Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

How to book low tax Cathay Pacific Avios seats from Dublin to Hong Kong

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Last June, the Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific launched a 4-weekly service to Dublin.

I haven’t looked at Cathay Pacific redemptions since this service launched, so I thought it was worth another look at how you can make substantial tax savings when flying to Hong Kong on Cathay.

From Dublin, a return Avios ticket in Business Class incurs just £160 of taxes and charges.  This makes it the cheapest starting point of any of Cathay’s European destinations.

Cathay Pacific Avios

Remember that you can’t use a British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher on Cathay Pacific so this strategy is better for the solo traveller or someone who has already used their annual voucher.

Cathay Pacific is a fellow member of the oneworld alliance, alongside BA, so you can redeem your Avios for their flights. Availablity is generally good outside London but note that only some routes have First Class.

Availability seems better 2-3 months before departure than further out. The new Dublin route is a three-class service with Economy, Premium Economy and Business Class.

Let’s look at British Airways redemptions first

When booking redemptions to Hong Kong on BA there is one vital fact to remember. Until recently, by law, there were NO surcharges allowed on flights originating in Hong Kong.   This did not apply to return legs of flights starting outside Hong Kong.

My understanding is that this rule has now been dropped, but BA has still to implement the change and you can still benefit for lower surcharges.

What this means is that you MUST book Hong Kong BA redemptions as 2 x one-way flights if you want to save money. If you do this, there will be no surcharge on the inbound flight. If you book it as a return flight you will pay a surcharge on the inbound flight.

The snag, of course, is that by booking 2 x one-ways you cannot use your British Airways American Express 2-4-1 voucher ….

The impact of booking 2 x one-way redemptions on British Airways:

British Airways business class RETURN flight, London to Hong Kong – 180,000 Avios + £582

Or when booked separately:

BA outbound – 90,000 Avios + £383

BA inbound – 90,000 Avios + £34

Total – 180,000 + £417, saving £165

These numbers are based on peak day redemptions.

Save a little tax when you fly Cathay Pacific from London

If you choose to fly Cathay Pacific instead of British Airways from London, you will make a further saving:

Cathay Pacific business class (London to Hong Kong): 180,000 Avios + £353

This is £64 cheaper than redeeming on British Airways, based on a peak day redemption, and for a superior business class product.

Cathay A350 business class

Ex-Europe is even more interesting

Cathay also flies to Hong Kong from various other European starting points.  Dublin is the newest route, but there are plenty of other options.

Cathay Pacific also flies directly from Manchester which, whilst not offering a huge saving on taxes, will be more convenient than Heathrow or Gatwick for many readers.

The tax numbers are very good, as low as £160 return.

Amsterdam to Hong Kong: 180,000 Avios + £171

Brussels to Hong Kong:  180,000 Avios + £177

Dublin to Hong Kong:  180,000 Avios + £160

Frankfurt to Hong Kong: 180,000 Avios + £225

Madrid to Hong Kong: 210,000 Avios + £173

Manchester to Hong Kong: 180,000 Avios + £320

Milan to Hong Kong: 180,000 Avios + £175

Paris to Hong Kong: 180,000 Avios + £233

Rome to Hong Kong: 180,000 Avios + £188

Zurich to Hong Kong: 180,000 Avios + £177

There is no saving if you book Cathay Pacific tickets as 2 x one-ways or as a return.  If there is a risk of cancelling, booking a return will save you money on cancellation charges as there will only be one £35 fee to pay.

As you can see, there are some big savings to be made here compared to the British Airways surcharges of £417. You need to factor in the cost of getting to and from your departure airport, of course.

The snag …. off-peak pricing

There is one thing which may make you think twice about Cathay Pacific.

If you book on a peak day there is no difference in the Avios required whether you fly BA or Cathay – it is 180,000 Avios return, apart from Madrid (30,000 additional Avios).

Fly on a British Airways off-peak day and the Avios required falls to 150,000 per person, return, in Business Class. This offsets the saving in taxes and charges.

There are other factors to consider as well.  You will obviously need to get to your starting point which will incur additional costs.  Depending on the flight times, you may also need an overnight stay.

The Dublin flight currently departs at 11am, changing to 11.55am in the Summer, which is pushing it if you want to connect from the UK on the same day whilst building in a big enough buffer in case your first flight is delayed.

Cathay Pacific, of course, has arguably a far superior product as a look at online reviews will show.  If you are looking to travel off-peak you need to focus on the better overall experience rather than any cash or Avios saving.

This Head for Points article shows you in greater detail how to redeem Avios points for low-tax flight redemptions on Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong and beyond.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (December 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

Get 5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

30,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 30,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

Huge 80,000 bonus points and great travel benefits – for a large fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) and NO FX fees Read our full review

Capital on Tap Pro Visa

10,500 points (=10,500 Avios) plus good benefits Read our full review

There is also a British Airways American Express card for small businesses:

British Airways American Express Accelerating Business

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

50,000 points when you sign-up and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (100)

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

  • rob says:

    Also worth mentioning the flight can be booked in business for 42,500 Alaska miles one way. I believe that would even include a free stopover and connection.

    • Alex W says:

      I thought the free stopover was only within the same region? Therefore didn’t apply Europe to Asia? I hope I’m wrong!

      • Scallder says:

        Alaska changed some of their rules late 2017/early 2018 I believe – the reward chart now specifically says Europe to Hong Kong, so don’t think you can get the free onward flight.

        Annoying especially when you look and the US option is ‘to Asia’ so would get the free onward connection.

  • TripRep says:

    The chatter about BA adding surcharges on HKG-LHR o/w seems incorrect.

