Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Business Class line longer than Economy line

I was checking in at HKIA today and Business Class/Marco Polo line is 3 times longer than the Economy line. The amazing thing is the difference would be greater if not for some Marco Polo club people going to line up in Economy line instead of Business Class/MPC line.

This is the first time I have seem such scenario in my flights with Cathay, is this the norm for those people based in HKG?

Correct me if I am wrong but I remember there used to be dedicated MPC counters. As CX combined the J check-in and MPC check-in, the J counters are clogged with MPC members not travelling in J.

This is certainly the case in LHR when sometimes the premium check-ins get quite chaotic and there is no formal queueing area due to the cramp layout of T3.

It is not normal. There is usually no J queue in HKIA. When there is one, it is usually quite short.

Correct me if I am wrong but I remember there used to be dedicated MPC counters.

There still is (or was when I travelled back in August). There were separate dedicated to MPC and dedicated to J counters in the same aisle. The MPC line was really long when I checked in, so I just walked over to the J counters.

It is not normal. There is usually no J queue in HKIA. When there is one, it is usually quite short.

Yes, my experiences in the past says the same thing but I fly once every few months, so that's why I'm asking local HKG members.

Also, I also remember dedicated MPC line mostly for MPC Greens to go, and that leaves J line for J passengers and MPC elite flyers.

Yes, my experiences in the past says the same thing but I fly once every few months, so that's why I'm asking local HKG members.

Also, I also remember dedicated MPC line mostly for MPC Greens to go, and that leaves J line for J passengers and MPC elite flyers.

I am US-based, but spend a substantial amount of time in Hong Kong. However, most of my segments are on CX, and I have been in and out of HKG very often. I check in at the F counters, but I do notice the J check-in situation down the aisle. Even if there is a line, it should still be a <15 minutes wait.

I am US-based, but spend a substantial amount of time in Hong Kong. However, most of my segments are on CX, and I have been in and out of HKG very often. I check in at the F counters, but I do notice the J check-in situation down the aisle. Even if there is a line, it should still be a <15 minutes wait.

I guess my original point was that I found it amazing the Biz class line is 3 times more people than Economy line. You are right, they were working full throttle and I waited less than 15 minutes. But I'm so used to step up and check-in at Biz line that having to wait and seeing a long line is amusing....

I guess my original point was that I found it amazing the Biz class line is 3 times more people than Economy line. You are right, they were working full throttle and I waited less than 15 minutes. But I'm so used to step up and check-in at Biz line that having to wait and seeing a long line is amusing....

Well, wait until you are at the gate..... F&J line is longer that EY, in particular PEK & PVG morning flights, both CX & KA.

Well, wait until you are at the gate..... F&J line is longer that EY, in particular PEK & PVG morning flights, both CX & KA.

Yup. But in PVG, the ground staff manage this very well as they use both gates exclusively for the premium line whilst holding Y. When the premium line has shrunk substantially, they then revert to one line for premium and one for Y.

F line being longer than J, and J longer than Y - these situations happen quite often.

F passengers can check in at any counter. J passengers can check in at J, MPC and Y counters. If the line is long or moves slowly, the passenger can choose to move to another line.

I checked in at PEK last week. There was only one F counter. I was the second in the queue. I moved over to the J counter with myself being the first in the queue. When the MPC counter became available, the agent asked me to move over and checked me in. The passenger checking in at F was still there when I left. That was the second time I checked in at a dedicated MPC counter this year.

However, I have not encountered that when checking in CX in HKIA yet.

Yup. But in PVG, the ground staff manage this very well as they use both gates exclusively for the premium line whilst holding Y. When the premium line has shrunk substantially, they then revert to one line for premium and one for Y.

Perhaps HK can do the same thing to board all F/Js and MPOs first.

Perhaps HK can do the same thing to board all F/Js and MPOs first.

Perhaps they can, but normally there is no such problem. It only happens for commuter flights. There are so many elite passengers that there is no difference between elites and others.

There was once there were 20 passengers at the F/J boarding line and nobody at the Y line when I arrived at the gate in HKIA. I have no idea why the F/J passengers did not move over. I simply took the first spot in Y.

Perhaps they can, but normally there is no such problem. It only happens for commuter flights. There are so many elite passengers that there is no difference between elites and others.

There was once there were 20 passengers at the F/J boarding line and nobody at the Y line when I arrived at the gate in HKIA. I have no idea why the F/J passengers did not move over. I simply took the first spot in Y.

Self-gloating? "Look at me, I'm in F/J line, hahaha"

Self-gloating? "Look at me, I'm in F/J line, hahaha"

Perhaps that was in their mind, but priority boarding wasn't a benefit any more in this case. The Y passengers probably had the last laugh.

