GUIDE: In Depth Look at the Cathay Pacific Loyalty Programme

We often get questions about Cathay Pacific, especially after the major changes to many airline loyalty programmes. If you’re considering switching your loyalty to another Oneworld airline or even jumping ship to a new alliance altogether – is Cathay Pacific a good choice of loyalty programme for you? 

This article details the essential things you need to know about the Cathay loyalty programme as part of our series covering the most popular airline loyalty programmes and alliances.

Cathay Pacific

Founded in 1946, Cathay Pacific is Hong Kong’s flagship carrier. It is known for its excellent service and well-reviewed lounges (including the ultra-luxurious Pier First Class Lounge in Hong Kong). 

Cathay Pacific flies to Hong Kong (HKG) from Heathrow and Manchester. Elsewhere in Europe, you can fly from a variety of major airports, including Paris Charles De Gaulle, Frankfurt, Milan Malpensa, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, and Zurich. From its base in Hong Kong, there is an excellent network of routes across the Asia Pacific. View the full route list here.

Cathay is also popular with readers due to its fantastic Business and First-Class product. Our airline reviews page has plenty of Cathay Pacific flight reviews.

The Cathay Pacific Frequent Flyer Programme

The Cathay Pacific loyalty programme has undergone major changes in recent years. The loyalty programme is now called ‘Cathay’. To understand how the loyalty programme works, it’s important to know about Status Points and Asia Miles:

• Status Points are used to earn Cathay Status. The more points you earn, the higher your status level. Points earned are based on fare class and flight length. The programme aims to reward high spending and long flights. Earn Status Points by booking a Cathay Pacific or an eligible partner flight.
• Asia Miles are earned through flights with Cathay Pacific and its partners and various non-flight activities. They can be redeemed for flights, upgrades, and other rewards.

How to Become a Cathay Member

Signing up for Cathay is free. Go to the website and sign up. Provide your mobile number, email, date of birth, and name and create a password. Once signed up, you will receive a frequent flyer number. Add this to your booking when you fly with Cathay Pacific or partner airlines to earn miles and status.

Join Cathay Pacific Here >>>

Earning Status with the Cathay Loyalty Programme: Status Points

You move up the Cathay Status levels by earning Status Points within a 12-month membership year.  There are four status levels within the Cathay Loyalty Programme. Here’s how many points you need:

Your Status Points balance will automatically be set to 0 upon renewal of your membership year (12 months from the date you enrolled) or status level upgrade.

Using the Cathay Calculator, you can check how many Status Points and Asia Miles you will earn for your next flight.

Example

A one-way flight from Hong Kong to New York would earn you:

• First: 150
• Business: 110 (D, P, I) or 120 (J, C)
• Premium Economy: 80 (E) or 95 (W, R)
• Economy: 30-90, depending on fare class

This means you could earn Silver status with just 1 return flight to New York in First, Gold with 2 return flights and Diamond with 4. In comparison, if you travelled in the lowest Economy Fare Class (30 points), you would need to fly 5 return flights just for Silver Status, 10 for Gold, and 20 for Diamond.

Cathay Membership Levels

When you sign up for Cathay, you will automatically become a Cathay Green member. You will progress to Silver, Gold, and Diamond Status if you earn enough Status Points. From Silver onwards, you will also have Oneworld benefits (more on that below).

Mid-Status Benefits: A great thing about Cathay Membership is the mid-status benefits, similar to ‘Milestone Rewards’ or ‘Milestone Bonuses’ with particular hotel loyalty programmes. Three different mid-status benefits are offered, including lounge passes, complimentary upgrades, and a complimentary Gold companion. 

Here’s what you can expect as you progress through the membership levels:

Cathay Green

Green is the base level of the Cathay Pacific loyalty programme. Signing up will give you several immediate benefits, including:

• Earn and redeem Asia Miles
• Earn Status Points  to work towards the next status level
• Priority online check-in (up to 48 hours in advance)
• Extra baggage redemption
• Extra legroom seats redemption
• 24-hour free cancellation on flight tickets
• Stay and dining benefits at ‘The House Collective’  and ‘EAST’ Hotels.
• Hertz car hire benefits

At 200 points, you will be rewarded with 1 Business Class lounge pass for you or a travel companion when flying with Cathay.

This isn’t as comprehensive as the benefits of some entry-level tiers, such as Qatar Burgundy, which offers things like 10% off seat selection just for signing up.

