Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - How many DM members?

Anyone have an idea of how many DMs are out there? I recall something a while back that if you flew a certain number of miles with in a specified period, you were considered a permanent DM...does that still apply?

Lastly, does MP or CX classify their DMs into sub-categories...like would one who has flown 250K to renew have a higher priority than one who just slid thru the gate at 120K miles for the year?

No life Diamonds any more unfortunately. That was always generous, but lifetime Silver or Gold (as per AA and QF) would be nice...

I believe there are around 9-10,000 Diamonds, of whom about 70% are based in Hong Kong.

There is a Diamond Plus category which is distinct from Diamond and is by invitation only to the top 1%(IIRC) of Diamond members, and includes loads more perks (like a Diamond card for the spouse). But the 1% is measured by revenue to CX not by miles on OneWorld.

Otherwise, all other Diamonds are equal as far as I know. And even though CX now isn't the CX it was when I first got my Diamond card in 2000, I know I'm going to miss it when I drop to Silver at the end of this month. I had my "last breakfast" in the Haven on Monday, just prior to being op-up'd to First (albeit only to Manila, and I declined in order to be with my family).

I posed this question a few months back, I can't find the thread but someone responded with MPC numbers from 2005 which were found on the Cathay Talk part of FT. I'll try searching some more. The numbers that jumped out at me were the large numbers of SL, but then the enormous dropoff between SL and GO members. Not too large a cliff between GO and DM

I am set to be Diamond by the end of this month. Can't wait to try the lounges! ^

There is a Diamond Plus category which is distinct from Diamond and is by invitation only to the top 1%(IIRC) of Diamond members, and includes loads more perks (like a Diamond card for the spouse). But the 1% is measured by revenue to CX not by miles on OneWorld.

to be slightly more exact, I think it's top 1% by revenue on CX+KA.

I also face this issue this year...by the end of my membership year I'm likely to reach at least double the DM requirement = 240k Club miles or even more...but most of my flights are in regional full J or long-haul A class (RTW), and so my total revenue is hardly enough to reach the top 1% requirement...so now I'm crediting all my flights till the end of my membership year to my AAdv account, aiming at getting to lifetime Platinum...

For those who spend USD200K a year to become DMP, that is equivalent to flying about nine JFK-HKG round trips in full F fare. These people will not need additional perks for thmeselves (they are in F and there is no more op-up at F), but for their families only.

Of course they are very special to CX. (UA's GS and AA's CK are a lot easier. Many CX DMs can easily be in an equivalent category already.)

For those who spend USD200K a year to become DMP, that is equivalent to flying about nine JFK-HKG round trips in full F fare. These people will not need additional perks for thmeselves (they are in F and there is no more op-up at F), but for their families only.

Of course they are very special to CX. (UA's GS and AA's CK are a lot easier. Many CX DMs can easily be in an equivalent category already.)

Is there a special card for CX DM+? Do gate agents/FAs treat you any differently?

[QUOTE=cxfan1960;8995106]For those who spend USD200K a year to become DMP, that is equivalent to flying about nine JFK-HKG round trips in full F fare. These people will not need additional perks for thmeselves (they are in F and there is no more op-up at F), but for their families only.

QUOTE]

I agree DM+ seems useless....unless they let you fly the damn plane!

Is there a special card for CX DM+? Do gate agents/FAs treat you any differently?

I don't think I can ever be a DM+ (I am just marginally Diamond). CX's Diamond Plus Presentation Pack got the HK4As' 2006 Best Loyalty/Relationship Marketing award. However, I have never seen it anywhere. I suppose there is a DM+ card inside together with other perks.

My feeling is that CX's staff will treat them like kings/queens. If these passengers make CX's F cabins their living rooms, they certainly deserve that type of treatment.

Is there a special card for CX DM+?

yes. actually I think you can see it at the Wing's (or maybe Pier's too) reception where they have some internal-use brochure showing lounge access based on card type etc, and DM+ is listed separately there I believe. And I saw it in Tokyo's airport too at the check-in line, where if I remember right shows both images of the DM and DM+ cards at the F line.

