Why I Decided to Apply for Synchrony Cathay Pacific Visa X2

What a difference a week makes! So, last Monday I wrote about my recent credit card application spree It was a bit of a mixed bag, to put it mildly, with one approval and  multiple denials trickling in. I actually forgot to mention applying for Jet Blue card (X2) and being told by Barclays to pound sand.

Anyway, in that post I’ve said that I decided to pass on Cathay Pacific credit card due to hard expiration of miles and potential difficulty of dealing with program’s reps. Besides, I had enough miles for my upcoming trip to Japan/Hawaii. Or so I thought…

The cruise with extended family is back on, Hawaii is out, Vancouver is in

Those who follow this blog probably remember that my original  plan was to go to Japan and Hawaii with in-laws It was eventually scrapped for financial and primarily, health reasons. My in-laws are quite old and we figured a trip like that was simply too much for them to handle.

So, I’ve decided that my family will still go and skip the cruise in favor of exploring the area around Kyoto and Hakone. And I had enough miles to pull it off. Well, the other day my sister-in-law called me and said that they decided to join us. My father-in-law has always wanted to see Japan, and he didn’t want to miss his chance to do so.

But wait, there is more! She said they/she no longer wanted to stop in Hawaii and would prefer to explore Vancouver, Canada for few days instead, before flying to Japan. Oh, and they absolutely have to have the cruise. Say what? So, my  plan was once again turned completely upside down.

To be fair, she said that they would stay home and let me have my original itinerary if that was my preference. Of course, I would love for my in-laws to join us, so I’m willing to make some adjustments in order to make it work. My sister-in-law is the Alpha female of the family, and I have to make my peace with being a Beta.

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p style=”text-align: center;”>Our pack of seven, my sister-in-law upfront (photo by Eva Blue on Unsplash)

Obviously, getting award tickets for seven people requires a lot more miles compared to a family of four. My sister-in-law said she would be fine paying cash for their tickets, but that’s complicated. They would have to adjust to our flights, which may be prohibitively expensive via cash. We are looking to visit Japan before the Olympics madness, but still.

I have close to 200k Avios, but that won’t even cover 7 one-way tickets in economy from Osaka to US. Besides, Japan Airlines only releases 4 seats in economy, and premium economy costs double. I do have a small stash of Avianca miles and some Membership Rewards I could utilize for United flights. A nice thing about Avianca program is that it lets you copay with cash as long as you have at least 40% of required miles.

Either way, it was clear that I needed to get more miles ASAP, just in case. The problem is, as I’ve explained earlier, banks aren’t willing to approve me or my husband. I asked my sister-in-law if she could sign up for a credit card right now. She said she is looking to take out a mortgage within a year or so, and prefers not to. That’s certainly prudent. However, she said she would help me meet minimum spending. Fair enough.

I’ve decided to apply for Synchrony Cathay Pacific card in mine and my husband’s names. You get 40,000 miles after spending $2,000 in 3 months, and annual fee of $99 is NOT waived. This is the only low-hanging fruit that is currently within my grasp. Minimum spending of $2,000 per card isn’t outrageous, plus I’ll have my sister-in-law helping me meet it.

I’ll probably prepay my power bill in order to get the miles quicker. According to my Twitter conversation with Grant (from Travelwithgrant blog), Synchrony bank usually posts bonus miles on the same statement where you meet minimum spending. He was kind enough to check his statements just to make sure. That’s significant since our flights should be bookable in only 3 months.

Both of the applications were approved!! So, clearly, Synchrony bank isn’t too picky. Non-affiliate link for Cathay Pacific Visa Signature card Obviously, I can’t guarantee that you will be approved, so YMMV If this plan falls through (again), our next family vacation will definitely involve Asia Miles.

Vancouver-Japan route is a “sweet spot”

Going back to our whole Vancouver stopover plan. Japan Airlines flies from Vancouver to Tokyo non-stop and the price via Asia Miles is 25,000 miles in economy, identical to what Avios program charges. But it gets better. My in-laws are actually thinking about flying to Osaka, and it appears that the rate via Asia Miles would still be 25,000 miles despite adding a connecting flight from Tokyo to Osaka, Itami airport. Avios charges 29,500 miles for the same route.

I say “appears” because Asia Miles doesn’t recognize Itami airport even though is shows up on Avios booking engine. Japan Airlines flights are normally bookable via Cathay Pacific website, but in this case I would have to call. Asia Miles doesn’t publish its mileage pricing on single-partner routes, and instead has this calculator

After digging around, I found this article on AustralianFrequentFlyer blog where the author came up with a chart after doing some research According to that chart, the combined distance between Vancouver and Itami airports is just below 5,000 miles, which puts it into 25,000-mile Asia Miles pricing band. Pretty neat, huh?

Copyright © 1996-2019 Karl L. Swartz.

Business class should cost 50,000 miles, though I haven’t found much availability on Vancouver-Narita route. Still, Asia Miles could definitely come in handy if our plan does materialize.

If you are looking to fly Seattle-Narita route on JAL, you will pay 25,000 Asia Miles in economy, and it can be booked online. Be aware,  just like Avios program, Asia Miles adds fuel surcharges on JAL flights. Right now, they are about $140 per person one-way, but the rate changes every few months, depending on the price of gas.

The quirks and “sweet spots” of Asia Miles program for average family in America

Asia Miles is an interesting program, for sure. It has undergone some changes last year, mostly negative. For example, you no longer get a discount on roundtrip flights. Still, there is value to be had. I recommend this post on The Points Guy that digs deeper into specifics of the program, though it may be a bit advanced for beginners.

If you don’t like dealing with nuisance or calling to book award tickets, here are few things you should be aware of:

1) Some carriers are bookable online, including Alaska Airlines. You will have to call in order to book American Airlines flights.

2) Be careful with initial online pricing if you have several segments. Often, the website will show the lowest rate, only to increase it during the final step. And you can’t get to the final step unless you have the required miles. Unfortunately, some have found this out the hard way after transferring Membership Rewards points. See this post on Pointmetotheplane blog for more on this topic. If you are booking a direct flight, it’s not a concern.

3) Transfers from Membership Rewards usually take a few days. Putting award on hold is possible if a flight is operated by Cathay Paciifc, but no dice with partners. Of course, it never hurts to try. Transfers from Citi Thank You program usually take one day, but no guarantees. If you are flexible on dates, it could make sense to transfer miles ahead of time, just in case.

4) Short one-way  flights (under 750 miles) will cost you 10,000 Asia Miles. Longer flights (between 751-2,750 miles) will cost 15,000 miles. Many Hawaii flights from West coast will fall into the latter category. It’s a bit more expensive compared to Avios (12,500 miles for the same route), but cheaper compared to Alaska Air or AAdvantage. Of course, all of  this assumes low-level availability via respective programs.

5) You can book award tickets for people who are not related to you, but you have to nominate them first.

6) Miles expire after three years, period. Make sure you are OK with this before you apply for the card.

Bottom line

Many things in this hobby require a leap of faith, and this is one of them. In hindsight, I should have applied for this card last year, when the bonus was 50,000 miles. But at that time, Japan trip (flying from Vancouver, no less!) wasn’t on the horizon.

My Plan B is to possibly use Asia Miles for non-stop flights from Tampa to Phoenix or maybe  even go to Hawaii from the West coast. Possibilities are endless, though our flexibility is not. Still, I’m fairly certain I will put these miles to good use somehow.

Developing…

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