Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Diamond robbery - read the fine print

I have been a MPO card member for 21 years.
In the last year I easily completed the 120k for Diamond card renewal again and in fact went on to put some extra miles in the bank for the 2002-2003 year status - 46,455 additional miles - or so I thought. They sent me the new Diamond card, of course no present anymore for reaching the elite level, and zapped all the additional 46k miles from the account. So that is 46k miles I could have flown on other quite equivalent (more grateful) airlines. It looks like they are trying their best to assassinate their unilateral "Loyalty" club.
Here's the reply from Kester Yim, "DisLoyalty' club supremo
" Thank you for your email re. your Diamond card status.
Can I say that we are very grateful to you for your support of Cathay Pacific and the business you have given us.
I am sure you (his grammar) aware that there must be rules and regulations governing the overall operations of The Marco Polo Club and the exclusivity of the club is maintained by the strict criteria. As the membership period is governed by a 12 months (should be s') membership period and the membership criteria is mileage based, hence it is necessary for us to reset the mileage to zero should a new membership period emerges (oops again). This policy has been in placed(his spelling) for many years and have (his grammar) not been changed.
With the introduction of Asia Miles, members will get both the Club and Asia Miles, though the Club miles will be reset to zero, the Asia Miles will be maintained in members(') account (s?).
Mr. Marco Polo, thank you for bringing this to my attention and I am sure you will appreciate that there will be no policy that meets the expectation of all members, however, we do believe that the policies we followed current(ly?) serve to maintain the exclusivity of the Club and yet provide recognition for our valued members.
Thanks again and warmest regards.
Kester Yim"
So you want to strive to be a Diamond Card member, good luck. I am looking elsewhere as of now for a bilateral loyalty program where they can respond to members in joined up writing.

I remember the outcry in about 1994 when they pulled back the two year membership for Golds, and 3 years for Diamonds, because they were finding that some Gold and Diamond card holders weren't flying enough in the first year or two, and would only bulk up in the last year to renew their cards.

Exactly. You missed out the automatic Lifetime membership after 2 million kms. Now it is by "Invitation'. I wonder how many of those they give out.
Are there any lawyers out there - the Marco Polo handbook says "You are entitled to Diamond Card membership renewal ONCE you have flown 120,000 miles or 80 sectors during your membership year." I achieved that in April and that membership year period was up till July but ONCE means as soon as, so they should have started me on a new year as of then.

Hello freinds, I have been a Marco Polo member for the last 7 years but only reached diamond status about 12-16 months ago (can't recall) due to the vast amount of travel I'm forced to do. Marco Polo your 21 years certainly out rank me.

Anyway, I read with interest your comments and to my suprise. I have had excellent service from the club as well as the asia miles programme. Some of my colleagues have experienced sometimes average service but on the whole they are meeting my expectations. My secretary and I have asked for assistance from the asiamiles and Kester regarding the silliest things and have always gotten prompt and friendly reply even if they didn't have all the partner airline answers.

I just wanted to give my perspective and wonder if anyone else can share their positive or negative experiences.

Look forward to participating in this forum more.

CLK

I've only been a Marco Polo member since 1998.

I can only say that the 'old' system was better.

I really detest dealing with the ningcampoops at the Marco Polo Desk. I only use them whenever I can.

I might go for Diamond this year because of guarantee and availability of seats when flights are overbooked. But still, I wonder if it's going to be worth having an ulcer over it.

Marco Polo - perhaps we can all (all Marco Polo members dissatisfied over the new Marco Polo) formally submit a letter in outling the comparisons between Cathay's so called Elite level and other oneworld partners?

Submit to whom ? I wrote to Kester Yim stating the facts - 'ONCE you reach 120k miles'. He has chosen, quite rudely not to reply. If that is how Diamond card members of 21 years' standing get treated by the 'Loyalty Club' then what's the point wasting money on this lot. They announce billions of profit and skimp on the people who have got them there.

Aaah, I forgot
My wife and kids are off to London tomorrow, - business class on BA. For those who don't know, BA already put sleeper beds in their business class before CX managed to get them into (some of its) first. Ah well, CX's 2.2 billion profits obviously can obviously be spent elsewhere other than on the 'loyal' passengers.

I know. All my letters to the Marco Polo Club gets fallen on deaf ears. I even called the MPO to ask about a promotion that they have had ongoing for the past 4 months and nobody knew anything about it.

However, you can be rest assured that someone from CX is reading this site.

Big deal whether someone (with influence) is reading it. I would guess otherwise. Think it this way; if you buy a product on finance over a one year period and you pay it off in 9 months, the product becomes yours ONCE you have paid the required amount. They do not continue to accept your payments, tell you you have reached the required payment amount to receive the product, then hand you the product at the end of the finance period year end and take the extra charges you have overpaid them.