Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - Diamond vs. Gold

Could I invite opinions as to whether it is worth attaining Diamond?

I am Gold now and I have flown enough for requalification. I can manage to hit Diamond before my requalification period ends.

I am fully aware of a lack of no elite bonuses for Diamond.

Personally, there is not much difference except of course you will be considered for upgrades AHEAD of other Oneworld Emeralds.

I only achieved Diamond due to the 50% bonus status earning offer CX had last year. Otherwise I wouldn't qualify.

Now that I have qualified, I will try to stay Diamond for the sake of (I don't even know why)... by doing segments instead of miles. 80 segments on AA internally USA is much easier than 120K miles.

So far I am hoping that CX will do something to entice members to remain in Marco Polo Club.

For us lesser mortals, the big benefit of Diamond is a guaranteed seat in economy at the lowest published fare at 24 hours notice. This is invaluable around CNY and on other busy flights.

The First Class baggage handling is also very effective for getting out of airports quickly.

yes, i agree with christep that the biggest benefit is the guarantee seat in Econ & Biz.

as for F baggage, F checkin, and F lounge,
you get the same F tag if you are AA EXPLT (or other OW emerald).

the other benefit is, especially if you are based in HK and have to travel to non-OW destinations. access to the Wing (J side, with a guest), whatever airline you travel


[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 12-12-2002).]

Worth it? Tough question. The nicest changes I've seen are:
1. Using CX lounge when on other airlines.
2. Using F lounge.
3. Getting 3-4 op upgrades from J to F in past year (never got one as Gold)
4. Very fast check-in, and very fast bag retrieval at other end.

Those are the major ones. Not a lot for the extra 60k, frankly.

oh oh, did I forget the complimentary CX DAY PLANNER at the end of the year!!

When you checkin at first class checkin counter of HKG, you are offered complemetally ticket of electric cart,
if your gate is located far away (e.g. 33-80?)
In my experience, my travel companion(lounge guest) also got a free ticket. My flight was HKG/NRT and my friend's flight was NH's HKG/KIX.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pegasus8228:
yes, i agree with christep that the biggest benefit is the guarantee seat in Y & B.</font>

It's not just Y&B. I have taken seats at 24 hours notice on full flights on H, L, even V fares provided that I meet all the other fare rules.

And oh yes, the agents at the MPO Centre are a tad nicer when you call.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by christep:
It's not just Y&B. I have taken seats at 24 hours notice on full flights on H, L, even V fares provided that I meet all the other fare rules.</font>


yes... i meant all econ and all biz (when i typed "B"), not the fare class.

again, if your the option is between getting AAEXPLT + CX Gold, vs CX Dm and nothing in AA. i wd go for the former. and that is what i have done
[not many of the benfits you will get as OW emrald anyway, except a few as mentioned above]

so the questions are:
1. is Dm better than Go. YES
2. is CX Dm better than AA EXPLT + CX Go, depends on how you often you travle on CX Biz/Eco and on non-OW airline in HKG. and how much you value the 100% bonus miles on AA
3. is CX Dm + AAPLT better than AA EXPLT + CX Go, same criteria as 2

so changi san, the quick answer for you question is DM is better than GO, if all your OW status are with CX.
(based on both the CX specific benefits and more importantly OW emerald beneifts)

if you have other emerald cards within OW, then the answer may be different

if you are comparing different OW emerald programs. CX Dm is not the best for many people.



[This message has been edited by pegasus8228 (edited 12-12-2002).]

Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate your comments.

I do have AA EXP and requalified last week for 2003. I thus get First Class lounge access when on OW flights.

A majority of my OW flights are in fact on CX. I simply don't like AA.

Even as a Gold, I also value their guaranteed seat for any Y subclass. But I have to say I had more than a few occasions this year where I wished I were a Diamond, after that 72-hour window for Gold guarantee was gone!

Maybe I just use VIPOWs for cheap ex-Japan AA tickets (NRT-JFK was selling for 320USD including taxes last month and upgradable) and hope for F credit for CX, which sometimes worked and sometimes didn't.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by pegasus8228:

yes... i meant all econ and all biz (when i typed "B"), not the fare class.
</font>

Ah, but that isn't true either - the guaranteed seat in business is only for unrestricted "J" tickets. With a "D" or "I" you get a seat in economy and a waitlist for business. Having said that, in many, manty flights, CX has only once failed to get me a seat on a D ticket (and I chose the next day in bus rather than the same day in Y)