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Cathay Pacific Asia Miles has improved its mileage expiration policy: miles will no longer expire with activity once every 18 months. That’s much better than the current policy of miles expiring after 36 months whether or not they are used.
The news here is that miles earned beginning January 1, 2020 will not expire as long as you have activity once every 18 months. Miles earned up to December 31, 2019 will be subject to the old 36-month expiration policy. Based on the announcement page, I expect that a transfer from a bank program or hotel program will count to reset expiration under the new policy beginning in January.
That said, the miles you currently have will still expire under the old policy. However, in the announcement about the change, Cathay says that members will be able to renew those “old miles to be subject to the new expiration policy for a small fee.
Miles earned under the time-based system can be renewed to the new activity-based system subject to the payment of a service fee (online: USD40; other channels: USD100). Miles earned under the new activity-based system cannot be renewed.
That seems like a reasonable deal and suddenly makes Asia Miles a reasonable option for transferring points before closing a credit card since the miles can be kept from expiring fairly easily.
Read more about the new expiration policy on the Asia Miles official announcement page here.
H/T: Loyalty Lobby
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“Based on the announcement page, I expect that a transfer from a bank program or hotel program will count to reset expiration under the new policy”
What’s your basis for “expecting” that this will work? I’ve seen several blogs jumping to this same conclusion, but I am very wary of the language they use. Here’s what they say:
> your Asia Miles active so long as you earn or redeem Miles at least once every 18 months
“Earn and redeem.” Not transfers in. Everything I’ve seen from them also refers to “using miles”, or “qualifying activity”, not just “activity.” I’ve read over every bit of their info that I can find online, and I see nothing that suggest that just transferring some points in from another program will keep points from expiring.
Can anyone point me to something that even hints that this (just transferring points in) will actually work to keep points from expiring?
Just scroll down on the official announcement page (linked in the last sentence of this post). There is a big visual showing the numbers of partners in various categories and a heading that says:
———————–
Keeping Miles
active is easy and simple
With over 800 travel and lifestyle programme partners, keeping your Miles active will be a breeze! Whether you’re traveling, shopping or dining out, all these actions will help keep your Miles active.
——————–
It then has links to their Finance partners, airline partners, hotel partners, etc. Under the finance partners, they list the bank transfer partners. It’s pretty clear that transfers in should count.
Actually, I’ve read all that, and I’m not convinced. One of us may be mis-reading that. Yes, they do list their credit card partners (among others). But those all appear to be cards that EARN CP AsiaMiles through spending on those cards (they are all Hong Kong based cards, I believe). Likewise, with the hotel partners listed, those appear to be hotels where you can EARN AsiaMiles through stays. I see nothing to indicate that one can accumulate points in some/any transferrable currency program (eg Amex), and by then transferring those points in, it would reset the expiration date. Clearly if you EARN points on your Amex Cathay Pacific card (if you have one – Hong Kong residents only, I think), those points go to your AsiaMiles account, and yes that would reset your expiration. But what about TRANSFERS? I see nothing. Am I missing it?
Now, it’s quite possible youy may be right, it may work out, but I see nothing that explicitly suggests that is their intent…so I’m hesitant to just assume the best case scenario (often the worst case scenario is how things shake out). There are other programs where transferring points in does not reset expiration.
Maybe I’m just a glass half-empty kinda guy, but I have been burned by weasel language on such things before, so I’m hesitant to embrace the more optimistic view. Am I just being too cynical?
Yes, you’re being too cynical. It says keep your miles active in large letters.
In the first paragraph, you say activity every 18 months; in the second paragraph, you say activity every 36 months. Please clarify.
It is indeed activity once every 18 months. Fixed that typo, thanks!