Cathay flight giveaway sparks US, Canada frenzy for tickets

Hundreds of thousands of people queued online for flights to Hong Kong being given away by Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. on its North America website, with 4,445 tickets from the US and Canada up for grabs. 

Wait times on the airline’s US and Canada websites were longer than an hour Thursday morning Hong Kong time as customers raced to pick up free round-trip tickets to Hong Kong, offered on a first-come-first-served basis. 

By midmorning, the offer had ended.

“Due to popular demand, we have already reached our ticket limit in United States and Canada,” Cathay said. “This exclusive ticket offer is now closed.”

The promotion is part of Hong Kong’s plan to lure tourists back after essentially closeting itself from the rest of the world throughout the pandemic, when arrival numbers slumped and the economy fell into recession. The Asian financial hub ditched the last of its virus restrictions, including mandatory mask-wearing, at the start of March. 

“Inbound tourism and domestic demand will remain the major drivers of economic growth this year,” the Hong Kong government said in early May. 

Cathay, Hong Kong’s main airline, is giving away 500,000 tickets in total to customers worldwide. The promotion started in March, with 17,400 tickets allocated for Thailand, 12,500 to Singapore and 20,400 for the Philippines, before being expanded to other places.  

Winners still need to pay taxes and surcharges, so a return economy flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong would cost them about $350, according to Cathay’s website.  

Cathay operated at as little as 2% of normal capacity during the pandemic as travel to Hong Kong dried up, leaving it with record losses. Demand is finally picking up again — passenger traffic reached 1.38 million in April, a more than 3,200% increase from the same month last year. Still, the carrier is lagging regional rival Singapore Airlines Ltd., which this week posted the biggest profit in its 76-year history. 

Cathay is rebuilding its North America network and plans to offer three Chicago flights a week from October, bringing its total number of destinations in the region to seven.