I did a bit of "research" on the CX website before, and I guess I found the "images" (although very small) of the DM+ card - the key difference is that the "shark's fin" logo of CX is shining on the DM+ card instead of being "silver/white" on the DM card.

DM+ card (this is now actually shown wrongly on the MPO homepage of "normal" DM members, I believe)
http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/img/diamond.jpg

(http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/img/diamond.jpg and http://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/img/diamondplus.jpg atually lead to the same image now)

DM card:
http://www.cathaypacific.com/icheckin2/images/diamond.jpg

I might not be exactly right here...but I think this is the key difference.

actually, how do I show the image within the message itself, instead of it being shown up as just a URL link ? (I'm already using the [IMG] tag)

just found this

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=602408

got it off google, the search on this site doesn't work!

I know I'm going to miss it when I drop to Silver at the end of this month.Interestingly I've just been soft-landed to Gold even though I only had 32,000 Club Miles in my last membership year. I didn't do anything to request/plead for this so I'm not sure if this is now policy or just a reward for nearly a million club miles.

It's very nice to have another year of guaranteed availability in lowest published Y fares though. Thanks CX (or Dom if that was you ;) )

Interestingly I've just been soft-landed to Gold even though I only had 32,000 Club Miles in my last membership year. I didn't do anything to request/plead for this so I'm not sure if this is now policy or just a reward for nearly a million club miles.

It's very nice to have another year of guaranteed availability in lowest published Y fares though. Thanks CX (or Dom if that was you ;) )

Nice surprise-congratulations!

Generally speaking IN is still a lot more exclusive than this buy-your-way-in level.

It's sort of like comparing GGL with PREM, really.

christep, how many club miles did you earn in your last DM-qualifying year? Did you earn a lot more than 120K?

Is there a special card for CX DM+? Do gate agents/FAs treat you any differently?

Yes there is a different card for DM+, it's the same color than DM except that the wing is dark silver with "Diamond Plus" printed on the side.
As far as treatment, you get top priority upgrade (generally useless as you need to fly A LOT of F to get DM+) and I don't feel the FAs treat you very differently than DM, except may be the IM who greats you a bit extra and checks regularly if everything is allright.

No life Diamonds any more unfortunately. That was always generous, but lifetime Silver or Gold (as per AA and QF) would be nice...

I believe there are around 9-10,000 Diamonds, of whom about 70% are based in Hong Kong.

There is a Diamond Plus category which is distinct from Diamond and is by invitation only to the top 1%(IIRC) of Diamond members, and includes loads more perks (like a Diamond card for the spouse). But the 1% is measured by revenue to CX not by miles on OneWorld.

Otherwise, all other Diamonds are equal as far as I know. And even though CX now isn't the CX it was when I first got my Diamond card in 2000, I know I'm going to miss it when I drop to Silver at the end of this month. I had my "last breakfast" in the Haven on Monday, just prior to being op-up'd to First (albeit only to Manila, and I declined in order to be with my family).

There are 117 Diamond Plus WorldWide, so if they represent the top 1% of the DMs, there should be a total of 11,700 DMs.

There are 117 Diamond Plus WorldWide, so if they represent the top 1% of the DMs, there should be a total of 11,700 DMs.By contrast both BA and QF are thought to have about 2000 Premier/CL (though these are not based on top 1% revenue but rather people of interest to BA/QF, which means politicians and execs with large travel budgets). Making DM+ considerably harder to get (not necessarily more valuable). LH HON might be comparable (not really).

Not being Diamond myself I do not know - Is it one of the perks of Diamond to have escorts accompanying them to the gate and collecting them once the ate opens? This is not Fasttrack which I know to be another service but rather similar at the arrival point. I have noticed that CX has staff escorting passengers who they refer to as VIPs to the gate and waiting for them to come out.

Not being Diamond myself I do not know - Is it one of the perks of Diamond to have escorts accompanying them to the gate and collecting them once the ate opens? This is not Fasttrack which I know to be another service but rather similar at the arrival point. I have noticed that CX has staff escorting passengers who they refer to as VIPs to the gate and waiting for them to come out.

No, at least not for me.

