List of Cathay Pacific Partners & Fee Examples

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From alliance partners to codeshare partners, there are a lot of Cathay Pacific partners worth looking into. This article will take a look at the different partners and also look into what you can expect to pay in fees with some of these partners. 

What alliance is Cathay Pacific in?

Cathay Pacific partners
The Oneworld Alliance.

Cathay Pacific is a member of the OneWorld Alliance which means that they are partners with all of the following airlines.

Additional Cathay Pacific partners

In addition to the Oneworld partners, Cathay Pacific also has several partnerships with other airlines which include codeshares and Joint Operating Services/Strategic Agreement. Notice that several of these partners are actually in the Star Alliance.

Using Cathay Pacific partners

Using your Asia Miles on Cathay Pacific partners isn’t very straightforward because they operate two different award charts that only apply to airlines based on specific criteria.

Here are the to award charts:

Asia Miles Award Chart

One chart called the “Asia Miles Award Chart” is for:

  • Cathay Pacific/Dragon flights
  • Flights including one OneWorld partner
  • Flights including one OneWorld partner and a Cathay Pacific/Dragon flight

For this chart, you calculate your mileage requirement by finding the distance one way and then finding the corresponding zone. (If connecting sectors are involved, the sector distances should be added together to determine the total one-way distance and the applicable award zone.)

In that zone column, you will see totals for both one way trips and for round trips based on that distance.

Note: The roundtrip distances offer better deals.

  • S7 Airlines does not participate in the “Asia Miles Award Chart”

The following airlines can only be booked using the Asia Miles Award Chart:

  • Royal Brunei Airlines
  • Gulf Air
  • Bangkok Airways
  • Alaska Airlines
  • Air New Zealand
  • Aer Lingus
  • Award zone “S” is not applicable to one-way tickets on Aer Lingus. Award zones “S” and “A” are not applicable for Alaska Airlines flights to or from Mexico with sector distances of less than 1,200 miles.

You are allowed one stopover en route a one-way ticket but for round-trip redemptions, you get two stopovers, two open-jaws, or two transfers.

OneWorld Multi-Carrier Awards Chart

Then there’s another award chart called the “OneWorld Multi-Carrier Awards Chart” for:

  • Flights involving two OneWorld partners
  • Flights involving Cathay Pacific/Dragon flights and two or more OneWorld partners

You calculate the mileage requirement of this chart by calculating the total distance of your trip (add together all segments) and then see what award zone the distance falls into.

  • It’s a little unclear if you get 5 stopovers or 4 stopovers + your destination, but either way that’s a lot. Plus you can get two transfers and two open-jaws at either origin, en-route, or turnaround point.

You can only book roundtrip awards for the following Cathay Pacific partners:

  • Finnair
  • Iberia
  • Japan Airlines
  • LATAM
  • Royal Jordanian
  • S7 Airlines

*Remember, even though you can book one way awards on many different airlines you always want to consider booking roundtrips because you will often save a lot of miles.

Fees on Cathay Pacific partners

The following airlines do not incur surcharges or at least incur minimal surcharges:

  • LATAM
  • American Airlines (varies based on route)
  • Qantas
  • Cathay
  • Malaysia Airlines
  • Japan Airlines
  • S7
  • Aer Lingus

Examples of fees on Cathay Pacific partners

Here are a few specific examples of fees on Cathay Pacific partners that should help you get a better idea of what to expect. All of the prices in miles and taxes are for business class bookings and keep in mind that these are estimates which could change depending on the exchange rate and other variables.

Cathay Pacific on Qatar (London to Doha)

A roundtrip business class ticket from London to Doha would cost 80,000 Asia Miles and about $500 in total fees so it’s good to know that these awards can get a little pricey with the taxes.

Cathay Pacific on JAL (US to Japan)

A roundtrip business class ticket from HND to SFO would cost you 120,000 miles but the fees would be pretty reasonable at about $240 USD.

Cathay Pacific on LATAM to (US to South America)

A roundtrip business class ticket from SCL to JFK in business class will run you 120,000 Asia Miles and only about $52 USD in total fees, which is pretty excellent. The mileage requirement isn’t the best but the low fees make the redemption much more attractive.

LATAM dreamliner.

Cathay Pacific on Aer Lingus (US to Europe)

Cathay Pacific has one of the greatest sweet spots to Europe at 80,000 miles for a roundtrip business class ticket. That’s almost impossible to beat. When booking with partner Aer Lingus, total fees for this trip should be under $100, making this a fantastic redemption.

For a roundtrip business class ticket to Europe using Cathay Pacific on American Airlines, you’re looking at 80,000 miles roundtrip and about $294 in total fees. So maybe not quite as good as Aer Lingus, but still reasonable. It’s worth noting that on some occasion, I’ve had trouble with Cathay Pacific locating AA SAAver availability, although the phone agents.  

Other partners like Iberia or British Airways will require much more in fees to the tune of $600 to $700.

 Cathay Pacific on Qantas /AA (Australia to US)

I got a quote on a one-way award from SYD to LAX on American Airlines for only $85 USD which isn’t bad at all considering that the mileage requirement is only 70,000 miles. However, the quote on fees for a one way trip to LAX from SYD on Qantas was $336, so that’s not quite as much of a sweet spot.

As a point of comparison, for a Cathay Pacific flight, you’re looking at around $330 in fees for a roundtrip from North America to Australia.

Cathay Pacific on AA from (Japan to US)

Finally, I decided to test out one more route: NRT to LAX on American Airlines. The fees for this one way flight were only $40 USD, proving once again that using Cathay Pacific Asia Miles or AA flights can be a great use of points with low fees.

Final word on Cathay Pacific partners

There are a lot of great partners that you can use your Asia Miles on. It’s a good idea to study up on some of these partners and get familiar with the fee structure for partner awards. If you do that, you’ll see that there are lots of opportunities to create “super sweet spots” that come with low mileage requirements and low fees. If you’re interested, you can learn more about Cathay Pacific business class sweet spots here.