Cathay Pacific: Good first class award availability between New York and Hong Kong

Reader Elliot sent us an email that highlighted a surprising number of Cathay Pacific first class awards that are currently bookable between New York (JFK) and Hong Kong. Even better is the fact that quite a few of the eligible dates have availability for two people. If you’ve wanted to try out Cathay First, the […] The post Cathay Pacific: Good first class award availability between New York and Hong Kong appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.

Apr 10, 2025 - 09:10
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Cathay Pacific: Good first class award availability between New York and Hong Kong

Reader Elliot sent us an email that highlighted a surprising number of Cathay Pacific first class awards that are currently bookable between New York (JFK) and Hong Kong. Even better is the fact that quite a few of the eligible dates have availability for two people. If you’ve wanted to try out Cathay First, the 16+ hour flight between JFK and Hong Kong is a golden opportunity.

This is unlikely to last long, so if you’re interested in experiencing it, you’ll want to book ASAP.

a woman sitting in a chair with headphones on
You can probably fit three Carries into one Cathay Pacific first class seat.

The Deal

  • Book first class awards with Cathay Pacific between the US and Hong Kong.
    • 2-6 flights available per week between 10/27/25 and 12/3/25, then again between 1/11/26 and the end of March, 2026.
    • Many dates have 2 seats available

Direct link to search for awards

Price

  • 160,000 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles each way.

Quick Thoughts

First class awards on Cathay Pacific are very hard to come by, especially for the last five years. COVID restrictions limited people’s ability to travel to Hong Kong, then when it started opening up again the already barely dripping spigot of first class awards between  the US and Hong Kong was pretty much shut off. That’s why it’s a pleasant surprise to see so many dates available for travel in through this Fall and Winter.

Normally, when selecting a date to search for, the Cathay Pacific calendar displays dates where there’s availability:

Cathay Pacific First Class LAX-HKG

However, that calendar wasn’t working for me today, so I had to manually find dates and then search week by week in order to find availability:

New York to JFK first class availability the first week of November.

Hopefully, that’s just a temporary glitch, but as of writing, there was good availability both ways between 10/27/25 and 12/3/25, then again from 1/11/26 through the end of March, 2026. I would start there if searching for yourself.

Needless to say, this kind of availability isn’t likely to last long and so you’ll want to book ASAP if you’re interested. The cost is 160,000 Cathay Pacific Asia Miles each way and only appears to be bookable with Asia Miles rather than through partners. It’s worth noting that connecting itineraries that continue on in business will often be cheaper than the nonstop because of how Cathay prices mixed-cabin itineraries. For instance, see this example from JFK-Osaka that actually becomes 8,100 miles cheaper with the connecting flight added on:

Cathay Pacific transfer partners

The following chart shows the available transferable points programs Asia Miles:

Rewards ProgramAmex Transfer Ratio
(and transfer time)
Chase Transfer Ratio
(and transfer time)
Citi Transfer Ratio
(and transfer time)
Capital One Transfer Ratio
(and transfer time)
Bilt Transfer Ratio
(and transfer time)
Wells Fargo Transfer Ratio
(and transfer time)
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles1 to 1 (Instant)1 to 1 (Instant)1 to 1 (1 - 2 days)1 to 1 (Instant)

The post Cathay Pacific: Good first class award availability between New York and Hong Kong appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.