Not being Diamond myself I do not know - Is it one of the perks of Diamond to have escorts accompanying them to the gate and collecting them once the ate opens? This is not Fasttrack which I know to be another service but rather similar at the arrival point. I have noticed that CX has staff escorting passengers who they refer to as VIPs to the gate and waiting for them to come out.
That's certainly not Diamond (there are dozens of them on some flights - I've been on one with 20). Most likely VIPs. CX has a categorisation of VIPs which is nothing to do with FF status:
VIP stands for Very Important Passenger who is an official in the
state office of a country/state and has considerable political or strategic
influence upon CX. Classification of VIP as follows:

Category 1:

* Officials of Hong Kong, SAR by names and titles.

Category 2:

* Officials of People's Republic of China by names and titles

Category 3 (Worldwide Dignitaries):

* Heads of State for all countries. (Chief Executive Officer of Macau,
SAR will be considered as a Head of State).
* Royal family.
* Ministers, Ambassadors or High Commissioners of all countries.
* Governors, Heads of Government Departments, Members of Parliament
or Congress of Countries/Ports which CX operates to.

Entitled Treatment

* Meet, assist and farewell on all CX flights.
* Lounge access.
* Priority baggage handling.
* Address by title or name on all CX flights.
They also have CIPs:
CIP stands for Commercially Important Passenger to Cathay Pacific
and the classification of such a person must be approved by CX

* Heads of establishment/companies that hold commercial
importance with CX.
* Non-official persons who have or may have considerable
influence with CX.

Invitation or Diamond Tier members are not classified as CIP. Their
recognition and privileges are by their club tier as specified by CPLP.

Yes there is a different card for DM+, it's the same color than DM except that the wing is dark silver with "Diamond Plus" printed on the side.
As far as treatment, you get top priority upgrade (generally useless as you need to fly A LOT of F to get DM+) and I don't feel the FAs treat you very differently than DM, except may be the IM who greats you a bit extra and checks regularly if everything is allright.

Thank you. I always suspected the existence of this level as other major airlines have this too. Unfortunately your experience suggests that its not worth it. Lufthansa makes its black card customers feel valued - you get personally escorted through everything to the plane by a valet who carries your on-board luggage. But CX is sticking to its usual "squeeze the consumer surplus approach".

I shall continue diversifying to *A as 250k miles p.a. gets nothing more than 120k miles.

Interestingly I've just been soft-landed to Gold even though I only had 32,000 Club Miles in my last membership year. I didn't do anything to request/plead for this so I'm not sure if this is now policy or just a reward for nearly a million club miles.

It's very nice to have another year of guaranteed availability in lowest published Y fares though. Thanks CX (or Dom if that was you ;) )

Similar thing just happened to my brother, who was gold, and has been given a silver card even though he has travelled much less than 30,000 miles this year. Very odd. It goes against the grain for the Marco Polo Club to be generous like this.

Similar thing just happened to my brother, who was gold, and has been given a silver card even though he has travelled much less than 30,000 miles this year. Very odd. It goes against the grain for the Marco Polo Club to be generous like this.

not always. i was gold, had 17k miles, 0.5mil lifetime miles, and straight to green. (my flights were all in Y up to now). it's ok, that's the rule, but upsetting after 8 years of membership.

it's fine with me. my next biz trip will be on VS or JAL. CX isn't getting a piece of my dime (or my employer's dime for that matter):mad:

Thank you. I always suspected the existence of this level as other major airlines have this too. Unfortunately your experience suggests that its not worth it. Lufthansa makes its black card customers feel valued - you get personally escorted through everything to the plane by a valet who carries your on-board luggage. But CX is sticking to its usual "squeeze the consumer surplus approach".

I shall continue diversifying to *A as 250k miles p.a. gets nothing more than 120k miles.


KACommuter,

You are right, flying more than 120k miles p.a. gets you nothing and even if you spend a ridiculous amount of $ (way too much btw) and make it to DM+, the only benefit you get for being one of the top 100 CX customers Worldwide is DM status for your spouse, which is really not that much.

