Asia Miles points extension request because of Covid

[prozac]

I have Asia Miles points due to expire soon. Because of Covid related flight restrictions worldwide I have requested a time extension but was refused outright. Who knows when air travel will be back to normal, right?
Given the circumstances I considered this a not unreasonable request and was a little surprised at the steadfast refusal.

Has anyone else had any success in extending their miles because of the current Covid situation?

Any suggestions on how best to book a SYD-Europe return in J appreciated.

 

[Mattg]

I would have thought extending the miles would be reasonable given the circumstances, but not much you can do if they refuse.

You may be able to use them for QF domestic flights (and trans-Tasman when NZ opens back up).

 

[prozac]

I would have thought extending the miles would be reasonable given the circumstances, but not much you can do if they refuse.

You may be able to use them for QF domestic flights (and trans-Tasman when NZ opens back up).

I considered a NZ trip.

The only option open to me in respect of Europe is to book a trip in May, returning in June 2021. In August I can cancel the ticket and rebook for departure in June returning in August. Cost is US$120 per passenger or 12,000 miles each passenger. Annoying but that is my only option to get the dates I'd like.

Agreed, Cathay Asia Miles are pretty miserable when most international carriers have offered their members loyalty mileage extensions of 6-12 months. Even SIA has extended expiring miles by 6 months.

 

[prozac]

Just about all major international airlines are offering mileage extensions for the customers right now...except Cathay.
Last time I will be transferring points into Asia miles.

 

[gapmatt]

Asia miles wouldnt extend my points. I had around 100,000 points back in Easter, so i booked 2 tickets for Easter 2021 to Thailand.
Here's hoping things are back to normal then..

 

[albyd]

Same here. AM Outright refused to extend my miles
But suggested I might like to redeem for ‘lifestyle products’ instead. Poor value compared to J travel but ended I’m doing that. Better to get some value than mine but will be wary of transferring more miles to the. In the future.

 

[bulldog88]

I heard that CX Diamond / ex-Diamond members have better chances

 

[prozac]

I heard that CX Diamond / ex-Diamond members have better chances

Yeah, good luck with that.

 

[prozac]

I would have thought extending the miles would be reasonable given the circumstances, but not much you can do if they refuse.

You may be able to use them for QF domestic flights (and trans-Tasman when NZ opens back up).

Tried both calling and emailing, hoping that I'd strike a different person who had authority to act. Asked to speak to supervisors etc but they are completely inflexible.

Trans Tasman...when I looked at conversion cost was similar to a EU J return.
I ended up booking 2 J return SYD-AMS 6 May, returning mid June '21. Hoping we are permitted to travel by then and there is a vaccine to protect us.

 

[billbro]

Cathay wouldn't budge at all, I lost 200k AM... ended up getting too busy with work and forgot about them instead of at least redeeming for lifestyle rewards.

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Same here. AM Outright refused to extend my miles
But suggested I might like to redeem for ‘lifestyle products’ instead. Poor value compared to J travel but ended I’m doing that. Better to get some value than mine but will be wary of transferring more miles to the. In the future.

Cathay wouldn't budge at all, I lost 200k AM... ended up getting too busy with work and forgot about them instead of at least redeeming for lifestyle rewards.

One might consider 'lifestyle products' excellent value when the alternative is to lose all the miles.
My personal strategy is staying away from collecting *ANY* airline points for the near future, that includes Qantas.

It's only going to get worse for those holding bucketloads of points at airlines.

 

[billbro]

One might consider 'lifestyle products' excellent value when the alternative is to lose all the miles.

Yep, poor value is much better than no value... unfortunate lesson about poor time management and work getting the better of me

 

[PLM]

One might consider 'lifestyle products' excellent value when the alternative is to lose all the miles.
My personal strategy is staying away from collecting *ANY* airline points for the near future, that includes Qantas.

It's only going to get worse for those holding bucketloads of points at airlines.

Are you suggesting that we should all go and apply for cashback cards instead?

 

[trippin_the_rift]

Are you suggesting that we should all go and apply for cashback cards instead?

Yes if the cashback card offers more bang for your buck than the equivalent redeemed from Asia Miles on non-airline products.

I see it like this:
- If you need to travel now, and there's award availability - great! Keep collecting.
- Every airline has scaled back network/fleets/staff
- If everything were back to normal tomorrow, airlines couldn't possibly honor the previous award seat levels
- Every day new credit card miles are created into the system, thus much more miles being created than are being burned out of the system
- If there were loads of demand for flights tomorrow, airlines would zero out redemption inventory and cash prices would be sky high
- If nobody were flying tomorrow, prices would be cheap, and therefore, you'd be better off paying cash for a ticket rather than using miles
- If airline goes bust (highly likely some will), your miles are gone
- If airline is almost going bust (highly high highly likely), your miles will almost always be devalued in some capacity

IMO there's a lot of risk in collecting airline miles right now -- even with 'safe' airlines like Singapore Airlines.

I'd look at other non-travel based cards in the short to medium term.
Collect airline miles again once flying becomes a thing.

 

[prozac]

In case anyone still has concerns about using Air Miles for a redemption booking, Cathay are allowing rebooking of redemption fares without penalty providing there is no miles difference. This brings some comfort to those of us who had to commit to booking or loose points.
I'd expect the limitations of seat availability will be the biggest issue.

 

[gapmatt]

FYI, one flight on my redemption booking was cancelled and rescheduled to 1 day earlier. Asia miles were happy to cancel my booking and refund my points used. Original points expriy was 30 April 2020, now has been extended to 30 April 2021, even then, they still not let it not expire..

Will be looking at making another booking around a year in advance from the 30 april 2021.

Why are they so stubbon..asia miles live chat is like talking to a robot

 

[prozac]

FYI, one flight on my redemption booking was cancelled and rescheduled to 1 day earlier. Asia miles were happy to cancel my booking and refund my points used. Original points expriy was 30 April 2020, now has been extended to 30 April 2021, even then, they still not let it not expire..
...

So from Asia Miles not willing to extend miles you have now effectively got a 12 month extension? Congratulations, that's great news for you.
Hopefully it will work the same for me if I cannot fly on my May booking.

 

[albyd]

They we’re nice enough to suggest I redeem for merchandise which unfortunately did as they offered no other options for me.

 

[gapmatt]

So from Asia Miles not willing to extend miles you have now effectively got a 12 month extension? Congratulations, that's great news for you.
Hopefully it will work the same for me if I cannot fly on my May booking.

Yes that's correct which was good news.
Here's hoping we will be able to fly soon

 

[billbro]

Thanks to Cyberon on here I managed to sort out some points issues on my account.

Now considering booking some flights for our honeymoon in August, though probably just to Japan and will save an RTW for down the line.

Doesn't sound like our borders will be opening this year though, just wanted to see if anyone else also had a cancellation/reschedule to confirm that points are refunded and extended?