Cathay Pacific is the latest airline to update its earning tables for members of its frequent flyer program. The changes, coming into effect from 20 August 2025, broadly favours those on tickets in the premium classes. On the other hand, they see less earnings on the lower priced fares – such as Economy Light.
While they are adjusting the tables, they are staying with earning on distance based tables. They are not going down the path of tying the earn rates directly to ticket prices. I say directly as distance tables are in a way a proxy measure of the cost of a ticket. They are just not a very good proxy.
Changes to earning rates
For those of us in Australia, there will be small changes in Status Credit earn on flights between Hong Kong and Australia. For example, you will get 5 more Status Credits when flying in Business. Premium Economy Flex gets an even better increase of 10 Status Credits. On the other hand, fly in Economy class, and you could get fewer status credits.
Long haul flights in First see a substantial increase. Take a flight from Hong Kong to Paris in First, and you could get an extra 35 Status Credits.
Changes to earning zones
Cathay has made a couple of changes to its distance-based earning zones. Firstly, the one that affects those travelling from Australia. Routes between 2,751 and 5,000 miles will be combined into one zone (known as medium)
Secondly, for routes between 751 and 2,750 miles will be divided into two sets of destinations. This basically affects the Cathay Pacific regional network.
Japan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and India are in Short-Type 2. Other routes of those distances will be in Short-Type 1.
Effect of Ticket Date and Departure Date
The changes are coming into effect on 20 August. Cathay have outlined the effects of ticketing and travel dates on which earning rates you will be on
- Ticket and Travel before 20 August 2025: You will earn under the current earnings table
- Ticket and Travel on or after 20 August 2025: You will earn under the new earnings table
- For tickets issued before 20 August 2025, for travel on or after 20 August 2025, the higher earning rate applies.
Final Words
In the grand scheme of things, these are pretty minor changes. Certainly, they could have been worse – they could have moved to a revenue based model.