Sometimes, gate agents use both entrances for handling long queue of business class passengers. In that case, economy class passengers are forced to stay at the queue.

And, sometimes, first class passengers and DM(maybe including OW Emelard) members are escorted to the front of the queue.
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However, I have not encountered that when checking in CX in HKIA yet.
That's the best thing about HKIA. Hundreds, literally, of wide open check-in desks. Actually, it may be a airline management thing, as *A carriers group together for a few desks at some not-to-be-mentioned airports.;)

actually for my past at least 2-3 flights to PVG/PEK the past few weeks, from HKG...they (at least KA) have been doing this quite consistently already, letting only the F/J line people board first, using both sides, while holding the Y line. this makes much better sense. in the past I also often used the Y line when I saw the F/J line to be much longer (esp. given MPO GR are given this "privilege" too - I still never quite agree with this...)

actually for my past at least 2-3 flights to PVG/PEK the past few weeks, from HKG...they (at least KA) have been doing this quite consistently already, letting only the F/J line people board first, using both sides, while holding the Y line. this makes much better sense. in the past I also often used the Y line when I saw the F/J line to be much longer (esp. given MPO GR are given this "privilege" too - I still never quite agree with this...)

You are right. I noticed that too once in the last three weeks.

MPC GR was not extended this privilege when I joined. I noticed it was added to the benefit a few years back. I don't know why there was such a change - perhaps CX suddenly decided those who pay USD50 to join should get some benefits.

However, my feeling is that PEK/PVG is so loaded with DMs, GOs and SLs that GRs are only a minority in the F/J lines.

actually for my past at least 2-3 flights to PVG/PEK the past few weeks, from HKG...they (at least KA) have been doing this quite consistently already, letting only the F/J line people board first, using both sides, while holding the Y line. this makes much better sense. in the past I also often used the Y line when I saw the F/J line to be much longer (esp. given MPO GR are given this "privilege" too - I still never quite agree with this...)

Establish loyalty build up? When people pay $50 USD they expect something out of it.

What really frustrates me is how some people think that others should or shouldn't be in the left line. I was lining up for boarding and the person in front me looked at me like I should not be in the F/J line, but in the Y line instead. He was a DM flying J - and I was too.

This doesn't apply only to passengers. There was this one occasion when I was flying Y and the KA gate agent instructed me (without looking at my BP, so she judged me on my appearance alone) to use the Y line when I pointed to my BP and said "I am Diamond". She muttered "ng ho yi si" and then let me through.

What really frustrates me is how some people think that others should or shouldn't be in the left line. I was lining up for boarding and the person in front me looked at me like I should not be in the F/J line, but in the Y line instead. He was a DM flying J - and I was too.

This doesn't apply only to passengers. There was this one occasion when I was flying Y and the KA gate agent instructed me (without looking at my BP, so she judged me on my appearance alone) to use the Y line when I pointed to my BP and said "I am Diamond". She muttered "ng ho yi si" and then let me through.

It doesn't frustrate me but it is annoying. I always dress in jeans and easy t-shirt/sweater when I am flying (even on biz trips) and I get similar experience as above. Another annoying thing is that some passengers that arrived later and flying J or F trying to jump the Q and waiving their BP and "shouting/telling" I am travelling J/F. "Hey Mate ......so is the rest in this line (exceptions there ofcourse)"

yes I also personally experienced this quite often. the most recent one is a HKG-PVG flight I took this past week where the J/F boarding line must be some 50-100 or even more people. many people tried to jump the queue, esp non-locals/Westerners who probably never took KA before - so they could not imagine why a J/F line could be that long. and when they're asked by gate agents to join at the end of the queue, I could hear many of them saying...how could there be so many people in J/F etc...

(BTW, in this case, actually "holding Y line but letting J/F line use both sides to board" meant even more confusion to them - I guess they thought some people were meant to use Y line only and hence was sent back to Y line at the front of the queue, and hence concluded that there must be lots of non-eligible people in the J/F line and so it makes sense for them to jump the queue)

and also the other point - about being "discriminated" just by the look. it's much better these few years already, at least for me, maybe I look older now. but most/all of my friends said I look much younger than my age, so some 5+ years when I was flying J/F and/or being Emerald, I always got asked to see my boarding pass when I was in the J/F line. in more than a couple of instances I actually "commented" or complained on the spot to the staff, when other people esp. Caucasians in front of me were not checked, but only Asians/Chinese - a very clear racial-discriminating act. now at least they do it to everyone - so it's quite an improvement.

and also the other point - about being "discriminated" just by the look. it's much better these few years already, at least for me, maybe I look older now. but most/all of my friends said I look much younger than my age, so some 5+ years when I was flying J/F and/or being Emerald, I always got asked to see my boarding pass when I was in the J/F line. in more than a couple of instances I actually "commented" or complained on the spot to the staff, when other people esp. Caucasians in front of me were not checked, but only Asians/Chinese - a very clear racial-discriminating act. now at least they do it to everyone - so it's quite an improvement.

