Hey there.
Unfortunately, Cathay's travel benefits are not very good. They definetely don't come even close to the convenience you experienced with your current company state side. That was the bigest change that required adjusting for me when I came here.
All travel needs to be coordinated through HK. So, you will no longer be able to walk up to the airport and jump on a plane. Even if it is a Cathay plane. I don't understand why you can't travel ticketless on your own airline?? If you want to travel on CX you have to make a listing online, then you have to print the tickets....in hong kong!! Oh yeah, you can have the benefits department print them for you. They will do this and send the tickets to your mailbox... in hong kong.
I haven't used one-world tickets, or as they call them here, zed fares. They work in the same way that they did in the states. You still have to coordinate them through the travel desk and pick them up in HK. Most guys that commute print out a stack of tickets on many airlines and then carry them with them when they commute.
The tickets are deducted from your HSBC savings account. There is quite a lag from when they are deducted and when you actually used them. So it is best to keep enough money in that account. If they try to deduct a ticket cost and there isn't enough funds your travel benefits could be suspended or you could be diciplined.
If you are gonna be based in HK, then the benefits are a little more useful. If you gotta take up a basing, they are not very practical. On the upside, CX is a company that seems to evolve and change, especially with technology. So maybe it wont be long till we introduce ticketless travel for employees. Let's keep our fingers crossed.