The following classes are eligible for mileage accrual (thanks to pacificboot
):
All First Class fares (A, F) earn 150% Club Miles/Sectors and Asia Miles.
All Business Class fares (I, D, C, J) earn 125% Club Miles/Sectors and Asia Miles, and are mileage upgradeable.
Premium Economy Class fares W, R and E earn 110% Club Miles/Sectors and Asia Miles, and are mileage upgradeable.
Economy Class fares M, K, H, B and Y earn 100% Club Miles/Sectors and Asia Miles, and are mileage upgradeable.
Economy Class fares V, L and M earn 100% Club Miles/Sectors and Asia Miles, but are not mileage upgradeable.
The following classes are not eligible for mileage accrual:
First Class award code
Z, Business Class award code
U, Premium Economy award code
tbd and Economy Class award code
T.
Economy Class fare codes
G, Q, N, O & S do not earn miles and are not mileage upgradeable.
*Note however that N, O, Q & S fares on Cathay do earn mileage at 50% when credited to Finnair's MileagePlus programme.Or 25% when credited to BA's Executive Club.
For mileage earning opportunities on other partner airlines with Asiamiles and MPC, please see the
Cathay Pacific website.
10.1 What is the difference between the Marco Polo Club and Asia Miles?
Unlike most airlines, which have tier miles and redemption miles under the same banner, Cathay Pacific has parsed them off into two separate programmes: the Marco Polo Club and Asia Miles respectively. This can be traced back to the days when Cathay only operated an elite loyalty programme (the Marco Polo Club) and not a redemption “earn and burn” programme (now Asia Miles). Note that the joining fee for the Marco Polo Club is US$50. Though if you have a good travel agent with a good working relationship with Cathay Pacific, he/she may be able to get the fee waived.
Mileage accrual rules are the same for both programmes. This means that if your fare is mileage accruing, you will earn both Club Miles (for tier qualification) and Asia Miles (for mileage redemption).
10.2 What is the difference between Club Miles and Club Sectors?
Eligible earning fares will earn both Club Miles and Club Sectors. As its name suggests, Club Miles is the number of miles flown on the particular flight (plus a 125% or 150% surcharge if travel was in Business or First Class respectively). Again, as its name suggests, Club Sectors are earned per sector flown on an eligible Cathay Pacific or oneworld flight. Passengers earn 1 Club Sector for every Economy Class sector, 1.25 for every Business Class sector and 1.5 for every First Class sector flown.
Tier qualification may be achieved by
either Club Miles or Club Sectors
but not both.
10.3 I do not have elite Marco Polo status but I will be flying over 120,000 miles in the next year. Does this mean I can leapfrog straight from no status to Diamond status?
No. The Marco Polo Club applies a stepped tier programme starting from Silver tier. This means that once you exceed the 30,000 miles (or 20 Club Sector) threshold, you are automatically granted Silver tier membership. At this time your mileage balance is reset to zero to reflect the fact that you are commencing a new membership year at Silver tier.
You then have another 12 months from the date of earning Silver tier to fly a further 60,000 miles to earn Gold, at which time you will again be reset to zero and your membership year reset to allow a further 12 months in which to earn Diamond tier. Effectively this means that you need to fly 30,000 + 60,000 +120,000 = 210,000 miles to jump straight from no status to Diamond tier (or the equivalent in Club sectors).
Note that your membership year runs from the day you attain a new tier until the end of that month plus 12 months. For example, if you earn Silver tier on 6 April 2009, your membership year will run from 6 April 2009 through to 30 April 2010.
Should you fail to advance to a higher tier, your membership year will be reset on the last day of the month in which you earned your current tier. Thus in the example above, if in the following membership year you earn 45,000 miles, you will be reset to zero at silver on 30 April 2011.
10.4 Huh? I still don't understand how qualification works.
cxfan1960 has kindly provided the following "flowchart for dummies":
(1) Join MPC - Start membership year -> go to (2)
(2) Green
* Minimum 30,000 Club Miles or 20 Club Sectors within membership year - qualify for Silver. Reset membership year ->
go to (3), else;
* Renew Green at end of membership year for another membership year.
(3) Silver (oneworld Ruby)
* Minimum 60,000 Club Miles or 40 Club Sectors within membership year - qualify for gold. Reset membership year ->
go to (4), else;
* Between 30,000 and 60,000 Club Miles or between 20 and 40 Club Sectors within membership year - renew Silver at end of membership year for another membership year, else;
* Back to Green at end of membership year for another membership year ->
go to (2).
