Cathay

Elite tiers

Gold confers Oneworld Sapphire — the lowest tier in this programme with alliance-wide lounge access. Alliance mapping last verified 12 July 2026. Compare lounge access across programmes →

Two counters run at once through 2026, and which one matters depends on how long you want the status to last. Shown here is the calendar-year count, because it is the one that produces status lasting beyond this year: Status Points earned between 1 January and 31 December 2026 set your 2027 status on a published band table — 300 for Silver, 600 for Gold, 1,200 for Diamond and 2,400 for the new Diamond Exec — 'regardless of your membership expiration date'. Running alongside it is the in-year upgrade ladder, on which Status Points still reset to zero on any upgrade, renewal or downgrade: an upgrade inside the current membership year costs 300 to Silver and then a further 600 to Gold, so 900 from a standing start — and every 2026 membership ends on 31 December 2026 whenever it began, so a card earned that way expires within the year. Cathay does not allow a double jump: 'as multiple status upgrades are not allowed, you can only progress one membership status at a time', so you pass through Silver on the way to Gold rather than arriving at Gold directly. That is not a limit of one upgrade per membership year, and no such limit is published. At least one eligible Cathay Pacific sector is also required. One caveat we cannot close: Cathay nowhere states outright that an in-year reset leaves the calendar-2026 tally untouched — it is the only reading under which the two published counters agree, but it is our reading rather than Cathay's words, so treat a mid-year upgrade as the point to re-check your own balance. Diamond Plus sits above the ladder by invitation only, keyed on annual fare spending, with no published threshold. Renewal at the same threshold, stated on the Status Points page (capture Y, 11 Sep 2026): one table serves both renewal and upgrade — ‘the number of Status Points required to renew or upgrade a membership status within a membership year’ — so Silver, Gold and Diamond are kept at the same 300, 600 and 1,200, with at least one eligible Cathay Pacific sector alongside. Diamond Exec is not addressed on that page, so nothing is recorded for it.

Reaching this status

Cathay publishes conditions that sit alongside the Status Points threshold, so reaching the number on its own does not confer the tier. They are shown here and never scored — the Lark Score measures Status Points earned and nothing else. Where the published wording says more than the summary line, the wording governs.

Earning reference

Cathay status matches out