Cathay Silver 

You must earn 300 Status Points to earn Cathay Silver status. Silver status comes with a range of perks in addition to the Green perks, including:

• Lounge access redemption and purchase
• Business class lounge access (read more about airport lounge access with airline status here)
• Advance seat reservation
• Use Asia Miles to purchase a extra-legroom seat
• Priority Waitlist for you and your travel companion (where available)
• Business class counter check-in and boarding
• Priority baggage handling
• Special rates on miles for shopping and dining – 5% off when you shop with us and pay with miles, and 10% off when you pay with miles in one dining transaction.

At 450 points, you will get two business class lounge passes for a travel companion when flying with Cathay.

Cathay Gold

To achieve Gold status, you must earn 600 Status Points. Gold status comes with a few additional perks. In addition to the Silver perks, you will also get:

• Extra legroom seats / preferred seats reservation
• Additional checked baggage allowance
• Priority redemption on lifestyle events, experiences and travel packages
• Guaranteed Economy seat in Y class up to 72 hours before departure.
• Benefits at Four Seasons Hotels at 26 properties in the South Pacific.

At 800 points, you will receive 2 business class long-haul passes for a travel companion or redemption group nominee.

As you approach Diamond, you will be rewarded with four single-sector bookable upgrades at 1,000 for you or a travel companion on short or medium-haul flights (flights must be marketed and operated by Cathay Pacific).

Cathay Diamond

To achieve Diamond status, you must earn 1,200 Status Points. In addition to the Gold benefits, you will also receive:

• Additional checked baggage allowance
• First class counter check-in and boarding
• First class lounge access
• Special rates on miles for flight redemption when using Miles Plus Cash
• Priority redemption on lifestyle events, experiences and travel packages
• Complimentary in-flight Wi-Fi
• Guaranteed Premium Economy seat in fare class W and Business Class fare J up to 24 hours before departure 
• Benefits at selected Peninsula Hotels
• Dining benefits at The Refinery

Once you’ve reached Diamond status, there are still rewards for earning even more Status Points.

At 1,400 points, you will get 2 First Class or Business Class lounge passes for a travel companion or a redemption group nominee.

At 1,600 points, you will be rewarded with 4 single-sector bookable upgrades for yourself, a travel companion, or a redemption group nominee. These can be flights of any distance marketed and operated by Cathay Pacific.

At 1,800 points, you can nominate someone to get complimentary Gold status if they are an existing Cathay member at least 12 years old.

The Oneworld Alliance

Cathay is one of the founding members of the Oneworld alliance which now has 14 member airlines. You can read more about airline alliances in our guide to the three airline alliances. Each Oneworld status level has an equivalent Oneworld tier (apart from Cathay Green).

You will get the following benefits when flying with a Oneworld airline:

Here are the Oneworld member airlines and how your Cathay status matches the status of each airline:

Earning Asia Miles with Cathay Pacific

Beyond flying, Asia Miles can be earned through various channels:

Fly with Cathay Pacific

Using the Cathay Calculator, you can check how many Asia Miles you will earn for your next flight.

Examples

A one-way flight from London Heathrow to Hong Kong would earn you:

• First: 12,500
• Business: 9,000 (D, P, I) or 10,500 (J, C)
• Premium Economy: 6000 (E) or 7500 (W, R)
• Economy: 2,500-7,000 depending on fare class

A one-way flight from Hong Kong to New York would earn you:

• First: 15,000
• Business: 11,100 (D, P, I) or 12,000 (J, C)
• Premium Economy: 8,000 (E) or 9,500 (W, R)
• Economy: 3,000-9,000, depending on fare class

Fly with Partners

As well as the Oneworld member airlines, Cathay Pacific also has a range of other airline partners, including:

• Air Canada
• Air China
• Air New Zealand
• Bangkok Airways
• LATAM
• Lufthansa
• Swiss
• Austrian

If you fly with a partner airline, earning and mileage rates will be different. You can read more about earning and redeeming with each partner (including Oneworld airlines) on the Cathay Pacific partners page. Some airlines may also be limited to codeshares.

Travel Packages

Cathay Holidays serves a range of destinations including Hong Kong, Singapore, Hanoi, Cebu, Bangkok and more. You can view the earning rates here.

Credit Cards

It does not have its own UK credit card, but you can transfer points from a range of cards, including American Express Membership Rewards and the HSBC Elite/World Elite cards. There is also a Cathay Mastercard if you happen to be a Hong Kong resident.

