How to Book Cathay Pacific First Class Award Tickets

Here at ATRP, we spend considerable time writing abut how to earn miles and points.  Using those miles and points to actually book award tickets and hotel nights with points is where the real fun begins.  I get a lot of questions about booking Cathay Pacific first and business class award tickets using American AAdvantage miles.  This post is a step-by-step guide to search for award availability using British Airways' search engine.  Since American doesn't actually show Cathay's availability online, this is the easiest way to find flights with open seats.

Cathay Pacific 777-300ER at LAX

Once you find availability, you'll need to call American Airlines to actually book the flight.  Having the availability on hand will make the transaction MUCH easier.

Starwood Offering Double Elite Status Credit

Yesterday I wrote about Starwood's Delta promotion which offers 2 Delta SkyMiles for every dollar spent on Starwood hotels in the US and Canada.

Now, Starwood is out with a second quarter targeted promotion which offers double elite status credit (nights and stays) for qualifying stays during the second quarter.  I've read that others received no offer while still others received a point offer.

While I'm pleased to have received the 2x elite credit offer, I'm not sure if it will actually do anything for me.  Since stays booked prior to registration don't count, I cancelled an upcoming stay and rebooked at the same rate.  I received the email with the offer a couple of days ago but the offer period actually started 4/1.  Seems like Starwood is a bit late getting the email out to members.

I am currently at 5 stays and 13 nights with another 2 stays and 4 nights planned.  That gets me to 7 and 17.  I would need to get to 25 and 50 to qualify for Platinum status which I value at about $1,000 (given upgrades, free breakfast, etc...) a year.

So at this point, I'm 18 stays short which would be the fastest way to qualify.  I could book 9 one-night stays at a cheap hotel in Denver (i.e. an Aloft) for a rate of ~$70 AI to get to Platinum.

I'm not sure an incremental $630 is really worth given the amount of time it would take to manage 9 mattress runs across the next 10 weeks.

So I'm likely to pick up a few extra elite status credits which will ultimately mean nothing given my Starwood Gold Lifetime status.  Regardless, it's a cool promotion and for many it will mean the difference between Gold and Platinum this year.

You can check to see if you are eligible here.

How to Follow All the Right Points

Thanks to a few shares and links, many new readers have discovered All the Right Points.  Here are a few ways to follow me for new content.

Following ATRP could take you here (Bali)

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Review: Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi

Introduction
Planning & Booking
Planning & Booking II
Washington Dulles (IAD) Lounge Hopping
United Airlines 777-200 Global First Washington to London
United Arrivals Lounge London
Andaz London Liverpool Street
Etihad Airways First & Business Class Lounge London
Etihad Airways A380 First Class Apartment London to Abu Dhabi
Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways Premium Lounge Abu Dhabi
Etihad Airways A380 First Class Apartment Abu Dhabi to New York
American Express Centurion Lounge LGA

The drive from the airport to the Park Hyatt took about 25 minutes.  There was no one on the road given the combination of the late hour and the weather in Abu Dhabi.  We picked Abu Dhabi because a) we wanted to see it b) we wanted to relax on the beach and b) Etihad First Class Apartments.  Abu Dhabi was expected to see some torrential rainfall.  We're talking 11 inches of rain in 4 days, high winds, thunderstorms, and even hail.  In the middle of the desert.  And they say global warming isn't a real thing?

Everything predicted turned out to be true as we experienced very little sun, low temperatures  and near constant wind and painful during our stay.  So we didn't get to relax on the gorgeous beach or see much of Abu Dhabi.  At least we got 1 out of 3.  That said, it was certainly a unique experience to be there for such a crazy weather event.  We loved the hotel and will most certainly be back...now back to the review.

Starwood Double Delta Miles Promotion

I don't write a ton about Delta as it's not a great option for me out of Denver.  But that may start to change as I finally begin to rack up Delta SkyMiles (or Sky Pesos) thanks to a rich targeted credit card offer from Amex.

Starwood and Delta partnered a few years ago to the offer the "Crossover Rewards" program where Starwood elites earn SPG points on Delta flights and Delta elites earn Delta SkyMiles for spend on SPG hotels.

Crossover Rewards Overview

This quarter (through 6/30/16) Starwood and Delta are offering double Delta SkyMiles for SPG stays in the US and Canada for all members (not just elites) which is pretty cool.  This is in addition to standard SPG earning rates and according to the terms, there isn't a limit on the number of bonus miles you can earn.

Crossover Rewards Q2 Promotion

While not the most lucrative promotion out there, if you are a business travel with 4 nights per month at $250 a night that will amount to $3,000 in quarterly spend or 6,000 bonus Delta SkyMiles.

Registration is required and it's worth registering (takes 30 seconds) even if you don't have a stay planned quite yet.

How to Value Starwood SPG Points

One of the most challenging concepts in travel is how to value loyalty points.  Each time you opt to use miles/points earning credit card over a cash back card, you're "giving up" around 2%.  That's because there are several cash back cards on the market offering 2% back on all spend.  So at a minimum, you should be getting at least 2 cents in value for each mile/point acquired.

If you are using your Chase Sapphire Preferred and redeeming those points for merchandise, that is a bad deal no matter what.  If you are using your United miles to fly domestic economy, that isn't a "bad deal" per se but you're certainly giving up the opportunity to receive an outsized return on your everyday spend.

As I'll explain in a moment, that is why I use my miles and points for international first class and luxury hotels.

Watching the sunset

Citi ThankYou Premier 10,000 Point Bonus

I received a pretty lucrative bonus offer from Citi via email this morning,

10,000 bonus point offer

By spending 3,000 (between 4/15 and 7/15) on my Citi ThankYou Premier card, I'll earn an additional 10,000 bonus points.  Note that 10,000 points are on top of the already strong earnings potential of the ThankYou card which earns 3x on travel and 2x on dining and entertainment.

Citi ThankYou earnings potential

Let's assume that your spend is split evenly between travel, dining, and other.  If you received this promotion and take meet the spend requirements, you'd earn:

• 10,000 bonus points
• 3,000 points for travel spend
• 2,000 points for dining and entertainment spend
• 1,000 points for all other spend

That is a total of 15,000 points for 3,000 in spend of 5x.  VERY hard to top that with any other easily achievable method.  This card is 100% going back in my wallet for the next few months.

Interestingly enough, the promotion lines up with my card anniversary which is in late June.  I'll work to receive the bonus prior - if the points post, I'll cancel the card.  If they don't, I'll give Citi a call for a retention offer.