I helped a client with booking Cathay Pacific with US Airways miles in business class for 90K miles last Friday. As of now, US Airways is in a unique situation where you can use your US Airways miles for all Oneworld partners. Eventually US Airways will cease to exist and miles will become AA miles. Since US Airways charges only 90,000 miles for a round trip to North Asia, this is one of the best deals for mileage redemptions.
Cathay Pacific has one of the world’s best business class cabins with its suite-like lie-flat set up of 1-2-1. Their round trip business class tickets from US to Hong Kong consistently are at least $6,000+ roundtrip! So 90,000 miles round trip in business class is a great deal!
My Experience Booking Cathay Pacific with US Airways Miles
I wasn’t sure exactly how easy it would be booking Cathay Pacific with US Airways, but I knew it would work. Here are the steps I took to book a round trip business class ticket on Cathay Pacific:
1. Searched British Airways’ website for Cathay Pacific availability.
BA.com Cathay Pacific Availability
2. Found open seats and called US Airways Dividend Miles at 1-800-327-7810. US Airways was able to see availability for 2 out of 3 flights I asked about from BA.
3. After finding my departure and return flights, asked the agent to book the flight. The agent took a while because she had to call another department to figure out the taxes. It seems they have to manually price out the tickets, which some agents may have trouble with. Be patient.
4. Paid with my credit card and flight confirmed! The agent gave both the US Airways and Cathay Pacific confirmation numbers.
Cathay Business Class Confirmed with US Airways Miles!
I was surprised how easy the process was booking Cathay Pacific with US Airways miles. Some trouble you may run into is that US Airways might not see exactly what is on BA.com, which seems to be the case sometimes between BA availability for CX and AA availability for CX. Cathay Pacific availability is best far in advance or last minute.
Be aware that Cathay Pacific bookings through US Airways do not have free date changes and incur a $150 fee for any change. Taxes are quite reasonable, around $35 and a $50 unavoidable phone booking fee. Although mileage wise it’s cheaper compared to AA (110K AA miles for round trip to HKG), the rules are more restricted. My best advice is to easy US Airways miles to book Cathay if you are absolutely sure about your dates. Worse case scenario is a $150 cancellation fee, which isn’t the end of the world if you run into an emergency. If you need help actually booking the ticket, I can help you through my award booking service. However, I’m sure most of my readers are quite smart and talented!