Read our guide to the AMEX Platinum Card here

Spending

Link up to five Mastercard or Visa credit cards to your Cathay membership profile.

As expected, most places where you can earn points are in Hong Kong. Here’s a selection:

Asia Miles Shopping Portal

There are over 1,000 brands to choose from. Unlike automatic miles by spending on your card (as above), there are plenty of brands you’re more likely to spend with, being based in the UK, such as Harrods, Hilton, Selfridges and IHG.

Transfer Points from Hotel Loyalty Programmes

A number of hotel chains offer points transfers into Asia Miles, including: 

Car Hire

Asia Miles partners with several rental car companies, including Avis, Hertz, and National.

Just note that you likely won’t earn rental car points if you opt to earn Asia Miles on your car rental. Make sure to assess which points you value more before you book your car.

Spending Asia Miles

You can use Asia Miles to book award flights with Cathay Pacific or partners. Award pricing is distance-based, so booking with Cathay is usually cheaper than flying with a partner.

Cathay releases award space slightly earlier (360 days out) than airlines like BA and AA (typically 355 days), giving members a slight advantage. As a Cathay member, you can book award flights as soon as they become available, rather than waiting for them to become available via BA, etc. This is especially good in premium cabins where reward space can sell quickly.

Cathay has a distance based award chart:

The number of Asia Miles needed for some routes changed on 15th April 2025. Use the search box here to see the number of miles you’ll earn. It’s worth noting that fuel surcharges with Cathay can be high and really push up the cost of an award ticket.

The most valuable redemptions via Cathay include:

• US to Hong Kong in Business and First 
• Around the world, multi-carrier award tickets

A Note About Miles Expiry: Asia Miles do not expire if you have account activity at least every 18 months. Even simple things like transferring points from a credit card partner are counted as activity.

Round the World Tickets

Round-the-world tickets with Cathay are one of the best uses of Asia Miles. You must use two or more Oneworld airlines for this (multi-carrier award) or three if Cathay Pacific is included.

You can travel up to 50,000 miles and include up to 5 stopovers, two transfers and two open jaws. You must return to the origin. You must contact Cathay to book this, but use the Cathay Calculator to do your research first.

View the Oneworld multi-carrier award chart here >>>

Companion Tickets with Cash Fares

When you purchase a round-trip cash Business or First Ticket (selected fare class), you can purchase a companion ticket using Asia Miles. This is cheaper than using miles outright and is worth knowing about!

Rates are as follows:

Cabin Upgrades

You can use Asia Miles for a cabin upgrade, but it’s only possible only upgrade by one cabin. Upgrade pricing is fixed based on distance. You can’t upgrade from an Economy Lite fare.

Car Hire

You can redeem your Asia Miles with a number of car rental companies. Earning rates vary by company.

Partners include:

• Avis
• Budget
• Esso
• Europcar
• Hertz
• SIXT

Hotel Stays

Search for hotels via this portal to see how many miles your room would cost. This isn’t the most valuable use of miles. The portal includes major chains as well as some independent options.

Other Things to Note

Purchasing Asia Miles: Unlike programmes like the BA Club and Qatar Privilege Club, you can’t simply buy miles. You can only purchase miles to top up an award booking. No bonuses, no sales. The amount can’t exceed 30% of the Asia Miles you need for a particular award. Your miles must be redeemed immediately for the flight, with no refunds given. The cost of the miles is also not a great value…

Transferring Miles: Unfortunately, Cathay does not use Avios as its currency. You can’t directly transfer Asia miles to other Oneworld partners, but you can use them to book award flights on flights operated by other Oneworld airlines. 

Final Words

Cathay has a strong reputation for excellent lounges and premium cabins, but its loyalty programme is a bit of a mixed bag. There’s also currently no way to earn Status Points without flying.

Like many airline loyalty programmes, Cathay has flaws, but for the right traveller, the programme offers some great advantages – especially the mid-status benefits!  If you fly long-haul to Asia or Australia fairly often (especially in premium cabins), Cathay should be a major Oneworld contender. Otherwise, it may be one to watch rather than one to jump to immediately.

Would you consider switching to Cathay? Is Cathay already your programme of choice? Let us know in the comments below.

Still unsure? Make sure you read our other airline loyalty programme guides:

• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• Qatar Privilege Club
• Club Iberia Plus
• Air France/KLM – Flying Blue