Cathay Pacific has launched “Rewards in the Air”, a festive promotion offering members up to 5,700 bonus Asia Miles for completing six missions by 31st January 2026. The good news is that you don’t have to commit to all six of these goals, just participate in as many or as few as you like.

Two of these missions take about 30 seconds each and require nothing more than tapping your phone screen, a no-brainer for a small miles accrual and fresh validity extension for your entire Asia Miles balance!

Cathay “Rewards in the Air” promo

The promotion runs from 11th December 2025 to 31st January 2026 and is available to Cathay members residing outside Hong Kong. Registration is required via the official campaign page (or in-app) before you complete any missions.

Here’s the full breakdown:

Cathay “Rewards in the Air” promo
Mission	Requirement	Bonus Miles
1	Complete one miles transaction (earn or redeem)	500
2	Complete transactions in 2+ categories	1,000
3	Earn 20,000+ Asia Miles	2,000
4	Redeem 15,000+ Asia Miles	2,000
5	Complete check-in mission on Asia Miles app	100
6	Opt in to all Cathay communications	100
Total		5,700

You can complete as many or as few missions as you like, there’s no requirement to go for the full haul of 5,700 miles.

The easy wins: Mission 5 and Mission 6

Let’s start with the freebies.

Mission 5 went live on 18th December 2025. Simply open the Asia Miles by Cathay app, sign in, and tap the “Register now” button to register for the promo.

If you don’t have the app already, you can download it at the links below.

Otherwise you end up with fewer miles, when using the online portal and the manual methods.

Once registered, this will change to the “Check-in now” button on your home screen.

Simply click “Register now” to collect 100 bonus miles.

Mission 6 is equally straightforward: log into your Cathay account, head to your profile, select “Edit profile” then “Communication preference”, and opt in to all communications channels.

That’s another 100 miles in the bag, though you’ll need to stay subscribed until the bonus miles are credited (by 31st March 2026) to remain eligible. If the emails become too much, you can always opt-out later, just wait for the bonus miles to credit first.

That’s 200 Asia Miles for under a minute’s work. Not life-changing, but genuinely free.

Missions 1 and 2: One transaction, two categories

Mission 1 simply requires one miles earning or miles redemption transaction. Any amount counts, earn one mile, or redeem one mile, job done. The 500 miles bonus makes this a solid return on minimal effort.

Mission 2 asks you to transact across two or more of Cathay’s six partner categories:

• Flights: Cathay Pacific, Oneworld or partner airlines
• Shopping: Cathay Shop, Airalo eSIMs via the portal
• Holidays: Hotels, car rentals, OTAs
• Dining: Card-linked payments at participating Fullerton restaurants in Singapore
• Payment: Credit card points conversions
• Wellness: Healthcare, insurance

The strategic play here is recognising that credit card points transfers fall under the “Payment” category, while flight redemptions count as “Flights”. If you’re planning to transfer points and redeem for a flight anyway (see Missions 3 and 4), you’ll automatically tick off Mission 2, without any additional effort!

Mission 3: Earn 20,000+ miles

This is where things get more interesting, and potentially more valuable.

Members who earn at least 20,000 Asia Miles during the promotion period receive a 2,000 miles bonus. The simplest route for most Singapore-based members is transferring credit card points, which effectively turns this into a 10% transfer bonus at the optimum level (transfer 20,000 miles, receive 22,000 miles).

Here’s a quick reminder of the eight Singapore banks who offer credit card points transfers to Asia Miles.

Singapore Bank to Asia Miles Conversion options
Bank	Min. Transfer	Transfer Speed
Amex	400/450 MR points 250 miles	2 – 4 days
HSBC	25,000 points 10,000 miles	Instant
OCBC	10,000 OCBC$ 2,800 miles	Instant
UOB	5,000 UNI$ 10,000 miles	Up to 2 weeks
Citi	10,000 Citi Miles 10,000 miles	1 – 3 days
DBS	5,000 DBS Points 10,000 miles	1 week
StanChart	25,000 points 10,000 miles	3 – 5 days
Maybank	12,500 TREATS points 5,000 miles	2 – 4 days

Important: To be safe, aim for your miles to be credited by 31st January 2026 – the end of the promotion period. If you’re using a slower transfer partner like UOB, initiate your conversion by mid-January to allow plenty of buffer, even though technically Cathay allows until 28th February for the miles to actually credit.

