 cents per mile. You’ll find hotel options around the world, though our research focused on ones in major cities across Canada. The per-mile value was consistent across almost all of them.
FAQ
What airlines are part of Asia Miles?
You’ll earn the most points for flying with Cathay Pacific, but you can earn miles by flying with any oneworld alliance airline.
How many Asia Miles do you need for a free flight?
There is no set mileage required for a flight redemption; it depends on the destination, date, cabin class, and more. One-way flights start around 20,000 points.
How much is 1 Asia Mile worth?
The value depends on your redemption option. It’s probably no surprise to learn that redeeming miles for Cathay Pacific flights typically gives you the most value for your miles – around 2.9 cents per mile. Car rentals tend to give you the worst value, around 0.72 cents per mile.
Do Asia Miles expire?
Cathay Pacific changed its policy in 2020, so points earned after January 1, 2020 no longer expire as long as you keep your account active. Earn or redeem miles every 18 months to keep your account in good standing.
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