Careful, some people would call your remark racist, although I completely agree with you as that is overall my general observation. But I would agree, there seems to be an improvement in this regard as I bet too many DMs complain about that.

I always dress business casual so I didn't get the rudeness described, but over the years what have been said here has been my general observations.

The profiling is more to do with dress than race I think - my (Filipina) wife used to get queried in the F line for a while, then she worked out that she needed to dress up a little and look like she was rich (shades, (fake, but good fake) designer bag, no tatty carry-on, etc) and then everything was fine. Having said that, as a large middle-aged gweilo I can generally stand in the F line looking quite scruffy (my normal state) without being queried.

The profiling is more to do with dress than race I think - my (Filipina) wife used to get queried in the F line for a while, then she worked out that she needed to dress up a little and look like she was rich (shades, (fake, but good fake) designer bag, no tatty carry-on, etc) and then everything was fine. Having said that, as a large middle-aged gweilo I can generally stand in the F line looking quite scruffy (my normal state) without being queried.

Definitely a dress-age-race thing in that order IME. I'm pretty young and if I don't have a meeting right before or after a flight I usually dress pretty frumpy/college-like. Shorts with t-shirt or old khakis with t-shirt. If its a long haul then I'll bust out my glasses too (kind of urkel-ish).

I haven't been queried in a while, but it's happened a fair bit. Then again when dressed similarly on the ground and in town HKPD have pulled me aside on the street and asked for ID... But I think that's more race-dress-age

Yes - the (R)HKP pulled Mrs christep once when she was on the way to work, but I have never been ID'd in my life. (Having said that, I have been in places where the HKP just motioned me to leave as they ID'd everyone else ;) )

Yes - the (R)HKP pulled Mrs christep once when she was on the way to work, but I have never been ID'd in my life. (Having said that, I have been in places where the HKP just motioned me to leave as they ID'd everyone else ;) )
I got ID-ed once by HKP and have bag searched because I was standing in front of my uncle's flat at public housing with a filled bag, only being suspect as thiefing :p

Back to the story of ID for priority boarding ... I never have problem in HKG (well there's CX GR printed on boarding pass) and just show my MPC card at outport anyway to avoid troubles. When I am at PVG I normally see Y and Premium line have same length.

I got ID-ed once by HKP and have bag searched because I was standing in front of my uncle's flat at public housing with a filled bag, only being suspect as thiefing :p

Back to the story of ID for priority boarding ... I never have problem in HKG (well there's CX GR printed on boarding pass) and just show my MPC card at outport anyway to avoid troubles. When I am at PVG I normally see Y and Premium line have same length.

I was just walking in Central one day when I was asked "Sir, what are you doing" to which I said smiling "uhm, what does it look like I'm doing"

Back to topic. I've only been checked bothered in India - twice (never in HK from what I remember anywhere else). I just said "Marco Polo" and was let go.

Line length at TPE was long yesterday morning, though. Same or longer than Y check-ins...

Line length at TPE was long yesterday morning, though. Same or longer than Y check-ins...

In a TPE flight last week, the ISM came to me about 45 minutes into the flight. She repeatedly apologised for coming over so late, but she said there were 20 of us:confused:.

Some ISM's do DM's only, some do DM's and Go's. So 20 may include GO's too?

Some ISM's do DM's only, some do DM's and Go's. So 20 may include GO's too?

She was not clear about that. In the past, it was not unusual to have 20 DMs on a TPE flight.

it could indeed be 20 DM's. I remember on a Friday PM TPE-HKG flight a couple of years ago I was trying to help a friend get a better seat in J or sit next to me when we checked in together, but the check-in agent said there's like 25 DM's in J so she really couldn't touch any of them. and this is just J - there should be quite a few more in Y. HKG-TPE v.v. is a route where I more consistenly do NOT get greetings from the ISM as I think there's just too many of us and some ISM's just don't bother.

it could indeed be 20 DM's. I remember on a Friday PM TPE-HKG flight a couple of years ago I was trying to help a friend get a better seat in J or sit next to me when we checked in together, but the check-in agent said there's like 25 DM's in J so she really couldn't touch any of them. and this is just J - there should be quite a few more in Y. HKG-TPE v.v. is a route where I more consistenly do NOT get greetings from the ISM as I think there's just too many of us and some ISM's just don't bother.