    Dummy booking in CW for Nov 75k Avios + £34 which is mainly Taxes

  • Michael C says:

    OT redemption ticket cancellation.

    I’m thinking of booking GRU-LHR-GRU for December using points.
    Am I right in thinking that, should I wish to cancel:
    -I could do so, up to 24 hours before the first flight?
    -I would only have to pay 35GBP cancellation fee?

    Thanks!

  • Phil says:

    Why are there so many surcharges on BA? Would Brexit allow this to be reduced or is this just a UK thing? It seems we get the worst deals in the world!

    • marcw says:

      Because people pay them. I refuse to pay those, so I choose to redeem on other carriers, like IB, CX, American from Spain,…

    • Mark2 says:

      They quote a price; you decide whether to pay it.

      • ChrisBCN says:

        Brexit has absolutely nothing to do with it. The bulk of the charges is because BA decides it can still sell tickets with the charges at that level. I.e. they are charging what they believe the market can take.

        Your larger point around the UK seeing the worst deals in the world is true in some cases, false in others. Higher prices in one market than another is driven by competition (lack of), willingness to pay, capacity/alternatives, restrictions to market access etc etc.

    • marcw says:

      Also, somehow the 2×1 needs to be subsidised…. you are not getting a 2×1 for nothing.

      • Anna says:

        Agreed, BA long haul redemptions are generally only now worth it if using a 2 4 1.

        • Callum says:

          Or are flying to an expensive destination, or can take advantage of these surcharge laws. Note that onward flights on the same booking generally have their surcharges dropped too – I.e. my last two flights have been HKG-LHR-SCL (with a 2 month stay in London and an EU flight added to drop the APD) and GIG-LHR-SIN (with a 4 month stay in London and an EU flight added to drop the APD) in CW – both cost around £100 in taxes and charges.

        • Lady London says:

          So once again us single travellers get st*ffed? It’s bad enough with hotels without airlines optimising for Noah’s ark (2x) only

        • Callum says:

          I’m a single traveller…

          It also makes perfect sense for hotels to be optimised for couples given a couple doesn’t take up twice the space/resources as a single person.

        • Lady London says:

          Not if I’m paying the same price for 1 Person by as 2 people are together paying for 2, @Callum.

          I take up less space in public areas, wear carpets, beds, sheets, towels down less, etc. And yet in most places I travel I pay the same room rate as a couple.

        • Cat says:

          If travelling with OH, family or a friend, fly BA on a 241. If travelling solo, take the opportunity to pay the lower taxes/fees/surcharges and sample the vastly superior product offered by several OW carriers.

          Lady London when you stay in a hotel, mostly you’re paying for the hire of your room for the night (rather than wear and tear on carpets). That room takes up the same proportion of the space in the hotel whether you’re travelling with someone else or not. It really sucks when travelling solo, but that’s the way it is. I should add that I sympathise – most of my travels are solo (as my other half has less than half of the annual leave that I get, and he’s less prone to itchy feet). The hotel thing is quite annoying – I often find myself gazing longingly at hotels I could justify staying in if I doubled my budget. WRT flights, vote with your feet and fly with carriers that don’t overcharge in order to subsidise the 241 that you’re not beholden to. Honestly what my OH says that he wants to spend a week camping in the lake district for our summer holiday (rather than flying on our 241 to the US), I find myself getting quite excited about the adventures I can have on Cathay, Qatar or Iberia with the miles I would have used, when he’s back at work!

          BA First is nice, but you can do better!

        • Callum says:

          Most people don’t spend much time in the public areas of the hotel. As to your wear and tear on the carpets and sheets, you can’t be serious? That’s one of the most absurd arguments I’ve ever heard!

          As said, you’re taking up the exact same space in the room as a couple would, and the rental of the room is the overwhelming majority of what constitutes a stay in a hotel.

          More small single rooms would be nice though I agree.

        • Polly says:

          ESP if you can get F…

          Lady London, def would do the 2 prong booking LH, as a solo traveller. Better chance of getting your return added, and save on tax that way! If chasing one ticket. But you got to get going on that churning, we discussed a while back on here…

    • Alan says:

      How has Brexit anything to do with it? That would imply these were EU surchargesn when they’re clearly just profit centres for BA.

  • Polly says:

    On our way to HKG now in Concorde lounge atm.. food much improved since last visit, last Year! Champagne flowing….my oh doesn’t drink, wasted on Him! Will be in CX lounge Sunday on way to Bali.. can’t wait… will def look at ex dub at some point in future…cheers.

    • Alan goss says:

      Put the kettle on

      • Cat says:

        Ah, what’s the harm in being squiffy all the way to HKG?
        Have fun Polly!

        • Polly says:

          Tnx, it’s cold here! But warmth awaits us in Bali. The flight was superb, must say. So silent, hardly felt we were in the air at all. Crew v friendly and efficient…seats nice and private, must say, arranged very well.

  • js54156 says:

    I redeemed 70,000 AS miles for a one-way first class flight from London to Hong Kong during Christmas. Business one-way should cost 40,000. The tax payable was US$300. I think AS has better value than BA in terms of redeeming with CX.

  • Binks says:

    Hi Rob, how much is a single one way from London to HK with CAthay (miles and charged). Thx

    • Rob says:

      Do a dummy booking on ba.com and it will pop up, you don’t need the miles in your account.

  • FlyUpTop says:

    OT:
    If you book a cash fare for you and partner on BA & your partner does not have a BAEC account, do all the TP’s for both fares go to you or just one set and your partners fare do not get credited anywhere?

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

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