For the past five years or so I’ve been very interested in the world of points and miles. It all started in July of 2014 when I switched jobs to a position with extensive travel. I remember thinking to myself, if I’m going to be on the road often, I might as well get something out of it. That thought sparked my initial interest in an interest in points, miles, and credit cards. Eventually, it was that interest that led me to start this blog.
When I started learning about miles and points I began the usual way. I searched a few keywords that eventually directed me to The Points Guy. Next, I stumbled onto the BoardingArea landing page and found other popular blogs like OneMileAtATime (OMATT) and View From The Wing among others.
After a few months of reading the above mentioned blogs I finally stumbled upon FlyerTalk. FlyerTalk is an online forum where travelers from all other the world share ideas about travel. It’s an amazing site where you can literally learn about any travel related topic you could ever think of.
It was on this site where I first discovered the MileageRun deals forum. Within the MileageRun forum users share incredible fares published on all airlines throughout the world. Funny enough the first day I viewed the MileageRuns page was on Christmas Eve 2014 when Etihad happened to publish a mistake fare. Ever since that day I’ve checked this page religiously for similar mistakes and have tried to contribute when possible.
Cathay Pacific New Year Eve Sale
I’m telling you all of this because it was that same page that informed me of an incredible sale published by Cathay Pacific on New Years Eve 2018. I was getting ready for New Years Even dinner with friends when I noticed something on the Premium Fares page. I noticed a new thread which mentioned incredible Cathay Pacific premium cabin fares from Vietnam back to the United States.
In the 5 years I’ve been monitoring the Mileage Run deals pages I’ve seen about 20 incredible fares. I’ve seen a ton of great fares, but I’d bet I’ve only seen 20 or so that are as good as the most recent fare from Cathay. In fact, I’d argue this most resent mistake fare is in the top 5 of the decade.
On the night of the sale there were a few round trip fares that were an incredible value. Primarily First Class fares from Hanoi to West Cost North American totaled about $1,000, while flights to the East Coast (JFK) totaled $1,450 or so. There were amazing business class fares from Da Nang (DAD) to several US cities for about $680.
The Fares I Purchased
As with any mistake fare it’s hard to explain the excitement of getting in on one. There is a mad rush to figure out what dates, cities, and flights work and which don’t. Next, you run through your calendar to see what dates work and to avoid booking a flight on a wedding weekend, etc. Lastly, you have literally minutes to figure all of this out. If you wait to long the deal might die and you miss out. This happened to me momentarily when I tried to book flights, but kept getting a 403-Error page.
When the dust eventually settled and Cathay killed the deal I managed to book two incredible flights. First, I booked Cathay Pacific First Class from Vietnam to New York (JFK) for about $1,450. Second, I booked Cathay Pacific Business Class from Vietnam to New York (JFK) for about $680! Two incredible fares that I’m extremely excited about.
I’m of course excited about these fares of course because I get to fly a world-class first class product and business class product for a fraction of the normal cost. However, I’m more excited about the American Airlines AAdvantage Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM), Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD), and AAdantage Award Miles that I will earn from each of these trips.
How Many Miles Will I Earn?
I’m still completely unsure about the exact mileage that I’ll earn from this trip because some legs are operated by Vietnam Airways and others by Cathay Dragon. Additionally, some of my intra-Asia flights are in Economy while others are in Business. While I’m not sure about the exact mileage, I am fairly certain about the transpacific mileage from New York (JFK) to Hong Kong (HKG).
WebFlyer estimates the round trip journey from New York to Hong Kong is about 16,000 miles (16,100, but let’s use 16,000). This means if I credit these flights to the AAdvantage program I should earn the following based on the below mileage accrual chart.
Cathay Pacific First Class Flights
For the First Class trip I should earn Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQD) at a rate of 30% of the total mileage flown. So, I should earn about $4,800 EQD from the First Class trip. Likewise, I should earn 1.5 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQM) per mile flown. So, for my First Class trip I should earn 24,000 EQM. Finally, I should earn a grand total of 52,800 AAdvantage Award Miles. This is because I’ll earn a 1 award mile per mile flow, a 50% cabin bonus, and a 120% bonus from my AAdvantage Executive Platinum elite status. Given that I value AAdvantage miles at a rate of $0.015 to one, I’ll get about $792 of value back from my First Class Trip.
Cathay Pacific Business Class Flights
For the Business Class trip I’ll again cover 16,000 miles and earn the same EQM. However, I will only earn 25% EQDs per mile flown. So for the second trip I will again earn 24,000 EQM, but only $4,000 EQD. Still, that’s not bad for a $680 ticket.
As far as award miles go, I will again earn 16,000 base miles of AAdvantage Award Miles. For business class though I only earn a 25% cabin bonus. So, in total I should earn about 44,000 AAdvantage Award miles. Given my AAdvantage mile valuation, those 44,000 award miles are wroth about $660 which is essentially the price of the ticket.
Will The Fares Be Honored?
When I started writing this post this was still in question, however since then, Cathay Pacific has announced the airline will honor the fares!
Generally however, in the hours and days following a “mistake fare” it remains unclear what the airline will do. Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to see quite a few mistake fares. Of the fares I’ve seen, airlines have honored about 50% of them. For example, in 2018 I booked Air France First Class for just a few hundred dollars. Unfortunately Air France decided to cancel those fares a few days later. In 2017 I hopped on Qatar Airways’ mistake business class fares which were honored.
From all of the mistake fares I’ve seen over the past few years, my advice is to always book now and wait. If you put the fare “on hold” the airline might not honor the hold policy for a mistake fare. If you purchase the fare and the airline honors the mistake, you’re taking a very nice flight for a great price. However, if the airline opts to not honor the fare you get all of your money back and get to wait for the next one.
Final Thoughts
Booking mistake airfares is hard work. To get in on the deal you usually have to check multiple websites several times a day. Once you spot a mistake fare, the best advise is to jump on it immediately and then wait. It’s a bit like playing the lottery, the only way to win is to play. However, unlike the lottery, if you don’t win and the airline cancels the fares, you at least get your money back. So, if you ever spot an “incredible fare” that is likely a mistake, my advice is to book now and think later.
Overall, I’m absolutely thrilled by this fare. I’ve been wanting to fly Cathay Pacific in both First and Business for a while now. Thanks to these fares I’ll be able to fly both this year and do so at a fraction of the normal cost.
