FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - the new Marco Polo Club...
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Old Oct 28, 1998, 8:19 pm
  #1  
tedhl
Original Member
 
Join Date: May 1998
Location: HKG
Programs: BA GGL/CCR, CX DM, QF GO, AA LT GO, UA SL, LH FT, Marr LT Titanium, Shang DM, Hyatt Glob, Hilton DM
Posts: 2,024
the new Marco Polo Club...

besides introducing Asia Miles, the new frequent flyer program, Cathay Pacific is also making some improvements to the Marco Polo Club...to be introduced in Feb 99...

in the old scheme, for status renewal or upgrade, you either have to fly a certain number of miles in any class, or a certain number of sectors in F/C class...

now for the new plan...travels are tracked in miles instead of kilometers...travels in all classes count towards the mileage and sector requirements...F class travel earns 150% Club miles (of the actual mileage flown) or counts as 1.5 Club sectors...C class earns 125% Club miles or counts as 1.25 Club sector...Y class earns 100% Club miles or count as 1 Club sector...some discounted economy class may earn only 50% Club miles or count as 0.5 Club sector...

The original Green tier will be renamed Silver...and will require 30k Club miles (original: 40k km) or 20 Club sectors (original: 12 F/C sectors) to renew...

The new Green tier is a pre-qualification level...it is only an introductory membership tier where members can start to qualify for elite status without keeping all the boarding passes...you need 4 Club sectors to renew at this tier...

The new Gold tier will require 60k Club miles (original: 80k km) or 40 Club sectors (original: 24 F/C sectors)...

The new Diamond tier will require 120k Club miles (original: 200k km) or 80 Club sectors (original: 60 F/C sectors)...

The Lifetime tier will be renamed Invitation...and instead of getting it automatically once you have been a member for at least 10 consecutive years and have accumulated 2 million km, as in the old plan...this will be by invitation only...

all this info is for status renewal or upgrade...I'm still not too sure about how the initial qualification requirements will change...in the old scheme you need in 6 months 40k km (about 24k miles) or 12 F/C sectors to join...not sure about the new one...

in my opinion this new plan is more favorable to short-haul travelers like myself...the mileage requirements are higher than the major US programs (30k, 60k, 120k instead of 25k, 50k, 100k as in UA Mileage Plus)...but the sector requirements are lower (20, 40, 80 instead of 30, 60, 100 as in UA MP)...

the particular example that they quote...for frequent short-haul travelers HKG-TPE in economy class...in the old system they need 26 roundtrips to qualify as Green, and 51 to qualify as Gold...while in the new system they need only 10 and 20 roundtrips respectively...

another question that I don't quite understand...why they want to keep 2 separate programs, one for mileage accrual (Asia Miles), and one for status recognition (Marco Polo Club) ??

And, something that I haven't heard about at all so far...for Marco Polo Club elite members, I guess they are not getting bonus miles in the Asia Miles program ??
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