All you have to do to get DM is to fly 20 TPE-HKG-PVG trips. Any Taiwanese businessmen can do that easily. The merging with KA has really "water down" the DM experience at CX it seems....

Some ISM's do DM's only, some do DM's and Go's. So 20 may include GO's too?

In my flying experience with CX I have been greeted once by ISM, which is amazing considering I'm just a lowly SL.

However, I was very impressed last time when I woke up, and the ISM was standing next to me, she did NOT greet me, however, when she saw that I woke up she said, "Tired day Mr. XXX?" I was very impress that she memorized my name!

it could indeed be 20 DM's. I remember on a Friday PM TPE-HKG flight a couple of years ago I was trying to help a friend get a better seat in J or sit next to me when we checked in together, but the check-in agent said there's like 25 DM's in J so she really couldn't touch any of them. and this is just J - there should be quite a few more in Y. HKG-TPE v.v. is a route where I more consistenly do NOT get greetings from the ISM as I think there's just too many of us and some ISM's just don't bother.

I got the opposite. I was completely ignored on my last HKG-PEK-HKG flights. I guess that is fair;). I wonder whether they know how we got to DM - mainly from KA or CX - and greet us accordingly;).

Has any DMs been consistently greeted when seated on the upper deck? I've found that the ISM very rarely comes up to the UD and as such the "greeting rate" is very low, as least IME...

Some examples of when I've not been greeted...

1) In F, I don't ever recall seeing the ISM except for waking me up for breakfast
2) In J on CX251, and after this flight I've not flown with the London based crew again
3) In J on a two-class plane, my friend (who is also a DM) and I received very poor service. We observed that the BC who served us provided very different levels of service to different pax. We then complained to the FP and only then the ISM came over to apologize.

Has any DMs been consistently greeted when seated on the upper deck? I've found that the ISM very rarely comes up to the UD and as such the "greeting rate" is very low, as least IME...

Yes, ISMs greet me very consistently on the UD. There was only once I did not see the ISM (I might be asleep), but the SP in charge treated me very well.

ISMs spend a lot of time in Y and also running around. That may be why you may not see them often.

I got the opposite. I was completely ignored on my last HKG-PEK-HKG flights. I guess that is fair;). I wonder whether they know how we got to DM - mainly from KA or CX - and greet us accordingly;).
then I think I should get more greetings on CX... :) on average in the past few years I think I have some ~80-100k miles a year on CX vs. ~30 roundtrips (~50-60k miles?) on KA. although, very frankly, I never really value too much all these greetings, esp. when they consider it just a "duty" to say "hi Mr tedhl" rather than showing sincerity...

then I think I should get more greetings on CX... :) on average in the past few years I think I have some ~80-100k miles a year on CX vs. ~30 roundtrips (~50-60k miles?) on KA. although, very frankly, I never really value too much all these greetings, esp. when they consider it just a "duty" to say "hi Mr tedhl" rather than showing sincerity...

The greeting itself does not matter. Most ISMs/SPs/FPs take that as their duty. In CX long haul Y, however, the FP or the ISM often comes over with a bottle of water when they greet you. That bottle of water is what I really need. They sometimes offer me items from the front as well, esp after they see me skipping meals. In J or F (in particular, F), there is nothing more they can really offer.

when she saw that I woke up she said, "Tired day Mr. XXX?" I was very impress that she memorized my name!That would have be a HKese ISM then? I wish I knew how to fixing the local English teaching which has somehow left HKese totally unable to get -ing and -ed the right way round.

I've been greeted on at least 50% of flights and I always sit in Y unless op-upped, and I'm only Gold. Then again many people here fly a lot more than I do and thus have a larger sample size. I'm probably just lucky.

I was checking in at HKIA today and Business Class/Marco Polo line is 3 times longer than the Economy line. The amazing thing is the difference would be greater if not for some Marco Polo club people going to line up in Economy line instead of Business Class/MPC line.

This is the first time I have seem such scenario in my flights with Cathay, is this the norm for those people based in HKG?

May I ask what time of the day it was ? I once checked in at J counter in the morning (I forgot whether it was just before 7am or 8am), and only three or four J class counters were open. (Not sure what Y counters were like). Then all of a sudden at the hour, a huge number of ground staff showed up and all the J check in counters were open. The wait was very long to say the least with only the three or four counters.

May I ask what time of the day it was ? I once checked in at J counter in the morning (I forgot whether it was just before 7am or 8am), and only three or four J class counters were open. (Not sure what Y counters were like). Then all of a sudden at the hour, a huge number of ground staff showed up and all the J check in counters were open. The wait was very long to say the least with only the three or four counters.

3 p.m. HK time.