The Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® – powered by Neo that was first announced this past August is now officially open to applications. The Hong Kong based airline which flies to Toronto and Vancouver moved their co-brand partnership for their Cathay program from RBC to Neo for their Canadian offering which also sees them move from Visa to Mastercard.
Up to 30,000 Asia Miles Welcome Bonus
The welcome bonus on the Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® – powered by Neo is currently set at up to 30,000 Asia Miles unless you signed up for the waitlist offer from August which offered 45,000 miles.
The 30,000 Asia Miles is awarded as 15,000 miles upon card activation and another 15,000 when you spend $3,000 in the first three months after card activation.
$180 Annual Fee
Now we know why they possibly didn’t publish the annual fee when the card was first announced back in August – it is $180 for the primary card. This is now the highest annual fee in Canada for a premium card with Visa Infinite or Mastercard World Elite branding. Honestly, the high fee doesn’t seem warranted considering the overall card offering and benefits.
That being said, additional (supplementary) cards are only $10 each so if you are someone who runs with additional cards the overall annual fees will end up being less than this card’s direct competition.
Earn rates
The card earns Asia Miles as follows:
- 2 Asia Miles for every $1 spent on purchases outside Canada.
- 2 Asia Miles for every $1 spent on Cathay Pacific flights.
- 5 Asia Miles for every $1 spent at thousands of Neo partners nationwide.
- 1 Asia Miles for every $1 spent on purchases in Canada.
Benefits
The card provides the following benefits, some that are exclusive to the card, others that are for all Cathay members and/or World Elite Mastercard holders:
- Priority check-in, extra baggage, and spacious seat selection – Hard to say if this is exclusive to the card as similar benefits are also provided for simply being a Cathay Green member. The landing page for the card does not provide further details so once we are able to find out more we’ll be sure to pass along the details.
Nov 30 Update: RWRDS Canada reached out to Neo’s project manager for this card and we have received direct confirmation from them that these benefits are those provided for being a Cathay Green member. This means there are no exclusive benefits provided by this card for flying on Cathay. -
Benefits that all Cathay Green Member receive (regardless of having a co-brand card) - 10% booking discount – For a limited time, get 10% off Canada-origin Cathay Pacific bookings. (It appears this benefit is only available to those who signed up via the wait list as it not on the card’s standard landing page)
- Airport Lounge Access – The card offers Mastercard TravelPass by DragonPass membership which is the same what all World Elite Mastercards offer in Canada. No mention of any additional passes so at this point we’ll assume it is only the annual membership
- Insurance coverage – There is extensive insurance coverage provided on the card including trip cancellation, trip interruption, out of province medical, purchase security/extended warranty and more. You can find the insurance details here.
- Free Boingo Wi-Fi at 1M+ hotspots – This is the same benefit we see on all World Elite Mastercards offer in Canada. This benefit is now limited to twelve (12) 90 minute sessions annually.
- Book professional and punctual airport transportation through Mastercard Airport Transfer – This is a pay for use service provided by DragonPass to all World Elite Mastercard holders
- Bypass security lines with Mastercard Airport Security Fast Track – This is a pay for use service provided by DragonPass to all World Elite Mastercard holders
Secured Version
Neo provides secured versions of their own proprietary card and also for their Tims Credit Card. The fintech will also offer a secured version of this card. Yes, you will be able to get a secured World Elite Mastercard as long as you meet the income requirements of $80,000 personal or $150,000 household. This is definitely noteworthy as this is the first premium co-brand card to be offered in a secured version which should be really appealing to higher income newcomers to Canada. Kudos to Neo for continuing to expand the secured rewards credit card market as that is one part of the industry that has traditionally been left out of the rewards space.
Wrapping it up
Cathay Pacific’s new Canadian co-brand credit card is officially here. The airline switched from RBC to Neo to continue to provide a credit card for the Canadian market. The new card is slightly better than the old RBC Cathay Pacific Visa thank to it being a World Elite Mastercard which comes with more benefits like airport lounge membership.
The Cathay exclusive benefits almost look to be the same as what any Cathay Green member receives and if that’s the case this a not an extra benefit for being a cardholder. We now have confirmation from Neo those Cathay exclusive benefits are strictly what is provided for being Cathay Green member. We’ll see if we can get details if the card provides more than this – and if it does then it could make the card worthwhile. With us now knowing there are no cardholder exclusive benefits for flying with Cathay I would have to say this card falls short of being anything remarkable considering the $180 annual fee, unless that is if you purchase a lot of flights with Cathay to earn the 2x Asia Miles.
Click here to learn more about and/or to apply for the Cathay Pacific Card
Title image via Neo