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Cathay Pacific's $811 China sweep expands, Hyatt Day 2 numbers are in
Two new Cathay Pacific $811 fares debuted yesterday — Xi'an (XIY) and Chongqing (CKG) join Chengdu in the ongoing SFO China sale; all three are Mon–Thu, late August–September, via Hong Kong. Hyatt Day 2 analysis of 368,000 award nights: not one Category 8 night got cheaper, 67.3% went up by an average of 8,000 points; Japan hit hardest; Category 1–2 are the clear winners. Transfer bonus countdown: Qatar Avios 50% buy bonus expires May 26 (5 days), Chase UR → Flying Blue 20% expires May 27 (6 days), Aeroplan 90% buy bonus + devaluation double deadline on June 1 (11 days). Bonus item: Emirates one-way Business Saver awards have quietly returned.
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Two new Cathay Pacific $811 fares landed yesterday — Xi'an and Chongqing join the series — pushing the count of sub-$850 SFO–China city pairs to at least five this week. On points: Thrifty Traveler's 368,000-night Hyatt audit landed today and the numbers are stark. Transfer bonus clock: Qatar Avios has 5 days left, Chase to Flying Blue has 6.
Cash fares
| Route (RT from Bay Area) | Airline | Basic Economy | Main Cabin | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SFO → Xi'an (XIY) | Cathay Pacific | $811 | — | 🆕 New — posted May 20 |
| SFO → Chongqing (CKG) | Cathay Pacific | $811 | — | 🆕 New — posted May 20 |
| SFO → Chengdu (TFU) | Cathay Pacific | $811 | — | ⚠️ Day 2 — book today |
| SFO → Nantucket, MA (ACK) | American | $282 | $392 | ⚠️ Day 2 — extremely limited seats |
| SFO → Cartagena, Colombia (CTG) | Copa | $441 | $591 | 🔶 Borderline — TFD window passed, Copa site still live |
| SJC / OAK → Honolulu (HNL) | Southwest | $176–$200 OW | — | ✅ Ongoing — free bags included |
| SFO → St. Thomas (STT) | Delta | $250 | $370 | ✅ Still showing (6 days old) |
| SFO → Rarotonga, Cook Islands (RAR) | Alaska/Hawaiian | $691 RT | — | ✅ Still showing (6 days old) |
All roundtrip prices include taxes unless marked OW. "Day 2" means the post falls outside The Flight Deal's standard 48-hour freshness window today.
Cathay Pacific: SFO to Xi'an for $811
Cathay Pacific added Xi'an Xianyang International Airport (XIY) to its ongoing China sale on May 20. 1 The routing is SFO–Hong Kong (HKG)–XIY in both directions, fare class Q. Travel window: late August through September, Monday through Thursday departures and returns. The $100-per-stop Hong Kong stopover option applies here as it does across the series.
Alaska Mileage Plan earns 15,610 miles on this itinerary (about 5.2 cents per mile redeemable; 3,902 elite qualifying miles). American AAdvantage earns zero on Q class. US citizens need a China visa; allow adequate processing time before booking.
Book at cathaypacific.com or via Google Flights. Filter Mon–Thu in the flexible calendar — Q inventory disappears fast on open-date searches.
Cathay Pacific: SFO to Chongqing for $811
Same deal, different city: Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport (CKG) joined the $811 series the same day. 2 Routing, fare class, travel window, and restrictions are identical to the Xi'an fare above. Alaska earns 15,186 miles (5.3 cpm; 3,796 elite qualifying miles).
Chongqing is one of China's fastest-growing domestic destinations — fewer competing tourists than Beijing or Shanghai, and lower hotel prices for any World of Hyatt points you might want to pair with this.
Cathay Pacific: SFO to Chengdu — book today
The Chengdu (TFU) fare was posted May 19, which puts it at TFD's two-day expiry threshold today. 3 Same $811 price, same Q class, same late-August–September Mon–Thu window. Alaska earns 15,430 miles (5.3 cpm). If Chengdu was on your shortlist, today is the last reliable day to check availability.
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American: SFO to Nantucket — last call
American's SFO → Nantucket (ACK) fare at $282 Basic Economy / $392 Regular Economy (via Philadelphia) was posted May 19, also at day two today. 4 Travel window is late June through July 2026, but The Flight Deal flagged "extremely limited" availability even at launch — a handful of scattered dates, not a broad sale. Normal SFO–ACK summer fares run $500–$700 roundtrip, so the savings are real if the dates align.
Basic Economy terms: no advance seat selection, no changes or cancellations, boards last boarding group, earns no AAdvantage miles. Regular Economy at $392 restores all of those. Book at aa.com or Google Flights; use the flexible calendar filtered to late June–early July.
Copa: SFO to Cartagena — borderline but still showing
The Copa SFO → Cartagena, Colombia (CTG) fare at $441 BE / $591 RE was posted May 18. 5 TFD's 48-hour window has lapsed, but Copa's own website was still returning $441 as of yesterday's check. Routing is SFO–Panama City (PTY)–CTG; travel window is mid-August through early December 2026. Worth a quick search on copaair.com before assuming it's gone.
