Rewards Guide Detail

Write your itinerary as a list of segments

Even a return trip from Hong Kong can involve four or more flights. Put each take-off on a separate line with airport codes, dates, departure and arrival times, operating airline and cabin. The marketing flight number can differ from the operating airline, so check both.

If you arrive in Tokyo and return from Osaka, the journey between them is yours to arrange. Confirm you can make that journey and check arrival dates on overnight flights before comparing miles.

• Airports, dates, times and passenger count for each segment
• The actual cabin on every segment, not only the main cabin label
• Connections, stopovers or open jaws, including transport you arrange yourself
• Whether the itinerary is on one ticket or separate tickets

Multiple flights do not always mean adding segment prices

Identify the award type first. Some Cathay connections use the combined sector distance in one direction to select a distance band; oneworld Multi-carrier Awards have separate itinerary rules. British Airways also publishes separate pricing rules for journeys involving multiple oneworld partners, so a normal single-flight result cannot simply be reused.

Check mixed cabins, stopovers, open jaws and airline combinations against the terms for that award type. If the search cannot quote the full journey, get a quote from the programme instead of treating several separate one-way quotes as the price of one ticket.

Keep miles and cash as separate totals

Suppose two separately priced one-way awards are officially quoted at 20,000 miles plus HK$500 and 30,000 miles plus HK$700. The combined budget is 50,000 miles plus HK$1,200. This is fictional arithmetic, not a route quote; addition is appropriate only after confirming the tickets are priced separately.

Record the quote currency, taxes, carrier charges and service fees. When comparing another airport or airline, include any connecting transport, overnight stay or extra baggage you will pay for. A lower miles requirement may still mean a more expensive trip overall.

Check every seat and connection before booking

Check official award availability for the same passenger count on every segment, then confirm the whole journey can be ticketed together. Individual flight results do not necessarily make a bookable combination, and a calculator or award chart cannot confirm seats on your date.

Before paying, check connection times, entry or transit requirements, baggage arrangements, changes, cancellation and what happens if a segment is missed. For separate tickets, ask the airlines how a missed connection is handled. Keep the ticketing confirmation and each passenger's e-ticket number, then check all segments in the official booking manager.

Official references

This guide is our original explanation; official sources remain authoritative for current product and programme details.