I know it has been a Cathay kind of day. Cathay Pacific is offering a 30% discount of miles required on redemption bookings on Asia Miles for travel on Cathay Pacific/DragonAir to India, HK, Mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Middle East, Australia and select European ports (USA is excluded). Essentially, the following airports are excluded: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Amsterdam, London, Moscow, Rome, and Auckland.

The promotion is valid for reservations till March 31, 2013 and travel till June 2013 in the economy cabin. What drives me crazy, is that the only way to do this is to call Cathay Pacific or fill up the form online (and the disclaimer in red is taking most of the announcement space). There is no way to make a online instant redemption.

Had Cathay made this a little broader, in terms of allowing all airports on the list, I might have considered sending some miles to Cathay for redemption, but this one I will pass. I hope it is of use to some of you.

The important T&C are enclosed below:

1. Only applicable to flights marketed and operated by Cathay Pacific or Dragonair and mixed-carrier itineraries on Cathay Pacific and Dragonair (excluding upgrade awards).
2. Open jaw itinerary is allowed.
3. Not applicable to flights between Hong Kong and the following cities: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Vancouver, Amsterdam, London, Moscow, Rome, and Auckland.
4. Eligible award types:
   • One-way and round-trip Standard Awards in Economy Class
   • Priority Awards
   • One-way and round-trip Upgrade Awards (except upgrades to First Class)
5. Blackout period: 23 March – 8 April 2013, the promotional discount does not apply during the blackout period.
6. For this promotional discount to apply to any subsequent changes, changes must be made within the booking period (26 February to 31 March 2013).

Here is my Cathay Pacific Economy Trip Report on BOM-BKK last summer.

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Cathay Pacific has been adding Premium Economy seats since early 2012 to its planes over the past months, and has steadily introduced it on the Indian flights as well. To promote the Premium Economy product, they are offering double miles for travel in Premium Economy, wherever the service is available. From India, this was available on the Delhi – Hong Kong route and will be made available on the Mumbai – Hong Kong Route from March 2, 2013 onwards. The Hyderabad &  Chennai flights are also being upgraded.

If you are a new member to the Asia Miles product, you will additionally earn 500 miles to sign on. For this promotion, you need to register, and then book tickets in the Premium Economy classes (ticket fare classes W, R and E). Have a look at the video on Frequently Flying for Cathay Premium Economy.

Premium Economy is available on flights from Hong Kong to and Australia (Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth), Europe (London, Frankfurt, Milan and Paris), India (Delhi), the Middle East (Bahrain, Dubai, and Jeddah), South Africa (Johannesburg), Canada (Toronto and Vancouver) and the US (Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco). This offer will only be available on flights to Milan, Chennai, Abu Dhabi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chicago from the first quarter of 2013.

Free Flights from Mumbai to Asia, if you book Premium Economy by March 10, 2013

Additionally, to celebrate the launch of Premium Economy from Mumbai to Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific is offering a combination fare, where you could book a ticket with Cathay Pacific on their Premium Economy product to go to Hong Kong, and get a further ticket free from Hong Kong to China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines & Vietnam in Economy, free of cost.

Basically, if you booked on Premium Economy, you’d get the Mumbai-Hong Kong segment in Premium Economy (which also will earn double miles till April 30, 2013), but will include a short haul economy segment later. Take this example to Hanoi, Vietnam below, and the selected flight:

Interesting promotion, since you are, potentially getting a free upgrade to Premium Economy on the BOM-HKG-BOM segment. I checked the prices for BOM-NRT-BOM in Economy and Premium Economy for various dates, and that is how I arrived at this theory, since the prices were the same, and if I checked Premium Economy, I got Premium Economy on BOM-HKG-BOM and Economy on HKG-NRT-HKG.

Here are the salient details:

• Sales period :Till 10 March 2013
• Travel period : 02 March 2013 to 31 December 2013.
• Asian Destinations include online destinations in China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.
• This offer is applicable for travel from Mumbai in Premium Economy class only. Travel between Hong Kong and final destination will be in economy class.
• Under this offer, the FARE or Base Fare will be the same as Mumbai to Hong Kong in Premium Economy class. Passenger will have to pay Taxes, Fees, surcharges and any other airport fees if applicable under this promotion for the selected itinerary.
• The fares detailed in the offer/promotion are subject to availability and offered on a first come, first served basis.
• The limited number of seats for the subject fare allocated to a particular flight may be fully booked although seats are still available in other fare types in the same class of travel.

Related Posts:

• Cathay Pacific to introduce Premium Economy on long haul routes from Q1 2012

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Air India is offering a 20% discount for travel from India to Hongkong in one-way and return bookings, for bookings made through www.airindia.in. The promotion is valid for sale with immediate effect, for your outward travel to start from 21st August to 15th September 2012, for one way and return journeys in all classes (Business and Economy). Your  You need to enter the promo code as INHK01 in the Promo code box, to avail of the promotional offer. All of these are mileage earning fares. When you try to book, you also get a 10% discount which comes with all reservations ticketed on Air India’s website. So Mumbai-Hong Kong return fares turn out to be about Rs. 25,000 which is not bad.

Cathay Pacific also has a proposition where they are offering Mumbai – Hong Kong flights at Rs. 29,900 in economy, but only if you buy 2 tickets together. On checking for random dates, however, this turns up at Rs. 33,000 per head for ticketing in non-mileage earning Q class.

Sale Period for this promotion is from till 31 August 2012, and travel period starts from 21 August 2012 – 07 September 2012 (First outbound on/before 07 September 2012). In order to avail these fares, travel date has to be after 7 days from the date of booking with minimum 2 passengers (including child passenger).

Planning to hop across to Hong Kong? Time to book your ticket then…

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