Southwest: SJC / OAK to Honolulu — ongoing
Southwest is running SJC → Honolulu (HNL) from $176 one-way as a standard fare, with OAK departures in a similar range. 6 August 2026 dates have the best availability. Two free checked bags are included — a meaningful difference versus other carriers' Basic Economy products at comparable prices. Must book at southwest.com; Southwest fares don't appear on OTAs.
Hyatt Day 2: the 368,000-night audit
Thrifty Traveler analyzed award pricing across nearly all of Hyatt's ~1,300 properties worldwide, comparing pre- and post-devaluation rates. 7 The headline finding: not a single Category 8 night got cheaper. The full breakdown by category:
| Category | % of nights cheaper | % of nights more expensive | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cat 8 | 0% | 67.3% (avg +8,000 pts) | Not one night dropped |
| Cat 7 | ~0% | 20–21% | Bottom bucket: 20-21% of nights |
| Cat 4 | 0% | 34.3% | Zero nights cheaper |
| Cat 5–6 | ~25% | Remainder | Mixed; some small wins possible |
| Cat 2 | ~72% | — | Clear winner |
| Cat 1 | 93% | — | Biggest beneficiary |
Thrifty Traveler's verdict: "This is easily one of the most seismic changes in Hyatt's history — and, given its stature among travelers, in the world of award travel, period." 7
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Live and Let's Fly (Matthew Klint) described the new structure as "the introduction of dynamic pricing with upper price limits," adding: "For members who collect Hyatt points specifically for aspirational redemptions, I predict those days are fast coming to an end." 8
Japan is the worst-hit market. More than 40% of award nights across the country are now more expensive — double the global average. 7 Park Hyatt Tokyo, every July night: 45,000 points, up from 35,000–40,000. Andaz Tokyo: 82% of nights increased. Grand Hyatt Tokyo: 85% increased.
Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme shows the ceiling compression: the cheapest available night is now 45,000 points — the old maximum — and the most expensive is 75,000. 7 83% of bookable dates increased in price; none dropped. August 1 alone jumps from 45,000 to 75,000.
The availability picture didn't improve. Category 8 award availability fell 4% post-devaluation. Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme lost roughly a full month of bookable nights. The five-tier structure was pitched as introducing more pricing granularity, but hotels are under no requirement to offer inventory at the lower tiers (Lowest / Low). 8
Where to look instead. The r/hyatt community's working strategy after two days of data: target Category 1–2 (biggest price drops) and selectively Category 5–6 (roughly one in four nights dropped). 9 u/BaconSF's summary after scanning their portfolio: "Now I know to target Cat 1, 2, 5, 6 properties."
Check your existing reservations. Canceling a pre-devaluation award booking returns the original point total paid — not the new rate. This works in your favor on any property that shifted to a lower-priced tier: cancel and rebook to capture the savings. Confirmed by multiple community reports; the fix is manual and Hyatt won't notify you. 9
One caveat: at least one user reported problems applying a Guest of Honor (GoH) certificate to an existing reservation post-revaluation — agents advised checking back in 24 hours. If you're holding a GoH cert, verify it applies cleanly before canceling anything. 9
SFO-area properties. No blog or TPG's 136-property category changes list specifically called out Bay Area Hyatt properties (Grand Hyatt SFO, Hyatt Regency San Francisco, Hyatt Centric Fisherman's Wharf, and others). 10 The official Hyatt award chart updates page was inaccessible to automated parsing. For current rates on specific Bay Area properties, check world.hyatt.com directly.
Transfer bonus countdown
Seven bonuses currently active, verified on Roame as of May 21. 11
| Program | Bonus | Expires | Days left |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qatar Avios buy bonus | +50% on 66K+ Avios | May 26 | 5 days |
| Chase UR → Flying Blue | 1:1.2 (20%) | May 27 | 6 days |
| Amex MR → Hilton | 1:2.4 (20%) | May 31 | 10 days |
| Capital One → Qantas | +20% | May 31 | 10 days |
| Aeroplan buy-points bonus | +90% on 70K+ pts | Jun 1 | 11 days |
| Chase UR → Southwest | 1:1.3 (30%) | Jun 5 | 15 days |
| Citi TYP → Preferred Hotels | +30% | Jun 13 | 23 days |
| Citi TYP → Wyndham | +25% | Jun 13 | 23 days |
| Chase UR → Marriott Bonvoy | 1:1.55 (55%) | Jun 30 | 40 days |
Qatar Avios — 5 days left (expires May 26)
Qatar Airways Privilege Club extended its Avios buy bonus by one day — expiry is now May 26 at 4:59 AM SGT (previously reported as May 25). 12 The 50% rate kicks in at the 66,000–250,000 Avios tier, bringing the cost to 1.53 US cents per Avios.
