Australia’s Best Credit Cards for Cathay Asia Miles

Australia's Best-Earning Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Credit Cards
Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-1000. Photo: Cathay Pacific.

Many Australian banks offer the option to transfer the points you earn on your credit card to Cathay Pacific’s frequent flyer program. This could be a good option if you’d like to redeem your points to fly with Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific.

Cathay is the popular loyalty program of Cathay Pacific. The program currency is Asia Miles, which you can of course redeem for flights and upgrades on Cathay Pacific. You can also use Asia Miles to book reward flights on other Oneworld partner airlines, including Qantas and Finnair.

Oneworld airline logos
Cathay Pacific is part of the Oneworld alliance. Photo: Matt Graham.

Cathay often reserves more award availability on Cathay Pacific flights for its own members. So if you’d like to fly Cathay Pacific from Australia to Hong Kong, or beyond to other destinations across Asia, Europe or North America, Asia Miles can be very handy to have. You’ll often find Cathay Pacific redemption seats through Cathay that aren’t available to book using Qantas points, for example.

Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class
Cathay Pacific A350-1000 Business Class. Photo: Cathay Pacific.

Although Cathay increased some of its award chart prices in 2023, redemption prices remain competitive compared to other Oneworld frequent flyer programs. Cathay also offers a Oneworld multi-carrier award, which could be used to fly around the world.

Transferring Australian credit card points to Cathay

There are no co-branded Asia Miles credit cards in Australia. But it is possible to transfer points from many credit card reward programs to Cathay Pacific’s frequent flyer program. So, you can earn Asia Miles with many Australian credit cards indirectly.

The following Australian credit card rewards programs partner with Asia Miles:

Credit Card Rewards ProgramTransfer Rate (Bank points:Cathay)
Amex Membership Rewards2:1
ANZ Rewards3:1
CommBank Awards3.5:1
Citi Rewards (Prestige card only)2.5:1
HSBC Rewards Plus (Premier card only)2:1
NAB Rewards3:1
Westpac Altitude Rewards3:1

Australia’s best personal credit cards for Asia Miles

To help you compare your options, we’ve compiled a list of the highest-earning personal credit cards in Australia for Cathay Asia Miles in 2024.

For easy comparison, we’ve listed the equivalent Asia Miles earn rate per $1 spent after the points have been transferred from a credit card rewards program to Cathay.

Note: If you’re viewing this article on a smartphone, the tables above may look better if you rotate your device horizontally.

CardLoyalty programAnnual feeAsia Miles earned per $1More information
Amex Platinum card (personal) artAmex PlatinumAmex Membership Rewards (Ascent Premium)$1,4501.125Read the guide button
Amex Explorer credit cardAmex ExplorerAmex Membership Rewards$3951Read the guide button
HSBC Premier World cardHSBC Premier (with Premier status)HSBC Rewards Plus$00.75 (up to $120,000/year)
ANZ Frequent Flyer Black VisaANZ Rewards BlackANZ Rewards$3750.67 (up to $5,000/month)Read the guide button
Amex Essential cardAmex Essential RewardsAmex Membership Rewards (Gateway)$00.5Read the guide button
NAB Rewards SignatureNAB Rewards$2880.5 (up to $15,000/month)Read the guide button

The American Express Platinum and Explorer cards are both very good choices if you want to earn Asia Miles from your credit card spend in Australia.

As a non-Amex option, the ANZ Rewards Black is pretty good – although you’ll only earn points on the full earn rate up to the first $5,000 spent each month.

The HSBC Premier card is another good earner, but it’s only available to HSBC customers with Premier status.

Australia’s best business cards for Asia Miles

There are also a range of business credit cards in Australia that earn points which are transferrable to Cathay Asia Miles. These are the top earners:

CardLoyalty programAnnual feeAsia Miles earned per $1More information
Amex Platinum Business cardAmex Platinum BusinessAmex Membership Rewards (Ascent Premium)$1,7501.125Read the guide button
Amex Gold Business cardAmex Gold BusinessAmex Membership Rewards$2491
Amex Business Explorer cardAmex Business ExplorerAmex Membership Rewards$1490.75Read the guide button

All of these American Express business cards earn uncapped points.

If you’d prefer a non-Amex option, the ANZ Business Black card earns the equivalent of 0.5 Asia Miles per dollar spent up to $10,000 per month.

Looking for a new credit card? Here are some current sign-up offers…

American Express Explorer Credit Card
Earn
2

American Express Membership Rewards points on everyday purchases

Signup Bonus

50,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points

Annual Fee
$395 p.a.
Go to offer
American Express Platinum Card
Earn
2.25

American Express Membership Rewards points on everyday purchases

Signup Bonus

150,000 bonus Membership Rewards points

Apply by 28th Jan 2025

Annual Fee
$1,450 p.a.
Go to offer
The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.
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