Of course, you could also earn those 20,000 miles through flights, hotel bookings via Kaligo or Rocketmiles, or shopping portal activity, though credit card transfers remain the path of least resistance for most.

Mission 4: Redeem 15,000+ miles

The final high-value mission rewards members who redeem at least 15,000 Asia Miles, with a 2,000 miles bonus on offer here.

If you’ve still got travel plans to lock in and fly before 31st January 2026, this could slot in nicely.

Options from Singapore include a return Economy Class trip to Hong Kong or Taipei via Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, at a cost 18,000 Asia miles, comfortably clearing the 15,000-mile threshold.

Alternatively you can take a one-way hop up to Kuala Lumpur in Business Class on Malaysia Airlines for 20,000 Asia Miles, and enjoy a range of excellent Oneworld lounges at Changi before your flight, including the Qatar Airways lounge, if you pick the right departure timing.

Caution: If you have Avios or Flying Blue miles to burn, this KL itinerary is bookable for 14,000 / 15,000 miles, a better deal than splurging 20,000 Asia Miles to only get 2,000 back!

If you’re not travelling, you could technically redeem miles for non-flight options through the Asia Miles catalogue, though the value proposition there is generally poor and we wouldn’t recommend burning miles on merchandise just to trigger the bonus.

Do I need to receive an email invitation?

The terms state this offer is for members who “directly received the offer issued by Cathay Pacific”. However, reader reports suggest you can successfully register even without receiving an email invitation, the registration page appears to accept any eligible (non-Hong Kong) member.

Our suggestion: just try registering. If it works, you’re in. If the system rejects you, nothing lost.

Key dates

Here are the key dates for this promotion:

• 11th December 2025: Promotion began
• 18th December 2025: Mission 5 (app check-in) became available
• 31st January 2026: Deadline to complete all missions
• 28th February 2026: Deadline for earned miles to credit to your account
• 31st March 2026: Bonus miles credited (and Mission 6 opt-in deadline)
• 30th April 2026: Deadline to notify Cathay if your bonus miles are not received

A note on miles validity

Asia Miles expire 18 months after your last earning or redemption activity. The good news is that bonus miles from this promotion will count as earning activity, so completing even just Mission 5 or Mission 6 will extend the validity of your entire balance, once the miles credit.

Unfortunately bonus miles won’t land in your account until potentially as late as 31st March 2026, so that’s when the 18-month clock resets. If your miles are due to expire before then, you’ll still need a separate earning or redemption transaction to bridge the gap (though Missions 1 -4 should accomplish this).

A points transfer from a credit card (Mission 3) is perhaps the easiest trick, as is Cathay’s new card-linked dining miles earning option here in Singapore (recently the team clarified that five days is the crediting time for this one).

But if your balance validity is otherwise healthy, this promotion offers a handy extension through to 30th September 2027 – potentially for nothing more than tapping a check-in button!

Cathay’s latest “Rewards in the Air” promotion isn’t the most generous we’ve ever seen, but the barrier to entry is refreshingly low. Missions 5 and 6 are genuine freebies, and anyone already planning to transfer points or redeem flights soon can layer on meaningful bonuses, with minimal extra effort.

The strategic sweet spot: transfer 20,000 miles from a credit card (Mission 3), redeem 15,000+ miles for a flight (Mission 4), tap the app check-in (Mission 5), and opt into communications (Mission 6). That combination nets you 5,200 bonus miles while automatically completing Missions 1 and 2 along the way, bringing the full 5,700-mile haul within reach.

Don’t forget to register first, and if nothing else at least go for the “free” 200 miles by completing Missions 5 and 6 alone, which – like the rest of the promotion – will have the added bonus of recharging your entire Asia Miles balance validity through to the end of September 2027.

(Cover Photo: Markus Mainka / Shutterstock)