Get a 15% Bonus on Amex Point Transfers to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Get a 15% Bonus on Amex Point Transfers to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Get a 15% Bonus on Amex Point Transfers to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

Bonus Points

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American Express announced a targeted promotion giving you up to a 15% bonus when you transfer your points to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles. The promotion is valid for Membership Rewards point transfer through November 30, 2024, 11:59 pm MT.

Here's what you need to know about this Amex to Cathay Pacific transfer bonus.

Key Terms of the Amex Transfer Bonus to Cathay Pacific

Most Amex transfer bonuses aren't targeted, but this one to Cathay Pacific appears to be. Most of the AwardWallet team is targeted for a 15% bonus, but other members see a 10% bonus in their Amex accounts. The award examples below will reflect the common 15% transfer bonus, but be sure to check your account to confirm what's available to you.

  • Receive up to a 15% bonus when you transfer Amex points to Asia Miles.
  • The promotion is valid for transfers through November 30, 2024, 11:59 pm MT.
  • You must be an Asia Miles member to participate in this promotion.
  • Transfer a minimum of 1,000 Amex points, and in 1,000-point increments after that.
  • Allow up to 72 hours for the points to post to your account.
Transfer Amex points to Cathay Pacific
Credit: American Express

Best Ways To Use Cathay Pacific Asia Miles

A little over a year ago, Cathay Pacific overhauled its Asia Miles award charts. While the value that you can unlock isn't quite what it used to be, that doesn't mean the value isn't there; you just have to look for it.

There are three best-value uses of Cathay Pacific Asia Miles that are made up to 15% sweeter with this Amex transfer bonus. Here's a high-level overview of some of these opportunities:

Round-the-world business class trips

Asia Miles is one of the few remaining programs that lets you book round-the-world trips. Pricing for these awards follows a distance-based chart, so the further you fly the more you'll pay. Provided you can find the award space, you could book an award such as the following for 115,000 Asia Miles in economy (100k Amex points with this transfer bonus) or 230,000 miles (200k Amex points) in business class.

  1. San Francisco (SFO) – Tokyo (HND/NRT) on Japan Airlines
  2. Tokyo (HND/NRT) – Hong Kong (HKG) on Cathay Pacific
  3. Hong Kong (HKG) – Singapore (SIN) on Cathay Pacific
  4. Singapore (SIN) – Nadi (NAN) on Fiji Airways
  5. Nadi (NAN) – San Francisco (SFO) on Fiji Airways

Long-haul Cathay Pacific and partner airline flights

Flying long-haul is a great way to stretch your Asia Miles — and your Amex points. Cathay's distance-based charts offer excellent value in the pointy end of the plane, especially on longer routes. For example, here are some business class flights you could score a great deal on courtesy of the Amex transfer bonus:

  • Dallas (DFW) to Helsinki, Finland (HEL) on Finnair for 89,000 miles (78k Amex points)
  • Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Doha (DOH) via Casablanca (CMN) on Royal Air Maroc for 89,000 miles (78k Amex points)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) to Sydney (SYD) via Hong Kong (HKG) on Cathay Pacific for 110,000 miles (96k Amex points)
  • Hong Kong (HKG) to Chicago (ORD) via London (LHR) on British Airways for 115,000 miles (100k Amex points)
British Airways award from HKG to ORD via LHR for 115K Asia Miles
Credit: Asia Miles

Short-haul awards on Alaska Airlines

If one thing is for sure, you have numerous options for booking U.S. domestic flights with points and miles. Depending on the route, you may find outsized value in booking with Asia Miles.

You can score an excellent deal on nonstop flights in the U.S. on Cathay Pacific's Oneworld partners, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines. And the transfer bonus makes them marginally more affordable. However, one partner is easier to book than the other.