That's not the best this offer has been: the December 2025 bonus was 65%, and August 2025 was 60%. Milelion flags two cheaper alternatives for acquiring Avios: Citi PayAll (1.19–1.58 US cents depending on card tier) and BA Balance Boost (as low as 1.20 US cents for 3x in USD accounts, though that requires existing Avios to multiply rather than buying from scratch). 12
The standard advice applies: only buy if you have a confirmed redemption and have verified award availability first. Speculative Avios buying rarely makes sense at any bonus level.
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Chase UR → Flying Blue — 6 days left (expires May 27)
Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers to Air France/KLM Flying Blue at a 20% bonus through May 27, making the ratio 1,000 UR → 1,200 Flying Blue miles. 11 Flying Blue's monthly Promo Rewards sometimes include SFO–Europe economy fares in the 18,000–22,000 miles range one-way; with this bonus, that's roughly 15,600–18,300 UR per one-way segment.
Verify award availability on airfrance.com or klm.com before transferring — transfers are one-way and irreversible. Flying Blue is part of SkyTeam, so the program covers Delta, Korean Air, Vietnam Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic connections.
Aeroplan buy bonus + June 1 devaluation — 11 days, double deadline
Air Canada Aeroplan's 90% buy-points bonus runs through June 1. 13 The same date is when Aeroplan's award chart devaluation takes effect, raising long-haul premium cabin costs significantly. That means two deadlines collapse on the same day: buy points before June 1 at the bonus rate, and book any premium awards before June 1 at current (lower) pricing.
At the best tier (70,000+ base points), the effective cost runs approximately 1.83 SG cents per Aeroplan point. For context: 100,000 base points + 90,000 bonus = 190,000 Aeroplan points — roughly four one-way Asia business class flights at current pre-devaluation rates. Only pursue this if you have specific award space confirmed; the devaluation is real, but points bought without a redemption target tend to sit unused.
Chase UR → Southwest — 15 days (expires June 5)
A 30% transfer bonus to Southwest Rapid Rewards runs through June 5, the highest bonus depth Southwest typically sees. 11 1,000 UR → 1,300 Rapid Rewards points. Southwest's heavy OAK and SJC presence to Hawaii, Mexico, and domestic US makes this the most directly applicable Bay Area transfer bonus right now. The bonus does not count toward Companion Pass or A-List qualification thresholds.
Emirates one-way business class awards are back
Emirates updated its Skywards miles calculator on May 20, and buried in the changes is a notable improvement: one-way Business Saver awards have returned after being removed from the program. 14 As r/awardtravel user u/kmn6784 put it: "One Way Business Saver Awards are back!!!! This is a huge upgrade."
The update is mixed overall: some routes saw upgrade and award pricing rise 1.15–1.5x (JFK → Milan business upgrade moved from 39,000 to 45,000 points), while base Saver economy pricing held largely unchanged. The one-way option restores meaningful flexibility for open-jaw or positioning itineraries out of SFO. No major travel blog had covered this as of publication — the discovery came from the r/awardtravel community.
Expired and closed
Qatar Avios deadline correction. The prior issue listed expiry as May 25. Updated: May 26, 4:59 AM SGT. One extra day.
American SJC → Montego Bay ($392 BE / $462 RE) — posted May 17, past the TFD 48-hour window since May 19. Status unverified; worth a quick Google Flights check if Jamaica was on your list, but treat it as likely expired. 15
Delta SFO → Tahiti ($614 BE) and American SFO → Santiago ($615 BE) — posted May 13 and May 12 respectively, both 8–9 days old. Likely expired; still showing on TFD's SFO category page as of this morning but past any reasonable freshness window. 15
Cover: AI-generated illustration
참고 출처
- 1Cathay Pacific: San Francisco – Xi'an, China. $811. Roundtrip, including all Taxes — The Flight Deal
- 2Cathay Pacific: San Francisco – Chongqing, China. $811. Roundtrip, including all Taxes — The Flight Deal
- 3Cathay Pacific: San Francisco – Chengdu, China. $811. Roundtrip, including all Taxes — The Flight Deal
- 4American: San Francisco – Nantucket, Massachusetts. $282 (BE) / $392 (RE) — The Flight Deal
- 5Copa Airlines: Cheap flights from San Francisco to Cartagena — Copa official site
- 6Southwest Airlines: Cheap flights from San Jose, CA to Honolulu — Southwest official site
- 7We Analyzed 368K Hyatt Award Nights... & The Findings Are Brutal — Thrifty Traveler
- 8Final Call: Hyatt Just Blew Up The World Of Hyatt Award Chart — Live and Let's Fly
- 9r/hyatt: in-depth analysis of the Hyatt award changes
- 10Hyatt award chart changes go live May 20: What to book now — The Points Guy
- 11Current Point Transfer Bonuses for May 2026 — Roame
- 12Qatar Airways offering up to 50% bonus on Avios purchases — Milelion
- 13Aeroplan offering up to 90% bonus on points purchases — Milelion
- 14Emirates Miles Calculator Showing Updated Award Pricing — r/awardtravel
- 15The Flight Deal: SFO Category Page
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