(4) Gold (oneworld Sapphire)
* Minimum 120,000 Club Miles or 80 Club Sectors within membership year - qualify for Diamond. Reset membership year ->
go to (5), else;
* Between 60,000 and 120,000 Club Miles, or between 40 and 80 Club Sectors within membership year - renew Gold at end of membership year for another membership year, else;
* Between 30,000 and 60,000 Club Miles, or between 20 and 40 Club Sectors within membership year - back to Silver at end of membership year for another membership year ->
go to (3), else;
* Less than 30,000 Club Miles, or less than 20 Club Sectors within membership year - back to Green at end of membership year for another membership year (subject to soft landing - see s 9.5) ->
go to (2).
(5) Diamond (oneworld Emerald)
* Minimum 120,000 Club Miles or 80 Club Sectors within membership year - renew Diamond at end of membership year for another membership year;
* Between 60,000 and 120,000 Club Miles, or between 40 and 80 Club Sectors within membership year - back to Gold at end of membership year for another membership year ->
go to (4),
* Between 30,000 and 60,000 Club Miles, or between 20 and 40 Club Sectors within membership year - back to Silver at end of membership year for another membership year (subject to soft landing - see s 9.5) ->
go to (3), else;
* Less than 30,000 Club Miles, or less than 20 Club Sectors within membership year - back to Green at end of membership year for another membership year (subject to soft landing - see s 9.5) ->
go to (2).
10.5 I am not going to earn enough miles to requalify at my current tier. Does Cathay do soft landings or will I be sent straight to the tier at which I have enough miles to qualify for?
Soft landings describe the process by which members are bumped down one tier at a time, even if they have not earned the necessary miles or sectors to qualify for that tier. As an example, a Diamond member who had only earned 34,000 miles in the current membership year would be soft-landed if she were bumped down to Gold tier (as opposed to the Silver tier which she has only earned enough miles for).
We have been unable to confirm a clear policy of whether soft landings are in place. We know of Diamond members who have been soft-landed to Gold. However, we also know of Diamond members who have been packing back to Green without being soft-landed through to even Gold if the qualifying flights/sectors are not met for requalifying. It may be that soft-landing is at the discretion of the Loyalty Manager who takes into account your current tier, the number of miles earned, your earning history etc.
10.7 I am going to be just shy of requalifying at a certain tier. Will Cathay let me have that tier anyway?
Anecdotal evidence suggests that if you are a couple of thousand miles short of attaining a particular tier before your membership year expires, you will be qualified at that tier on expiry date. The exact amount of miles you are short may be more flexible if you are shy of requalifying at your current tier, rather than shy of qualifying for the next tier up.
Alternatively, writing in to the Club to explain your circumstances may result in them extending your deadline for qualification.
10.8 Are there any unpublished benefits to being an elite Marco Polo Club member?
Marco Polo club members usually enjoy a personal welcome from the Inflight Service Manager on board their flight, although with the increasing number of members following the folding of Dragonair’s loyalty programme into the Marco Polo Club, members have reported that this does not always take place. Depending on the crew, members may enjoy priority meal choice or smuggled extras from higher cabins. We repeat that this is entirely at the discretion of the crew and is not a “right”. Obviously, the higher your tier status, the more informal recognition you can expect from Cathay staff.
Diamond card members are also given a buggy voucher to use at Hong Kong International Airport when their departing flight is parked at a gate higher than 40.
10.9 What is Green tier?
Green tier is the pre-qualification non-elite tier. It allows people to get a foot in the door, so to speak. It carries virtually no benefits of any use, except for access to the Marco Polo homepage on the Cathay Pacific website and priority check-in at designated Club counters (but not Business Class counters) where available.
10.10 What is Diamond Plus tier?
This is extended by Cathay Pacific to the top 1% of Diamond card holders based on revenue. Diamond Plus holders receive no official benefits to Diamond tier, but have a higher upgrade priority and can generally be expected to receive a warmer welcome by Cathay staff in recognition of their plus status. Though not officially publicised, we have heard that DMP members also get:
* Spousal DM
* Access to F lounges even when departing on non-OW flights.
10.11 What is Invitation tier?
This tier includes two groups of people. The first are those who prior to the revamp of the Marco Polo Club in the late 1990s had Lifetime tier, earned by flying a certain number of miles within a certain time period. Such members were transferred to the Invitation tier but essentially enjoy lifetime membership.
The second group are those which Cathay have targeted as desirable passengers. This group usually includes celebrities or those which they feel would be useful contacts. Invitation membership may be revoked from this group at the discretion of the Loyalty Manager.
10.12 Does the MPC ever status match ?
MPC generally does not status match to another carrier's elite FFP just because you want one. However recent reports seem to indicate that they are getting quite liberal in doing this but one may only be matched to MPC Silver. There has been very rare cases when one is matched right up to MPC Diamond, the highest level.
For more information , please read this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...t=status+match