Here are some examples of economy flights available for solid prices:

  • Orlando (MCO) to Phoenix (PHX) via Seattle (SEA) on Alaska Airlines for 15,000 Asia Miles (14k Amex points)
  • Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL) on Alaska Airlines for 15,000 Asia Miles (14k Amex points)
  • Washington, D.C. (IAD) to Seattle (SEA) on Alaska Airlines for 15,000 Asia Miles (14k Amex points)
Alaska Airlines award from IAD to SEA for 15K Asia Miles.
Credit: Asia Miles

You can find similar pricing on American Airlines awards. However, you need to fill out Cathay's flight award request form or call Asia Miles to book. These awards aren't bookable online.

Asia Miles Expiration Policy

Before transferring Amex points to Cathay Pacific, familiarize yourself with the Asia Miles expiration policy. Your Asia Miles will expire if your account has no activity for 18 months. However, you can extend the validity of your Asia Miles by earning or redeeming miles at least once during that period.

Track your points and miles expiration for 630+ loyalty programs and get email alerts before your miles expire by signing up for a free AwardWallet account.

Bottom Line

The Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program might not be one you're too familiar with. However, despite the award chart adjustments the program has undergone in recent history, you can still unlock excellent value. This is mainly due to the massive number of partners Cathay Pacific will let you book with Asia Miles. Remember, you have until November 30, 2024, to plan and determine if you can make this Amex transfer bonus work for you.

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Comments

  • I thought I signed up before transferring points, but it appears there was one more link to click on the page.

    Do you think it counts for retroactive transfers made in the time period after signing up? It doesn’t seem to call that out in the terms at least.

    • Ryan Smith says:

      Hi Josh, it’s unlikely that simply signing up for an account but not completing the transfer by the deadline would qualify. It doesn’t hurt to ask, but I recommend keeping your expectations low.

      • Ah I should clarify, I did transfer within the time period (before Mar 31 2024) but I registered for the promo several hours after the transfer completed. I wasn’t sure if you had to register BEFORE making the transfer or if you just had to sign up before the window closed and the transfer could have happened prior (in the window),

        I did just that, I did reach out to their Twitter team and confirms my original analysis of the terms: you don’t have to sign up before transferring, just having both made the transfer and signed up within the window.

        Sounds good for me, fingers crossed though!

      • @Ryan Yay, even though I registered for the promotion the morning after making a points booking, I still received the points! Booked Mar 26, points posted May 27.

  • I go on vacation and boom tons of things happen. I hope they do this one again. This would really benefit me. I just don’t want to do it right now.

  • Any way to use the 20% Asia Miles from US-Europe?

    • For sure! Asia Miles charges 27k economy, 43k premium economy, 61k business, 87k first for Oneworld (American, British, Finnair, Iberia) flights from the East Coast. Factoring in the transfer bonus, you’d need to transfer 23k economy, 36k premium economy, 51k business, 73k first class. Not bad at all!

  • I wish Chase would actually do this as ofteen a s Amex does

  • This combined with the SQ bonus running currently should see me through next year’s travel!

  • CX’s schedule will remain VERY pared down in the years to come.

  • There are some fair deals with several of the airlines. However, the travel time and having to go through Doha on one of them, can really be tiresome. Of course, if one does not mind the long travel time, then it can definitely be worth it.

  • IGNACIO MEDINA says:

    Considering the low bonus and the fact that you do not reedem the mails directly with the ariline (the same as Multiplus with LATAM for example), i would definitely would not go with it.

    If this third party happens to change the terms without notice, you may find yourself in (sort of) troubles.

  • 70,000 Asia miles on Cathay Pacific LAX-HKG in business… or 70,000 Alaska miles for the same route, but in First class… (50,000 AS in business).

  • Looks like all the FF programs are trying to bring in cash by offering transfer bonuses. Asia Miles have now joined Krisflyer in offering a 15% transfer bonus

  • No. At this point, there isn’t much prospect for intercontinental travel in 2021.

  • Gilberto Souza de Morais says:

    Cathay Pacific is worldwide recognized as one of the best airlines. This point transfer seems really good for their customers.

  • This is a great deal! I got a targeted 10% transfer bonus.

  • Seems like a low bonus, would not go out of my way.