Asia Miles Program Changes

[trippin_the_rift]

Announced today, effective June 22.
Asia Miles

 

[futaris]

The winners and losers in Cathay Pacific's radical Asia Miles revamp

 

[Saltywings]

Just pored through this myself.

I know the line is tired, but 'this could have been worse'. Unlike many other program devaluations over the past few years, for which the 'cons' list vastly outweigh the 'pros', these changes are a mixed bag. Not bad for HK locals who take lots of paid flights (esp short-haul) ones, and not bad for those who have more AM then they know what to do with.

Personally, I will be pretty chuffed if the '20% greater availability (average fleetwide)' turns out to be the case. As someone with both a boatload of QF and MR (= AM/VA/etc.), any increase in availability on the frenemy airline is a good one.

 

[Isochronous]

"could have been worse" aptly sums up the situation.

 

[andye]

Disappointing to lose the round-trip discount (on the bright side it means you wont need to match availability with CX for both legs)

Just spotted that aus-europe is now less in J . Whats the betting though that the 20% uplift in award seats is all in Y?

 

[Captain Halliday]

Disappointing to lose the round-trip discount (on the bright side it means you wont need to match availability with CX for both legs)

Just spotted that aus-europe is now less in J . Whats the betting though that the 20% uplift in award seats is all in Y?

I may have missed it in the detail, but are you suggesting they’re ditching Married Segment Control?

 

[andye]

I may have missed it in the detail, but are you suggesting they’re ditching Married Segment Control?

No. Just that previously you got better value with CX return IF you could get availability for inbound/outbound. Now it makes no difference going CX one-way and a non-OneWorld (eg SQ) award seat back

 

[Einherjar]

I was signed up for the Westpac Altitude specifically with Asia Miles in mind and they just released an offer to waive the first year. Now this news comes in. What a double slap in the face! I would presume the seat upgrades for OneWorld partners will be much higher than their own airline. Time to bring out the Platinum Edge and bank my Amex points

 

[Duffa]

Well, I'm not taking any chances with the new rates - MEL - NYC might, just MIGHT, be 170k rtn from 22/6/18 but it might be 340k. Happy to lose the 5K if i'm wrong...

 

[yohy?!]

the new booking engine is now live - it 'helpfully' selects the more expensive awards when searching forcing you to select the standard award everytime - horrible UX.

J awards at the lowest standard rate now appear to not be available less than 90days out, this works out to an increase of 55% one-way HKG-SYD,

starting to look like this is the real intention of the changes - phase out the current award rates without shocking people with a huge devaluation.

 

[Isochronous]

the new booking engine is now live - it 'helpfully' selects the more expensive awards when searching forcing you to select the standard award everytime - horrible UX.

J awards at the lowest standard rate now appear to not be available less than 90days out, this works out to an increase of 55% one-way HKG-SYD,

starting to look like this is the real intention of the changes - phase out the current award rates without shocking people with a huge devaluation.

Yuck - disappointing.

Is the engine any better with partner availability than before?

 

[Mattg]

Is the engine any better with partner availability than before?

No, still only a limited range of partner airlines showing online.