CX urgently needs to learn from BA: They give free upgrades for 2 after you fly X miles beyond Gold renewal. This is clever marketing, it pushes people to keep flying BA even after they renewed their Gold status. I am sure that CX is leaving a lot of easy money on the table by letting DM members like you diversifying when they reach 120k miles. May be if they would give you some free upgrades for each XXk miles beyond 120k, you would keep flying CX. Free upgrades don't cost that much and could probably help generate some nice extra Revenue from the DM members.

same here - I now never put anything much more than 120k into my account. this year I got 120k within the first 4 months of the membership year, and since then have been putting everything into my AA account (for 100% bonus + working towards lifetime status + the flexibility each time whether I redeem from AAdv or MPO/AM depending on which one is a better deal in terms of miles), or I have chosen Star Alliance for quite a few instances as well (really feel quite guilty if I always fly CX to US/Europe because of the miles when the price is so much higher) and miles then go to my LH account (which gives 325% for F and 225% miles for J travel instead of the 150/125% from MPO/AM)...

CX urgently needs to learn from BA: They give free upgrades for 2 after you fly X miles beyond Gold renewal. This is clever marketing, it pushes people to keep flying BA even after they renewed their Gold status. I am sure that CX is leaving a lot of easy money on the table by letting DM members like you diversifying when they reach 120k miles. May be if they would give you some free upgrades for each XXk miles beyond 120k, you would keep flying CX. Free upgrades don't cost that much and could probably help generate some nice extra Revenue from the DM members.

this type of incentive would make me fly CX more often rather than going to competitors after i requalify for DM. Unfortunately I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon as CX is still on the arrogant track judging by their latest ad promoting a "smart-saver" business class fare of HKD15k to Singapore!!

this type of incentive would make me fly CX more often rather than going to competitors after i requalify for DM. Unfortunately I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon as CX is still on the arrogant track judging by their latest ad promoting a "smart-saver" business class fare of HKD15k to Singapore!!

well said...15K to SIN!!!! CX seriously needs a reality check

Indeed - that is bizarre when J to Bangkok is now only $4000-ish in I.

Indeed - that is bizarre when J to Bangkok is now only $4000-ish in I.

and J to BLR (KA) abt $11k (from GC Nanda)

this type of incentive would make me fly CX more often rather than going to competitors after i requalify for DM. Unfortunately I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon as CX is still on the arrogant track judging by their latest ad promoting a "smart-saver" business class fare of HKD15k to Singapore!!

A HKG-TPE-HKG turnaround in M-class + D-class fare TPE-SIN-HKG is about half the fare quoted for HKG-SIN-HKG. If one just reedems HKG-TPE-HKG on Y, the D-class fare to SIN ex-TPE is about HK$4,600.

I got the new Biz-Class on B777-300ER for HKG-SIN and the angled-flat type on A333 for SIN-HKG when I travelled on this route last weekend.

this type of incentive would make me fly CX more often rather than going to competitors after i requalify for DM. Unfortunately I don't think this is going to happen anytime soon as CX is still on the arrogant track judging by their latest ad promoting a "smart-saver" business class fare of HKD15k to Singapore!!

Vote with your feet - do SQ on the HK Singapore route (as I do). It's actually better anyway.

same here - I now never put anything much more than 120k into my account. this year I got 120k within the first 4 months of the membership year, and since then have been putting everything into my AA account (for 100% bonus + working towards lifetime status + the flexibility each time whether I redeem from AAdv or MPO/AM depending on which one is a better deal in terms of miles), or I have chosen Star Alliance for quite a few instances as well (really feel quite guilty if I always fly CX to US/Europe because of the miles when the price is so much higher) and miles then go to my LH account (which gives 325% for F and 225% miles for J travel instead of the 150/125% from MPO/AM)...

I'm on 115k miles after 5 months, but that includes diversification into *A with a HKG/FRA return on LH and several regional flights with SQ, NH and CA.

I'm on 115k miles after 5 months, but that includes diversification into *A with a HKG/FRA return on LH and several regional flights with SQ, NH and CA.

Oops - hit the return button too quickly. Was going to say that I have clearly been stupid in joining Krisflyer for diversification based on those fantastic LH bonuses I just saw!