
Card Details
Interest Rates
Purchase: 19.99% - 26.99%*
Cash Advance: 22.99% - 28.99%*
Annual Fee
$180
Annual Income
Personal: $80,000
Household: $150,000
Credit Score Estimate
Welcome Bonus
Get 20,000 Asia Miles upon sign-up, and an additional 20,000 Asia Miles after spending $5,000 within your first 90 days
Our Rating
4.2/5
Institution
Neo Financial
Rewards
- Earn 2x Asia Miles per $1 spent on Cathay Pacific flights and on purchases made in foreign currencies
- Earn 1x Asia Miles per $1 spent in Canada
- Earn an average of 5x the Asia Miles when you spend at thousands of Neo partners nationwide
- Save up to 15% off on flights to Asia and beyond when you pay with your Cathay World Elite Mastercard and enter the discount code CXNEO15OFF (valid until Dec 31, 2025)
Insurance & Benefits
Insurance
Coverage
Car Rental Personal Effects
$1,000/person, $2,000 combinedCar Rental Accident
$100K for Cardholder, $10K spouse and childCar Rental Damage & Theft
48 daysBaggage Delay
$1,000 after 4 hoursLost or Stolen Baggage
$1,000Trip Cancellation
$5,000Trip Interruption
$5,000Emergency Out of province Medical
14 daysFlight Delay
$250/day, $500 MaximumHotel Burglary Insurance
$1,000Purchase Protection
90 daysExtended Warranty
1 year
Benefits
Details
Airport Lounge - Dragon Pass
Pass only. No Complimentary visits!Priority Travel
Online priority check-in and extra baggage redemption for Cathay Pacific, and Cathay Pacific Business class lounge redemption accessPriority Travel
Airport Security Fast Track with and professional and punctual airport with Mastercard benefitsBoingo Wi-Fi hotspot
Discount
Save up to 15% off on flights to Asia and beyond when you pay with your Cathay World Elite Mastercard and enter the discount code CXNEO15OFF (valid until Dec 31, 2025)
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Generous Bonus: Earn up to 40,000 bonus Asia Miles.
- Discount on flights: Up to 15% discount on flights to Asia and beyond with code CXNEO15OFF (valid until Dec 31, 2025).
- High Earn Rates: Get an average of 5 miles, and up to 15 miles per $1 spent (first time purchases) at Neo retail partners.
- Cathay Pacific Perks: Enjoy several exclusive benefits with Cathay Pacific.
- Comprehensive Insurance: Comes with 12 types of insurance coverage.
- Airport Lounge Access: Gain entry to airport lounges with a Mastercard Travel Pass membership.
Cons
- High Income Requirement: Requires a minimum personal income of $80,000 or $150,000 household income.
- Annual Fee: The card comes with a high annual fee of $180.
- Limited Redemption: Asia Miles cannot be redeemed for flights within Canada.
Neo Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® Review
If you’re a frequent traveller, particularly the kind that likes to touch down in Asia, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard could be the credit card for you.
This card combines strong travel rewards, coverage, and perks, and is especially valuable to those who regularly fly with Cathay Pacific and its partners.
Speaking of partners, this card also grants you access to exclusive reward rates through Neo retail partners!
To learn all there is to know about the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard, keep scrolling.
How You Earn Rewards with the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard
You can earn Asia Miles with the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard through the following earn categories:
- Earn 2x Asia Miles per $1 spent on Cathay Pacific flights and on purchases made in foreign currencies
- Earn 1x Asia Miles per $1 spent in Canada
- Earn an average of 5x the Asia Miles when you spend at thousands of Neo partners nationwide
As you can see, you’ll collect the most Asia Miles by using your Cathay card to book Cathay Pacific flights or by making foreign currency purchases, you can even earn plenty of Asia Miles when you spend enough at Neo Partners – so plan your transactions accordingly!
Redeeming your Rewards with the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard
There are a few different ways you can redeem your Asia Miles, these redemption categories are as follows (ranked from most valuable to least valuable):
- Travel with Asian Airlines: when you transfer your points to Asian airlines.
- Transfer to Airline Partners: when you transfer your Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard’s Asia Miles to partner airlines and redeem those points for plane tickets.
- Transfer to Hotel Partners: when you use your points towards hotel bookings at over 60,000 hotels around the world.
Clearly, your Asia Miles are best used towards travel redemptions, particularly travel with Asian airlines. Aside from Cathay Pacific, other airline partners include those offered by Oneworld Alliance, specifically airlines like:
- American Airlines
- Japan Airlines
- British Airways
- Qantas
- Qatar Airways and more
To learn more about partnered airlines and hotels, cardholders can explore their Neo account.
6 Benefits of the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard
There are a handful of perks that come with owning a Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard.
For your convenience, we’ve broken down all of these perks below:
Impressive Asia Miles Sign-Up Bonus
Upon signing up, cardholders receive an extremely generous welcome offer of extra Asia Miles points, plus even more points when they meet a specified spending milestone within the first few months of membership.
Key Rental Car Insurance Categories
Within its 10 comprehensive insurance categories, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard includes some valuable protections – particularly different car rental coverages.
On this card, you’ll find car rental personal effects insurance, car rental accident insurance, and car rental damage and theft insurance.
Dragon Pass Membership
While you won’t get any complimentary visits, with the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard, you will receive a complimentary Dragon Pass membership.
Priority Travel Perks
To support your airport experience even further, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard also comes with Priority Travel perks.
These perks include:
- Online priority check-in
- An Extra baggage redemption for Cathay Pacific
- Cathay Pacific Business class lounge redemption access
- Airport Security Fast Track services
Discounts on Flights
If you want to save on flights to Asia and beyond, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard also has you covered.
