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Cathay Pacific to significantly boost Manchester flights

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As Asia continues its reopening, Cathay Pacific is increasing its services from Manchester to Hong Kong.

There are currently four flights per week from Manchester. According to industry filings, this will increase to a daily service from 29th October 2023 and appears to be a year-round change.

Flights are not yet bookable at cathaypacific.com but should become available in the next few days.

Cathay Pacific A350 business class

The existing Manchester services are operated with an A350 with the business class cabin pictured below.

Remember that Cathay Pacific is a British Airways partners in the oneworld alliance. You will earn Avios and British Airways tier points if you credit your flight to a British Airways account. If you have Gold or Silver status with British Airways, you will receive equivalent benefits with Cathay Pacific. You can also redeem Avios on Cathay Pacific flights.

(One quirk: because BA refuses to update its IT system, you won’t earn any Avios or tier points on ‘P’ class Business Class tickets on Cathay Pacific. This is despite the fact that cheaper Business Class seats do earn. ‘P’ class was launched in 2020 so BA has had three years now to make the required change. You can earn Avios in Qatar Airways Privilege Club from ‘P’ class flights on Cathay Pacific as the linked article explains.)

Our guide to earning Asia Miles from UK credit cards is here.


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 (25)

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

  • MarkZ says:

    Just to clarify the minimum spend level for the Heathrow Rewards dining offer, from the Ts & Cs:

    Extra Points offer is available to all existing and new Heathrow Rewards members who meet the minimum spend threshold of £25 or more …

    For avoidance of doubt, ‘spend threshold’ means the value of the total transaction after any store or staff discount(s) have been applied.

  • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

    Re IHG offer you need to be logged in for the 15% off rate to show.

    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:

      Staybridge suite Brighton showing 42k via that link.

      When logged in it’s 37.5k (with 42k crossed out)

      • davefl says:

        strange, I could see Bucharest with the crossings out on the same link

  • davefl says:

    Bucharest with the 15% is 0.54p/point.

    The better deal is points and cash (also discounted by 15%) 10,925 points+80 EUR which is 0.67p/point and 5,925 points + 106 EUR which is 0.83/point

  • Jetset Boyz says:

    “Because BA refuses to update its IT system, you won’t earn any Avios or tier points on ‘P’ class Business Class tickets on Cathay Pacific.”

    Cathay Pacific doesn’t display fare classes on it’s website or app, you only find this out when you receive the ‘ticketing confirmation email’.

    If you book and find out you’re in P class – you either receive zero Avios & tier points in Executive Club or have to contact Cathay and pay to upgrade to a higher fare class to get the Avios & tier points. This feels unfair and we’re being conned.

    (I’m well aware you can credit a Cathay P class flight to Qatar Privilege Club and earn Avios there.)

    Instead of just accepting Executive Club’s canned response (given by people working in the contact centres) of “CX P fare don’t earn anything in our program”… please will HfP challenge whoever the BA / IAG director is of Executive Club on this issue. 🙏

    If you can effect change and get this sorted, you’ll earn even more respect from your readers.

    • VALittleRed says:

      It’s very frustrating Cathay don’t display fare class prior to booking, has so much other information about the fare but not the class. I take it Cathay won’t downgrade you to a lower fare class free of charge after?

      • memesweeper says:

        ITA Matrix may show the fare class if you can find your route & fare. You can also search for specific fare classes, excluding those that dont earn. You’d need to call Cathay or use a travel agent to book.

        • Nick says:

          @Rob might want to check his facts about P class. Unless I’m misremembering, it’s CX’s decision not to make awards here. Airlines have to pay for issuing Avios, and under oneworld rules they can elect not to for cheap discounted classes. What they’ve arranged with QR is irrelevant to what they’ve agreed with BA.

          • Chrisasaurus says:

            That’s an interesting insight – that sort of bilateral deal seems at odds with the Alliance thesis to me?

          • Rob says:

            Cathay voluntarily decided not to give Avios and TP on its 2nd cheapest business ticket (but is ok on the cheapest) whilst happily paying Qatar Airways to award Avios and TP? I should run through the other oneworld carriers and see how many pay out.

            (EDIT: Just checked Malaysia and it pays on Cathay P class.)

        • Jetset Boyz says:

          If BA got this sorted, we wouldn’t have to call Cathay or use a travel agent.

      • Charles Martel says:

        Search the ITA Matrix using “f BC=J|BC=C|BC=D|BC=I” in the Extension Code box, copy and paste your preferred result into BookWithMatrix:

        https://matrix.itasoftware.com/search
        https://bookwithmatrix.com/

        • Jetset Boyz says:

          Charles Martel the point of my comment is to apply some pressure and get BA to get this issue sorted. We shouldn’t have to use ITA Matrix and call Cathay or a travel agent to book a simple itinerary that earns Exec Club Avios.

      • Jetset Boyz says:

        They can only do an operational downgrade, not a voluntary downgrade to a lower fare class (that earns Avios & TP) even if they have availability.

  • SammyJ says:

    The Holiday Inn at MAN is excellent, I’ve stayed twice since it opened a few months ago. One of those that baffle me as to why they branded it as a HI and not something slightly more upmarket or quirky. I’m sure I’m not the only IHG regular that only chooses a HI if there is no other alternative!

    • Mike says:

      The alternative on the same site being an Ibis Budget (or the Radisson on the bridge). For anyone considering the Ibis the rooms are tiny and I’d only consider them if you are traveling alone or really can’t afford the extra approximately £20-30 to use the HI.

    • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

      How is pedestrian access from airport to hotel?

      • Mike says:

        The Holiday Inn and Ibis Budget are good for T2, you leave the hotel, cross the road, walk under the car park, into T2 and then lift up to departures. Literally 120-300 seconds depending on how speedy you walk and how long you wait to cross the road. T1/3 is much more of a hike, across into T2 as described, then the skylink past the Radisson, past the station, and on to T1/3.

        • Blair Waldorf Salad says:

          thank you, sounds manageable and for T1 probably simpler than the Doubletree which necessitates a walk along what can sometimes be a muddy path till you eventually reach a pedestian crossing. Then still further on outdoors through the car park area.

          • Mike says:

            Yes, at the Doubletree it makes more sense to pay the £2.50 pp and get the paid minibus, since the cheapskates scrapped the hotel shuttle. I’ve dragged my suitcase through the mud on a dark winter’s morning on many occasions. The other alternative is the Radisson although the HI and Ibis are significantly cheaper.

  • David S says:

    Rob – a yes please for me on checking the other airlines. I can’t find anything on BA’s own web site saying that you earn anything in P Class. Would love an article from the Qatar perspective – what are the Avios and Tier point earnings from all other OW partner airlines, ie should we credit flights to Qatar instead as we can move Avios backwards and forwards. The issue I guess is tier points that can’t be similarly moved.

  • Rizz says:

    Not sure Tashkent, Uzbekistan is Europe…

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

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