Asia Miles
 | |
| Type | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Cathay Pacific |
| Introduced | February 1999 |
| Tagline | Life Rewarded[1] |
| Website | asiamiles |
Asia Miles is a loyalty and frequent-flyer program launched by Cathay Pacific. Launched in February 1999, it allows members to earn miles by making different purchases with co-branded credit cards or on partnered flights, hotels, dining, financial services, retail, and technology products and services.[2] Membership is free and open to individuals aged two or above.
Other than Asia Miles, Cathay Pacific also owns the Marco Polo Club, a four-tiered paid frequent-flyer program for Cathay Pacific and Oneworld member airlines flights. Marco Polo Club members are automatically enrolled as members of Asia Miles.[3] As of 2020, the program has over 11 million members and over 800 programme partners worldwide.[4]
History
[edit]Asia Miles and its managing company, Cathay Pacific Loyalty Programmes Limited, was launched and founded in February 1999 in Hong Kong. The company was then renamed to Asia Miles Limited.[5]
In January 2015, 4.7 million miles and gifts worth HK$100,000 were stolen from 121 accounts, four persons were arrested. Stronger online security measures were introduced and affected accounts were reimbursed.[6]
In July 2019, Cathay Pacific took over low-cost carrier HK Express as a wholly owned subsidiary.[7] The airline joined Asia Miles while closing down their own frequent-flyer program reward-U. All reward-U points are converted to Asia Miles, with a one-off conversion rate of 8 reward-U points to 1 Asia Miles.[8]
In January 2020, Asia Miles changed their miles expiration rule from a time-based expiry system to activity-based system, where users can keep their miles by using the miles every 18 months.[9]
Partner airlines
[edit]Although Cathay Pacific is one of the founding members of the Oneworld alliance, Asia Miles has partnered with multiple airlines outside the alliance.
As of August 2022[update], other than Cathay Pacific and its subsidiary airline HK Express, partnered airlines include:
- Air Canada
- Air China
- Air New Zealand
- Alaska Airlines
- American Airlines
- Austrian Airlines
- Bangkok Airways
- British Airways
- Finnair
- Gulf Air
- Iberia
- Japan Airlines
- Jet Airways
- LATAM
- Lufthansa
- Malaysia Airlines
- Philippine Airlines
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways
- Royal Jordanian
- S7 Airlines
- Shenzhen Airlines
- SriLankan Airlines
- Swiss International Air Lines
Other partnerships
[edit]Asia Miles has partnered with over 800 partners in dining, hotel, telecom, and retail sectors for earning and redeeming miles.
Co-branded credit cards are also launched since 2016 for earning miles. Asia Miles partnered with Standard Chartered for their first co-branded credit card in 2016 and American Express for the Hong Kong market.[10] Further partnerships with banks such as China CITIC Bank, Cathay United Bank, and BNU were made for co-branded credit cards in outside markets such as mainland China, Taiwan, and Macau.
Miles expiration
[edit]Originally, Asia Miles were earned under a time-limited system, set to expire after three years. This was changed in January 2020 to an activity-based system where miles will remain valid as long they are either earned or redeemed at least once every 18 months.[9][11]
References
[edit]- ^ "Welcome to Cathay". www.cathaypacific.com.
- ^ "A Life Rewarded With Asia Miles". www.cathaypacific.com. Retrieved 2022-12-19.
- ^ "How to get the best deals on your air miles from Hong Kong". South China Morning Post. 2018-05-25. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- ^ "Cathay Pacific gets a boost as Asia Miles unveils no-expiry air miles from 2020". TODAYonline. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- ^ "ASIA MILES LIMITED 亞洲萬里通有限公司". webb-site.com. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- ^ "Asia Miles to introduce new passwords following cybertheft". South China Morning Post. 2015-03-06. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- ^ Horton, Will. "Layoffs Start As Cathay Pacific Completes HK Express Acquisition, Looks For Fast Merger Integration". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- ^ Yuen, Simon (2019-07-23). "HK Express added to Asia Miles programme following Cathay Pacific takeover". Marketing Interactive. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- ^ a b "Asia Miles counts on perpetual mileage plan to lure frequent fliers". South China Morning Post. 2019-12-11. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- ^ "American Express cuts lounge perks for Cathay Pacific co-branded credit card holders". Business Traveller. Retrieved 2020-02-03.
- ^ "Loyalty is timeless, so are your miles". Asia Miles.