Cathay Pacific is one of the founding members of Oneworld and has been ranked as the world’s best airline four times by Skytrax. Cathay Pacific’s premium cabin experience is considered one of the best and highly desired by miles & points enthusiasts.
Cathay Pacific’s nonstop routes from North America
Cathay Pacific flies nonstop to Hong Kong (HKG) from a few North American destinations including JFK, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, LAX, SFO, YVR and YYZ. Cathay Pacific releases premium cabin award space 360 days ahead, but NOT consistently when compared to JAL or Iberia.
Can you easily find premium cabin award space on Cathay Pacific’s nonstop flights?
No. Cathay Pacific restricts most of the premium cabin award space to members of its own frequent flyer program called “Asia Miles” (transfer partners of Amex MR, Citi TY and Capital One points). In most cases, you should look to book premium cabins 350-360 days ahead of your travel dates (see image below).
Award space search done on 2/9/25 for travel dates of 1/23/26
What are the taxes/fees for the award booking?
Award booking taxes/fees are reasonable for a business class redemption (see image below).
Can you find these awards by using paid award search engines?
No. You will not be able to find Cathay Pacific awards by using paid search engines like Pointsyeah and Seats.aero. I was not able to find it even when I used the Point.me search engine (see image below).
Conclusion
Cathay Pacific is one of the best ways to fly to Asia with miles & points (similar to JAL & Qatar) and I recommend booking the premium cabin awards the moment they are released 360 days ahead of time.