Ping An: Cathay Pacific and Shangri-La transfer bonus

It’s been a while and we’ll briefly cover Ping An E-wallet‘s July offer today. First of all, I still don’t know if you can use Ping An without a Chinese ID, so please share if you have experience!

Both promotions end on 31 July.

Cathay Pacific

• Receive a 20% bonus when transferring Ping An points to Cathay miles
• Bonus capped at 50,000 miles per person
• Total bonus pool is capped at 10 million miles

With the 20% bonus, the effective transfer ratio works out to exactly 50 Ping An points for 1 Cathay mile. At current Taobao prices, 500,000 Ping An Points can be purchased for around 945 RMB , putting the acquisition cost at roughly 0.0945 RMB or 1.04p per mile.

Compared with the 35% bonus offered back in January, this promotion is certainly less compelling. That said, if you have an immediate redemption in mind, it’s still worth considering.

Meanwhile, there’s another linked rebate offer (registration required):

• Transfer at least 5,000 miles
• Redeem at least 10,000 miles on Cathay flights in July
• Travel between 1 August and 30 November
• Earn 20% miles back, up to 10,000 miles

Shangri-La

• Receive a 30% bonus when transferring Ping An points to Shangri-La points
• Maximum bonus of 10,000 Shangri-La points per transaction and 20,000 points per day
• Also receive one complimentary room upgrade voucher

Based on current Taobao pricing, the acquisition cost works out to approximately 0.378 RMB / 4.18p per Shangri-La points. Shangri-La points are effectively fixed-value, much like Accor. Every 15 points can be redeemed for US$1 in hotel credit, so this is like 17% discount.

The room upgrade voucher is actually more tempting – there’s a no threshold and the minimum Shangri-La points you can transfer is 50.