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Cathay Pacific launches Dublin flights – a new low-tax Avios route to Hong Kong

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Cathay Pacific announced three new European routes to Hong Kong yesterday, including Dublin.

As Cathay Pacific is a member of the oneworld alliance, you can earn and spend Avios points on its flights.  This means that you now have far more opportunities to get to Asia.  These new routes will also save you substantial amounts in taxes and charges.

The new routes are:

Brussels – launching 25th March, 4 x weekly

Dublin – launching 2nd June, 4 x weekly

Copenhagen – launching 2nd May, Summer only, 3 x weekly

All of these routes will be served by new Airbus A350-900 aircraft.   The airline currently has 18 of these aircraft with another four on the way this year.  Next year, 26 of the larger A350-1000 planes will begin to arrive.

In Business Class, you will get an updated version of the current Cathay Pacific seat.  It is a 1-2-1 layout with additional storage, additional knee room, a concealed water bottle holder and a second video screen (a 4 inch screen is built into the remote control).  The planes also have wi-fi.

Cathay A350 business class

In terms of Avios redemption, this is how it prices up in Business Class return:

Brussels – 180,000 Avios + £95.80

Dublin – 180,000 Avios + £81.80

Copenhagen – 150,000 Avios + £91.40

Note that Copenhagen is 30,000 Avios cheaper because it falls into a different pricing band, being nearer to Hong Kong than Brussels and Dublin.

Cathay Pacific appears to be releasing three Business Class seats per flight for Avios.  Availability is currently wide open.

Remember that Cathay Pacific also flies to Hong Kong from Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester if you don’t want to start outside the UK, although taxes are higher and you may not get the new A350 seat.

It is about time we did a Cathay Pacific business class review on Head for Points …. let’s see what can be arranged.

You can find out more about timings etc on the Cathay Pacific website.  There is a special section discussing the new A350 aircraft which is here.

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Category

Cathay Pacific and Asia Miles

Comments (44)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Paul says:
    1 Sep1 September 05:53

    Really good news. Just did MXP – DPS return with tickets purchased last year. These were a very good deal and I saw nothing close in terms of pricing after bought them. CX is having issues but it did not affect the service. Great flights, good food and fabulous lounges in HKG.

  • Phil G says:
    1 Sep1 September 06:54

    Only flown Cathay once from LHR to HKG and it was the worst, oldest plane I have ever been on. Never again. They even refunded some of the fare

  • The Original Nick says:
    1 Sep1 September 06:59

    Excellent news.

  • Kelly says:
    1 Sep1 September 07:16

    I flew Business Class with CP from NZ up to Paris and it’s so much better than the BA first class cabin; the food and service were fantastic. I would definitely fly with them again over BA any day and the lounges in Hong Kong are amazing!

  • John says:
    1 Sep1 September 07:23

    The main problem with their schedule of afternoon Europe departures is that you really need to spend a night at the origin, or get a 0600 flight out of the UK to ensure you don’t miss the long-haul. Copenhagen and Dublin have very expensive hotels too. Further, you arrive in HKG at midnight European time.

    Out of these new routes, CPH seems the most attractive from an Avios perspective as they are all 4000/4500 Avios from LHR and the 15k avios saving each way would pay for a hotel. But if you live within easy access of St Pancras then Eurostar to Brussels and BRU may be easier.

    The return is easy since CX will interline baggage and it’s a morning arrival.

    • Pangolin says:
      1 Sep1 September 17:48

      I don’t get this. BRU is only 70-75 mins from LHR and so you can also take the 08.25 service which arrives at 10.35 local time. That gives you tons of leeway. It’s only if you wanted to guard against outright cancellation that you would need the earlier flight.

      BRU has cheap hotels to choose from also (if you wanted to overnight it).

  • Paul says:
    1 Sep1 September 08:00

    Given the low tax out of Hong Kong, presumably it makes sense to book it as two one ways and returning on BA or CX to London/Manchester. (I think BA loads tax on Hong Kong redemptions if you don’t start there l.

    • Nate1309 says:
      1 Sep1 September 08:27

      I like you thinking.

      • Rob says:
        1 Sep1 September 10:36

        Yes, if not using a 241 then a BA redemption should be booked as 2 x one-ways in order to strip out the (illegal) fuel surcharge on the flight back.

  • Sussex Bantam says:
    1 Sep1 September 09:13

    This is a really Noddy question – but how do you actually book these ? On the BA web-site I only seem to get offered DUB-LON-HKG. I’m clearly being a bit dense this morning – can someone help me out ?

    • Cate says:
      1 Sep1 September 09:40

      Having the same problem searching CPH-HKG/HKG-CPH. I think it’s just a matter of working through each page. Happy for someone to show the quick route 🙂

      • Cate says:
        1 Sep1 September 09:54

        Actually wondering if we are too fast off the mark – when do Cathay’s redemption’s get loaded on BA’s website, should we be looking on Cathay’s website?? Do they have peak/off peak times?

        • Rob says:
          1 Sep1 September 10:37

          The flights are there for Avios. How do you think I got the taxes figure?!

          Remember that they don’t start until next year and only fly 3-4 days per week.

          • Sussex Bantam says:
            1 Sep1 September 11:23

            I’m quite clearly doing something wrong then as all I can see on any route goes via London.

            Please could someone tell me a date / destination combo that works for them so I can try and replicate…

            Ta

          • Cate says:
            1 Sep1 September 11:30

            Sorry Rob but I can’t find anything for next year. Are these direct flights because I’m find the same as Sussex Bantam i.e. you have to come back to the UK on BA metal.

    • zsalya says:
      1 Sep1 September 09:52

      CPH-HKG brings this up for me (on E.g. 2nd May)
      But I confess that I can’t get DUB-HKG to show.
      It does sometimes show DUB-LHR, LGW-HKG on CX.
      Are they already booked? Seems unlikely?
      Or maybe they haven’t loaded them yet?

      Is this part of a more general issue with the BA website?
      Before Air Berlin went bankrupt, TXL-ORD would include the direct AB option, but TXL-DFW would offer via LHR (so on BA metal) but never via ORD on AB and AA metal.
      Is there a website where one can do such searches?

      • Polly says:
        1 Sep1 September 10:02

        DUB may not be loaded yet, they have only just done BRU and CPH. You could maybe call BA see if they can do it for you. Seems unlikely all avios sets are gone already…

        Cate, you do have to trawl page after page, am afraid, as usual.

  • @mkcol says:
    1 Sep1 September 09:19

    As a comparison BA’s (one way) pricing from LHR is:
    PEAK: 90,000 Avios + £355.97
    OFF PEAK: 75,000 Avios + £355.97

    So basically – is the 15,000 Avios extra on CX (compared to BA off peak) worth ~£260?

    • Will says:
      1 Sep1 September 09:40

      1.7p per avios is an excellent redemption rate for most.

    • Polly says:
      1 Sep1 September 09:53

      Mcol..l think it’s definitely worth the extra avios minus the cost too. Esp if avios rich. Very good redemption value. We use CX a lot between HKG and DPS. Always nice seats and service, esp to get to use their Pier and Wing lounges. Best in the world alongside the JFK BA First lounge.

      • Drav says:
        1 Sep1 September 21:23

        JFK BA first lounge is best in the world…?
        also, mkcol, youre comparing flights from dub/bru/cph to flights from lhr.
        so taxes will be much less but will need to pay for a flight (4000 avios +£17) +/- hotel.

        if i could, i woukd rather the hassle amd extra time to connect and fly on cathay rather than spend all those avios for a BA flight

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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