Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - DM Experience with Typhoon Vicente - Diamond IS worth it after all

With all the threads wondering if Diamond Status is worth it anymore, including myself, the question was answered with Typhoon Viccente.

I gave a friend an award ticket on 25 July Manila - Hong Kong - Los Angeles in Business Class. Being on a free ticket I figured he was completely out of luck.

He was on the last flight of the day, 25 July from MNL-HKG (on Dragonair) connecting to CX880. I was following the situation closely on the CX website and KA (Dragonair) showed "on-time". Shortly thereafter (about 6 hours before flight time) I received a phone call from CX telling me that the KA flight was cancelled and "did I mind" if they resecheduled my friend to a flight the next day.They offered not one, but 3 different departure times on 26 July. With reservations for new flights on CX closed until 31 July, I could not believe my ears.

To top off the great service, they saved him a trip to the Manila airport and told him rather to go to the 5-Star Manila Hotel ](also the crew hotel for CX) where a room would be waiting. They gave him a wonderful room which included an expensive dinner last night and a sumptuous breakfast buffet this morrning, 26 July.

CX showed that DM is worth alot where it counts.. I am only a Diamond, not a Lifetime member. I can only imagine what they did for the Lifetimes.


Has anybody else, DM or not, had amazing service from CX Customer Service during the typhoon.

Wonder will they do this for the Amex DMs? :D:D:D

Wonder will they do this for the Amex DMs? :D:D:D

If they can distinguish status gained from using their airlines OR gained from other means, I bet they would.

However, the reality is always cruel.

I agree that most of the time CX takes care of it's REAL TRAVELLERS. A few years ago I missed my CX to BA connection because of a rain storm that closed HKG for an hour. Upon arrival after my the last BA flight left CX gave me a suite at the Regal plus expense money and offered me a free breakfast.
I was offered my choice of flights to LHR, the next day and even though F was full for the 3pm flight, they had an F seat for me when I checked in.

Since I missed my connection in LHR for Malaga I received a refund for the unused segments which was almost half the price I paid for the ticket.

I agree that most of the time CX takes care of it's REAL TRAVELLERS.

Agreed, with this and with the OP's sentiment.

I've had my fair share of annoyances with CX, but I still think the DM program goes above and beyond at a service level and I'm glad to re-qualify each year. Service @ CX indeed has inconsistency issues, so for DMs who may only do 20 or so sectors a year long-haul there might simply be a poor sample size. You get one bad crew LAX-HKG and that ruins 5% of your CX experience for the year, and sticks with you for a while. I know when I run into a bad crew or prickly ground staff it sours my opinion of CX.

There's no excuse for the massive variances in service levels, but I think once you start cracking the 50 or 75 sectors a year level, and really mixing up your flight patterns, you start to have more and more experiences like the one the OP had. More often than not, ground and air crews are very respectful of DM and try to go out of their way to accommodate them.

Based on a few anecdotes l do think CX has an internal way for ranking revenue pax (including DMs), and I always wondered if they use that to give some DMs better ground service levels like the one the OP described (for example, maybe paisan86 comes up as some who spends xx amount on average and therefore gets flagged for such a call).

Wonder will they do this for the Amex DMs? :D:D:D

Why don't you get an Amex centurion card and find out?

Why don't you get an Amex centurion card and find out?

Oh man, just let percysmith be sarcastic once in a while.

Plus, getting a Centurion in Hong Kong grants you no CX status. So why bother?

Oh man, just let percysmith be sarcastic once in a while.

Plus, getting a Centurion in Hong Kong grants you no CX status. So why bother?

Well he can go back to Australia and get his centurion card there.

Well he can go back to Australia and get his centurion card there.

$5000 join in fee + $5000 annual fee = with $10,000 AUD in hand, I reckon percysmith can fly 5 return LAX-SYD in V/L - that gives him 118,400 Club miles - nearly qualify as a DM himself.

