Cathay Pacific reward their members after COVID with a significant hike in premium award redemptions

Cathay Pacific Hike in Redemption Rates

Just a heads up...

Cathay Pacific are about to reward their loyal customers who have stuck with them through their pandemic issues with a significant hike in premium cabin redemption tickets combined with a mixed bag for Economy class redemptions.

Most Economy class redemptions from "Medium" to "Ultra-long haul" will be lowered between 9% and 10%. "Ultra-short" and "Short" range flights will remain the same, except for some "Short" range flights (Type 2) going to Jakarta, Mumbai and Tokyo, which will actually be hiked by 25%.

Premium cabins (including Premium Economy, Business and First) in "Ultra-short" will remain the same. Premium cabins for "Short-range" flights will go up between 11% and 28%.

Redemption rates for Premium cabins; from "Medium-haul" to "Ultra-long haul" shall be rising between 11% and 30%.

Cathay Pacific says in their statement regarding the upcoming changes to their redemption rates that they committed at the beginning of the year (as part of the CEO's NYE message) that they would double the number of reward seats available for 2023 (as compared to 2019). Do note however that this promise is currently only for 2023 only - not beyond.

The change in Cathay miles (formally known as Asia miles) required for flight redemptions begins this October (2023).

Typical examples (one-way):

HKG - SYD in Business was 45,000 Cathay miles, will now require 58,000 Cathay miles (approx. 30% increase) as a redemption.

Today HKG to LHR in Business needs 65,000 Cathay miles for a one-way redemption, will as of October require 84,000 Cathay miles (approx. 29% increase).

That's a horrible devaluation, especially given that availability is close to zero (so much for the CEO's promise to double the number of reward seats available).

It is worth noting, however, that even with this devaluation, Cathay will still charge significantly fewer points for long-haul flights than Qantas does (and Velocity).