Neo Cathay World Elite® Mastercard® Review

Neo 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, commonly referred to as "Neo cathay pacific" could be the credit card for you.

This neo cathay 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 this card, keep scrolling for the entire review.

How You Earn Rewards with the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard

You can earn Asia Miles with this card 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 make the Neo Cathay World Elite Mastercard one of the top Neo credit cards in Canada.

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. This offer earns makes this contender one of the best sign-up bonus credit cards in Canada for travellers who frequent Asia.

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 card'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 Financial

4.2

Neo Cathay World Elite® Mastercard®View full review

Travels to Asia

RBC

4.4

RBC Avion Visa InfiniteView full review

Best RBC travel credit card

American Express

4.9

American Express Cobalt® CardView full review

Best travel points earning credit card in Canada

Annual Fee

$180

$120

$191.88

Interest Rates

Purchase

19.99% - 26.99%^*

Cash advance

22.99% - 28.99%^*

Rate details

Purchase

20.99%

Cash advance

22.99%

Quebec

21.99%

Balance transfer

22.99%

Purchase

21.99%^*

Cash advance

21.99%^*

Rate details

Welcome Bonus

Up to 35,000 Asia Miles

Get up to 70,000 Avion points(1)

Up to 15,000 Membership Rewards® points

Rewards

1x - 5x

1x - 1.25x

1x - 5x

Learn More

View Terms & Conditions

Apply Now

on RBC's website

View Terms & Conditions

Apply Now

on American Express' website

Apply with Confidence — won't impact your credit score

View Terms & Conditions

Welcome Bonus Details

Earn Rates

Insurance Coverage

Extra Benefits

Requirements

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.