You may be aware that you can fly around the world in Business class for 318,000 Qantas points using the Qantas Oneworld Classic Flight Reward. But did you know that Cathay Pacific offers a very similar Oneworld multi-carrier award for just 265,000 Asia Miles in Business Class? That’s a saving of 53,000 points per passenger for itineraries of up to 35,000 miles flown!

The Oneworld Multi-Carrier Award offered by Cathay’s Asia Miles program is a special type of multi-city award. It allows you to travel up to 50,000 miles on Oneworld airlines, with up to 5 stopovers included. That’s enough miles to easily fly around the world… although this is not a requirement.

Cathay Oneworld Multi-carrier Award routing rules

Many routings are possible with the Asia Miles Oneworld multi-carrier award. Many people use it to book a round-the-world ticket, which represents excellent value for your Asia Miles! But you could also just book a simpler multi-city ticket that doesn’t circumnavigate the globe.

You’ll just need to ensure your itinerary follows these rules:

• Up to 5 stopovers/transits (of any length)
• Up to 2 additional “transits” (of under 24 hours)
• Up to 8 flight sectors allowed in total
• Up to 2 “surface segments” are also permitted
• You may only pass through any given airport up to two times
• Travel may only be completed on Oneworld airlines
• You may travel on either:
  • Two Oneworld airlines other than Cathay Pacific, or
  • Three or more Oneworld airlines if one of the included carriers is Cathay Pacific

You can read the full list of award routing rules on the Cathay Pacific website.

The following Oneworld Airlines can be used as part of an Asia Miles round-the-world award:

Oneworld Multi-Carrier Award pricing

The price of Cathay Pacific’s Oneworld Multi-Carrier Award depends on the class of travel and distance flown, excluding surface segments. Taxes and fuel surcharges, which vary depending on the routing and airlines used, are also payable in addition to the miles.

Here is the award chart from the Asia Miles website:

Please note that Cathay increased its Oneworld multi-carrier award prices on 1 October 2023.

Because this award allows you to fly quite a large distance, while limiting you to a maximum of only 8 flight sectors, you’ll get great value by booking lots of long-haul flights in Business or First Class (i.e. not wasting your sector allowance on short flights).

Sample Oneworld Multi-Carrier Award itineraries

Here’s an example of a routing for a Zone 11 award that would cost 126,000 Asia Miles in Economy or 250,000 Asia Miles in Business Class:

This Zone 12 itinerary would cost 140,000 Asia Miles in Economy, 265,000 Asia Miles in Business or 365,000 Asia Miles for First class:

How to book

It is possible to book some simple Oneworld Multi-Carrier Awards on the Cathay Pacific website. Log into your Asia Miles account and select “Redeem flights” from the home page:

Then, select “Multi-city/stopover” to search for a multi-city itinerary:

You could alternatively use the Asia Miles website to book some award tickets.

However, the Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles websites do not display award availability on American Airlines or Iberia. There is also a major limitation with the multi-city search function on the Cathay Pacific website where you’ll get an error message if your itinerary contains more than 4 cities.

Even if you are able to get past the search page, you’ll sometimes get an error message later in the booking process anyway. Therefore, for more complex itineraries, you’ll probably need to call up.

If you’re unable to complete the booking on the Asia Miles or Cathay Pacific websites, we recommend phoning Asia Miles. The number to call from within Australia is 1800 129 264.

We don’t recommend filling out the online form on the Asia Miles website to request award seats as it could take some time before an operator calls you back to complete the booking. By this time, some of your preferred award seats might not be available any more!

Before calling to book, check for Oneworld award flight availability on the routes you wish to book. You can use the Asia Miles website to check for award seats on most Oneworld airlines. Alternatively, you might find it easier to use the Japan Airlines, American Airlines, Qantas or British Airways websites to search for award availability.

Transferring credit card points to Asia Miles

Even if you don’t have an Asia Miles account (or any miles in your existing account), you might have points with an Australian credit card rewards program that you can transfer to Asia Miles!

You can transfer points from the following Australian credit card loyalty programs to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles, then redeem your Asia Miles to book an award ticket:

• American Express Membership Rewards (2:1 conversion rate)
• ANZ Rewards (3:1 conversion rate)
• NAB Rewards (3:1 conversion rate)
• Westpac Altitude Rewards (3:1 conversion rate)
• CommBank Awards (3:1 conversion rate)
• Diners Club Rewards (2:1 conversion rate)
• HSBC Rewards Plus (2:1 conversion rate)
• Citi Rewards (Prestige cardholders – 2.5:1 conversion rate)

Read more: The Ultimate Australian Credit Card Points Transfer Matrix

Would you like help with an Asia Miles round-the-world award booking?

If you’d like to book a round-the-world award using Asia Miles but don’t know where to start, the Frequent Flyer Concierge service can help!

The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of redeeming your points. Just let them know how many points you have and where you’d like to go, and they can find the perfect flights for you! You’ll receive an easy-to-read report which includes clear, detailed booking instructions.

Having trouble finding and booking reward seats?

Our Frequent Flyer Concierge is here to help!

Find Seats

If you have a question about the Asia Miles Oneworld Multi-carrier Award, you can also post it on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.