Nah, let's not continue the Amex Cent DM issue here... :D:D:D

Im guessing you wont get this type of service even if you fly F class and got stuck like your friend? Assuming you redeemed f tix with ba?
Im guessing their dm gets top notch serbice irregatdless of what cabin they are booked in.

$5000 join in fee + $5000 annual fee = with $10,000 AUD in hand, I reckon percysmith can fly 5 return LAX-SYD in V/L - that gives him 118,400 Club miles - nearly qualify as a DM himself.

Nah, let's not continue the Amex Cent DM issue here... :D:D:D

Well if u have know the correct people u pay 0 for the fee

118400 is not enough if you are nobody ie green

Well if u have know the correct people u pay 0 for the fee

118400 is not enough if you are nobody ie green

That's true!^

Anyway back on topic agree with OP as I experienced similar assistance from CX although I did have to call in service interruptions.
For DM it is not the published benefits that really attract me
Because with my ticket purchase I can get most of those benefits anyway but it is these special customer service that really makes the difference.

+1, albeit on a slightly different note. A few weeks ago I was connecting CX720 (KUL-HKG) to CX870 (HKG-SFO) and eventually to AA for SFO-ORD. All in Y. HKG inbound was delayed due to runway construction in KUL, and I just missed my 55-minute connection (we had 10 minutes to connect to CX870 , and we arrived (31) next to the gate for CX870 (33--first time I've seen a US-bound flight leave from there), but no luck).

CX had automatically re-booked me onto CX882 to LAX, connecting onto a UA flight that would have arrived ORD at 1:30am, and the BPs were waiting for me and other mis-connects at the arrival gate. The arrival time into ORD was problematic for me; I was staying in housing at a university, and they don't allow guests to check-in past 10pm, which meant I would have to spend a night somewhere near ORD. Not the most exciting prospect. Walked to the transfer counter and asked if they could re-book me onto an earlier LAX-ORD flight, as I currently had a 5+ hour connection in LAX. No luck, the next earliest flight was about 15 minutes short of the MCT for LAX.

Resigned to spending a night in ORD, I headed to the Wing to wait for CX882. Once I sat down, I thought to myself, why not spend the night in HKG instead, and fly out the next day on CX806, the non-stop to ORD, or connect via JFK, SFO etc. I didn't have anything urgent at the university the next day, so I could afford to be a day late. I approached the service counter at Level 7 and asked them to check availability for flights the next day. They handled my request promptly, and asked me to relax in the lounge while they sorted my ticket out.

Eventually, they confirmed me on CX806 the next day, secured an exit row seat AND put me up at the Regal for one night, dinner and breakfast included, on their account, without me having to even ask. The whole time, Celia, Helen and their team of Wing staff were as accommodating and helpful as ever. This whole experience reminded me why I remain loyal to CX (even as a lowly SL). In times of difficulty like this and the whole Hurricane Irene incident last summer, I can always count on their employees coming through, time and time again, with efficient, top notch service in accommodating myself and other loyal CX frequent flyers.

BIG ^ to CX! And in response to the OP's first line, I think even SL is worth it. :cool:

I am only a Diamond, not a Lifetime member. I can only imagine what they did for the Lifetimes.

CX no longer gives out lifetime membership since around 1999, although there certainly are still some that got it before 1999 who are still around. I think you are referring to DM+, who are the top 1% DMs by revenue.

Was booked onto CX494 in Economy Class(V), as a DM, they changed the aircraft to a 747 and upgraded me into First Class 2K :)

Was booked onto CX494 in Economy Class(V), as a DM, they changed the aircraft to a 747 and upgraded me into First Class 2K :)

That's a nice touch, and a great F seat allocation on the 747 to boot!

Was booked onto CX494 in Economy Class(V), as a DM, they changed the aircraft to a 747 and upgraded me into First Class 2K :)

was it F service? Or were they treating it as J?