Simply enter the provided discount code when booking online, then pay with your Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard.
3 Downsides of the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard
We like to keep our reviews balanced, so along with listing the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard’s benefits, we’re also going to mention its downfalls.
High Annual Cost
Of course, it can be argued that high-quality cards come with high price tags. Still, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard's annual cost might act as a deterrent to budget-conscious cardholders.
High Income Requirements
A card with this many perks typically comes with either a higher annual fee, high income requirements, or both!
The annual fee of the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard could be considered high, but it’s pretty justifiable considering the perks.
However, another obstacle for certain applicants may be the high income requirements that make this card best suited to high earners.
Limited Flight Redemptions
The one thing about earning Asia Miles that might be frustrating for Canadians is the fact that you cannot redeem them for flights within Canada.
Comparison to other top Asia-Mile-Earning Credit Cards
There are two other Canadian credit card institutions that don’t necessarily earn you Asia Miles directly, but they do have rewards programs with points that can be transferred to Asia Miles at different ratios. These institutions are American Express and RBC.
In this section, we took the two best credit cards from these institutions and compared them against the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard.
Here’s a quick look at the comparisons we’ll be making:
Neo Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® | RBC Avion Visa Infinite | American Express Cobalt® Card | |
---|---|---|---|
Welcome Bonus | Up to 40,000 Asia Miles (20,000 upon sign-up) | Up to 55,000 Avion points | Up to 15,000 points |
Earn Rates |
|
|
|
Insurance Included | 12 types
| 13 types
| 10 types
|
Perks | 5 perks
| 2 perks
| 2 perks
|
Annual Fee | $180 | $120 | $155.88 |
Income Requirements | $80,000 personal or $150,000 household | $60,000 personal or $100,000 household | N/A |
Apply Now | APPLY NOW | APPLY NOW | APPLY NOW |
Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard vs RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card
If you want a card with a lower annual fee, lower annual income requirements, and Asia Miles transferable points at a 1:1 ratio, look no further than the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card.
Similar to the rewards program of the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard, the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card earns you solid RBC Avion points on eligible travel purchases. While this point rate is a little lower than the Asia Miles you can earn on Cathay Pacific flights and purchases made in foreign currencies on the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard, it’s nice to know that these RBC Avion points can be transferred to Asia Miles at a 1:1 ratio. Still, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard also earns you even more points when you shop at Neo partners. So, overall, you still have more Asia Miles earning opportunities with the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard.
The neat thing about the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card, however, is that it offers more insurance coverage categories – including sought-after travel coverage like trip interruption and trip cancellation insurance. That said, the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card lacks car rental accident insurance and car rental personal effects insurance, two protections provided by the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard.
Unfortunately, the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card doesn’t have any travel-specific benefits – unless you count gas discounts and extra point potential at Petro Canada. Additionally, you can earn extra Be Well points for every dollar spent on eligible products at Rexall.
Overall, the RBC Avion Visa Infinite Card could be a good alternative to the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard if you’re looking for slightly more travel coverage alongside your Asia Miles transferable points – all for a lower annual fee and lower annual income requirements. That said, if you’re a high earner looking to earn Asia Miles directly, plus more travel-oriented benefits like a Dragon Pass membership and Priority Travel perks, then stick with the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard.
Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard vs American Express Cobalt Card
For a slightly lower annual fee and absolutely no income requirements, you can trade your Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard for the highly-regarded American Express Cobalt Card.
The American Express Cobalt Card doesn’t earn you Asia Miles directly, but it does allow you to transfer its American Express Membership Rewards points to Asia Miles at a 4:3 ratio. This means that for every 1,000 American Express Membership Rewards points, you technically receive 750 Asia Miles.
While this switch may seem like a downgrade given the transfer rate, you’ll want to keep in mind that the Cobalt Card earns you tons of American Express Membership Rewards points on everyday earn categories like eligible dining, groceries, and food delivery services, plus solid points on eligible Canadian streaming subscriptions, gas, and transit. This extends plenty of opportunities to earn transferable points on daily errands. Alternatively, of course, you could stick with the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard to earn Asia Miles directly on travel-oriented and Neo partner purchases.
On their shared insurance categories, overall, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard offers better coverage on certain travel protections like lost or stolen baggage, baggage delay, and hotel burglary insurance. Where the Cobalt Card adds travel accident and mobile device insurance, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard adds trip interruption and trip cancellation insurance, plus car rental accident and car rental personal effects insurance instead.
In general, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard has more benefits – especially travel related benefits like flight discounts, Priority Travel perks, and a Dragon Pass membership. Still, the Cobalt Card comes with an annual travel credit when you book two or more consecutive nights at participating properties through the Hotel Collection with American Express Travel. This credit can be used towards amenities or a complimentary room upgrade. On top of this, the Cobalt Card comes with standard Amex Experiences.
Ultimately, you might choose the Cobalt Card to collect Asia Miles transferable points if you want to earn these points in bulk on common everyday purchases, if you want travel accident and mobile device insurance over car rental-focused protections, or if you're content with a travel credit as your only trip-oriented perk. Otherwise, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard gets you those Asia Miles directly on travel-related purchases and Neo partner purchases, plus better travel benefits overall.
Final Verdict
At the end of the day, while it’s possible to swap your Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard for Asia Miles transferable cards with lower annual fees and lower income requirements, the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard earns you your Asia Miles directly, along with a lot more travel perks like the Dragon Pass and Priority Travel benefits.
Legal
The Cathay World Elite® Mastercard is issued by Neo Financial™ pursuant to license by Mastercard International Incorporated.
Mastercard, World Elite® and the circles design are registered trademarks of Mastercard International Incorporated.
The Cathay World Elite® Mastercard is not available in Quebec.