Business Plus

Business Plus is designed to help businesses manage their business travel needs, so companies can travel well. Business Plus is designed to reward companies every time they fly with Cathay Pacific or Cathay Dragon.

Business Plus is a point-based rewards programme whereas Corporate Travel Solutions is a spending-based travel programme. Business Plus points follow the Marco Polo Club scheme i.e. 1 Marco Polo Club Point = 1 Business Plus point. Business Plus points are awarded based on a mixture of cabin class, fare class and distance travelled.

Your clients' accounts will be switched to Business Plus in 3 batches, according to your client’s Corporate Travel Solutions account’s quarterly spending review date.

On the Business Plus programme effective date, your client will begin to accrue Business Plus points.

On the Business Plus online portal launch date (Migration day), your client will receive log in information to the Business Plus portal (www.cathaypacific.com/businessplus).

A contract period in Business Plus programme lasts for 12 months from the programme effective date, during which the company's eligible travel is collectively calculated for points accrual to unlock rewards and status privileges. The contract will be renewed automatically.

Your client’s Business Plus contract will be renewed automatically after 12 months and their company’s Business Plus points will be reset to 0 on the day of renewal, to start accrual and to unlock rewards and status privileges in the new contract year.

Unused rewards from the previous 12-month period will remain valid after the day of contract renewal. Rewards have a 1-year validity starting from the date of issuance, except for MPO memberships which will be valid for 6 months.

There will be no changes to existing Marco Polo Club memberships. Members will still be able to accrue club points for their Marco Polo Club accounts.

Business Plus points are awarded to the company registered under Business Plus, while Marco Polo Club points are awarded to the individual traveller who is a Marco Polo Club member. For a MPO Club member travelling under Business Plus programme, he or she will still get own MPO Club points and the company will get the Business Plus points.

Travel rewards are earned by accruing Business Plus points, which are based on a mixture of cabin class, fare class and distance travelled. If your client often purchases tickets of higher fare classes, it will generally be easier to earn rewards.

• A valid business registration in Hong Kong or Macau
• A designated authorised company representative to act on behalf of the company in matters related to Business Plus programme
• No other existing corporate travel agreements (i.e. any customised corporate travel deals) with Cathay Pacific
• Not a travel agent, a consolidator or a ticket brokerage firm

As per the Business Plus programme Terms & Conditions, travel agents, consolidators and ticket brokerage firms are not eligible for enrollment. Such practices are considered as abuse. To maintain integrity of the programme, a tracking mechanism has been put in place to prevent abuse by travel agents.

Should any cases of abuse be identified, Cathay Pacific reserves the right to:

• Deduct the applicable amount of Business Plus points from the relevant Business Plus account and/or
• Withdraw or suspend Business Plus rewards (such as lounge passes, flight upgrades, etc.) that have already been awarded to Business Plus accounts without prior notice and/or
• Terminate the relevant Business Plus account without prior notice and/or
• Debit used discount vouchers through Agency Debit Memo and/or
• Any other applicable corrective measures

The requirements for travel agents who can issue tickets through GDS for Business Plus clients remain unchanged. The tickets must be issued by a travel agent who is:

• Based in Hong Kong or Macau and
• A BSP (Billing and Settlement Plan) travel agent

A maximum of 3 agents who fulfill the above requirements can be appointed to each account.

To maintain integrity of the programme, there will be tracking mechanisms put in place to identify bookings made by agents that do not comply with the above requirements. Such cases will be treated as programme abuse.

Should any cases of abuse be identified, Cathay Pacific reserves the right to:

• Deduct the applicable amount of Business Plus points from the relevant Business Plus account and/or
• Withdraw or suspend Business Plus rewards (such as lounge passes, flight upgrades, etc.) that have already been awarded to Business Plus accounts without prior notice and/or
• Terminate the relevant Business Plus account without prior notice and/or
• Debit used discount vouchers through Agency Debit Memo and/or
• Any other applicable corrective measures

For Travel Agents

Yes, the Business Plus programme is travel agent friendly and if you meet the eligibility requirements, you will still be able to make bookings and issue tickets for your Business Plus clients through GDS. Please refer to below for handling procedures.

Yes. In 3Q 2018, if your Business Plus client has assigned you as a Travel Agent for their account, you will be able to log in and manage their rewards on their behalf. Please stay tuned for our update on Travel Agent access to the Business Plus portal.

With an enhanced rewards scheme, we foresee that business travellers will be more incentivized to travel with Cathay Pacific or Cathay Dragon. This will lead to increased business opportunities for travel agents as well.

The Corporate Travel Solutions site will close down on 30th Jun 2019. If your client still has unused valid rewards from their Corporate Travel Solutions account after the Business Plus programme start date, they will still be able to manage those rewards by logging in to Corporate Travel Solutions site until 30th Jun 2019.

For flight bookings made while the company is still a Corporate Travel Solutions account, but with a travel date after migration to Business Plus, the equivalent Business Plus points will be credited to your client's new Business Plus account. Please allow 8 to 12 weeks after the travel date for these Business Plus points to be reflected in the account.

The agency referral programme is currently under review and more information will be provided once available.

New Handling Procedures

Your clients will receive an email several weeks before Business Plus programme effective day that notifies them of their new B-Code ('Business Plus account number'), with a reminder to also notify their travel agents.

To facilitate the transition, if you have been appointed as a handling agent under your client's Corporate Travel Solutions account, you will also receive an email with a B-Code converter. Simply enter your client's old B-Code according to the instructions and the new B-Code will be displayed.

Business Plus points will only be accrued for your client if the B-Code is entered in BOTH the booking SSR/OSI AND the ticket Form of Payment/Endorsement (depending on your GDS).

The new B-Code will become effective immediately on programme effective day. Only bookings with the new B-Code entered correctly will accrue Business Plus points.

There will be a grace period of 3-month for using the old B-Code after Business Plus programme effective day i.e. for bookings created with old B-Code after the programme effective day, Business Plus points will still be awarded to your client’s account. Please note that this arrangement is purely for Business Plus points accrual; travel management and reward management via the Business Plus portal will only be available for bookings with the new B-Code.

After the 3-month grace period ends, Business Plus points will not be awarded to bookings with the old B-Code. It will be handled as incorrect B-Code input.

The B-Code is to be entered in the SSR/OSI of your customer’s booking. You can manually correct or add back the B-Code.

If it is missing or incorrectly entered into the ticket, please contact Cathay Pacific agency support team. There will be a $250 handling fee to change the ticket.

Discount vouchers will still be available as a reward under Business Plus, and can only be used on travel agent bookings. The ticket issuance process is the same as before. Your clients will be able to assign discount vouchers to you through the Business Plus portal. Once you receive the email containing applicable discount voucher numbers, you can make bookings and input the numbers as part of the payment.