All I can say as a DM the service I got was totally non existent and I feel very sorry for the people who dont know the system who were simply left to fend for themselves, I think a lot of the trouble was HKIA management also who basically seemed to go into major break down. We were kept on our plane for over 3 hrs before being let off due to no steps and buses and then not a CX person in sight to help anyone. Still trying to find my luggage alon with hundreds of other passengers. No mention made to a full 777 of passengers that virtually no luggage had been loaded until they got to the baggage claim area in Milan

An Executive of my company, also a Diamond, is in Manila. He is confirmed on a Manila to Hong Kong to LAX ton of Friday, the 27th. He was confirmed on a paid business class ticket and already had checked in on the CX website and printed the boarding passes. CX called and told him he will not be allowed to board his flight from Manila to Hong Kong, because his destination is LAX and they have a nightmare in Hong Kong. He would need to reschedule for next week. He was able to get a return to LAX via tokyo on JAL.

I am surprised that CX can and would do this to a Diamond with a paid Business class ticket, confirmed and checked in on flights that is expected to operate as scheduled.

I am surprised that CX can and would do this to a Diamond with a paid Business class ticket, confirmed and checked in on flights that is expected to operate as scheduled.

This is standard practice for CX when HKG gets disrupted - anyone who is not terminating in HKG (and who can be accommodated to their final destination some other way) will be bumped at the outport so they can shift more people out of HKG. The difference is that usually the outport will be responsible for protecting the passenger on to another airline. Saying "wait until next week" is a pretty poor show IMO whatever tier status and class the passenger is.

This is standard practice for CX when HKG gets disrupted - anyone who is not terminating in HKG (and who can be accommodated to their final destination some other way) will be bumped at the outport so they can shift more people out of HKG. The difference is that usually the outport will be responsible for protecting the passenger on to another airline. Saying "wait until next week" is a pretty poor show IMO whatever tier status and class the passenger is.

Seen like standard practice, College of my(CX nobody) recived a call from cx on 25th and ask him not to cross the board from Guandzhou to HKG, they reroute him via CAN on a CZ direct flight, his not that happy with been CZ but accepted the offer.

^ for the hotel.

Nothing special for the reschedule - when IRROPS, a lot of airlines give passengers a lot of flexibility to reschedule in order to reduce the impact. As soon as you know how to do it, you can even make a fun route out of it, with airlines' dime.

CX showed that DM is worth alot where it counts.. I am only a Diamond, not a Lifetime member. I can only imagine what they did for the Lifetimes.

Has anybody else, DM or not, had amazing service from CX Customer Service during the typhoon.

During an earlier typhoon, my HKG/LHR BA flight was cancelled as the incoming flight was cancelled. I went to the airport to try my luck with CX. Both their flights were full in J with waiting lists. So I asked if I could spend miles to upgrade. Strictly speaking this is not possible as you need a confirmed seat in your booked class before a miles upgrade. But they did it anyway.

There have been 2 other other occasions when they have done similar "unpublished" things for me when travel arrangements went belly up, the most recent being to get me back in time for Chinese New Year ex-LAX when my incoming domestic flight was repeatedly delayed.

The consistency of this "stepping up" easily outweighs all my other gripes. By contrast, SQ has dropped the ball consistently for every ground-related hiccup in my last 2 years (3x so far). So I continue to maintain CX DM even though I am now located in Singapore.

Has anybody else, DM or not, had amazing service from CX Customer Service during the typhoon.[/QUOTE]

This happened about 3 years ago when I was a Gold Member, but I was quite glad I was with CX.

The original plan was for me to go to HK and do a couple of days work, and be joined by Mrs Ieuan and daughters Ieuannette 1 and Ieuannette 2. Then we'd flyup to Beijing-have 4 days there, return to HKG and fly straight to CDG. Have 10 days in France. Fly to the UK (on Easy-Jet) and then fly back to NZ from LHR. The routing is WLG-AKL-HKG-PEK-HKG-CDG (open jaw) LHR-HKG-AKL-WLG.

The family arrive Saturday evening in HKG, and on the Sunday we fly HKG-PEK on KA(I get upgraded to business class-thank you CX/KA). We arrive at PEK and Mrs Ieuan and Ieuannette 2 are immediately detained for swine flu (they were both fine but had the symptoms). Ieuanette 1 and I head off (perturbed as you would imagine) to the friend's flat where we were staying. It takes about 10 days for the symptoms of swine flu to disappear in Mrs Ieuan and Ieuanette 2, during which we changed our flights with CX four times. Always we get seats and all the way to CDG, and the Beijing staff are both helpful and sympathetic. Ieuanette 1 and i play tourist during the day, after we learn whether or not the others will be let out that day.

Wednesday of the following week they are let out and we fly PEK-HKG (another upgrade-thankyou CX/KA- which I wisely let Mrs Ieuan take) and get to CDG and have about two days in France.

Then we fly CDG-LTN (where I find out that I've booked the rental car for the wrong month but that's my mistake-we get another one).

Then we get to fly back LHR-HKG. Mrs Ieuan is going to stay in HKG for a couple of days shopping/seeing friends on the way back. We get to LHR and find out that our travel agent had booked Mrs Ieuan on an earlier flight-departed-than the rest of us. We have to wait for standby but she gets on the flight to HKG with us after the standby scare.

In HKG we say goodbye to Mrs Ieuan and after a shower in the lounge the Ieuanettes and I board the flight for AKL. We have to wait on the tarmac in the plane for a little bit, whereupon Ieuanette 1 faints and has to be escorted off the plane, accompanied by me and Ieuanette 2.

CX takes our luggage off and we have to go in an ambulance to Emergency at Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung (for connoisseurs of border entries we had our passports chopped in the ambulance-the ambulance was part of the fire service). Ieuanette 1 is now fine but is kept in for observation overnight. It's about midnight so Ieuanette 2 and I go and stay with Mrs Ieuan in her hotel room.

Next morning I call up CX and we (the Ieuannettes and I) can take that night's flight to AKL providing we have a doctor's letter saying Ieuanette 1 is OK to fly. I go to Princess Margaret and pick up the letter and Ieuannette 1.

That evening, we 3 take the HKG-AKL flight. Our luggage is there at AKL with no problem. And then on to WLG. The next day Mrs Ieuan gets home safely as well (a bit of an anti-climax really).

Certainly a memorable holiday, although not what was originally planned but no lasting effects from the medical excitement. However, the help of CX in getting us on rearranged flights (particularly in Beijing) took at least one load off my mind.

Which is probably why I have some loyalty to CX.

I think this might be just a case by case scenario as I'm being the top tier members of both CX Diamond & SQ Solitaire, I never receive any priority treatment nor any special advance handling in any stranded situations, such as 311 Earthquake in Japan & Bangkok Flooding, etc...instead others non-status passengers did receive hotel accommodation, meal vouchers, + endorse to other carriers for their onward journey as an option.

An Executive of my company, also a Diamond, is in Manila. He is confirmed on a Manila to Hong Kong to LAX ton of Friday, the 27th. He was confirmed on a paid business class ticket and already had checked in on the CX website and printed the boarding passes. CX called and told him he will not be allowed to board his flight from Manila to Hong Kong, because his destination is LAX and they have a nightmare in Hong Kong. He would need to reschedule for next week. He was able to get a return to LAX via tokyo on JAL.

I am surprised that CX can and would do this to a Diamond with a paid Business class ticket, confirmed and checked in on flights that is expected to operate as scheduled.

they also tried this with me last week paid biz class and here I am 6 days later and still no luggage as this time yesterday it was still in hong kong

Ieuan, that was one hell of a holiday you had!!


CX takes our luggage off and we have to go in an ambulance to Emergency at Princess Margaret Hospital in Kwai Chung (for connoisseurs of border entries we had our passports chopped in the ambulance-the ambulance was part of the fire service). Ieuanette 1 is now fine but is kept in for observation overnight.

So how did you manage that? Did they have an immigration officer travel with you guys in the ambulance?