JoshZT

I live in HK but since the majority of my flying is to Australia I have held on to my QF platinum.
Since QFs revamped system and because of my Econ class travel, it is becoming less worthwhile staying with QF, add to that that CX covers Australia better than QF does (ex HK) and all the other travel I would do from HK.
Cathay will NOT match my status but are willing to give me Gold.
Switching will also make it easier for AM credit card points as well...
How are CX Gold customers usually treated?
I never get upgraded on QF, what the likely-hood of this happening as gold on CX? Will they block an seat next to me on a non-full flight? When flying in and out of Australia, will a Gold member get an "express pass" for quick passage through immigration and security?

CrazyJ82

Can't answer some of your Australia-specific questions, but I'll say that I've been pretty happy as a CX Gold, for the following reasons:

-- The seat guarantee will be quite valuable if you live in HK and like traveling during peak periods. A search should turn up some threads discussing this benefit to give you a better idea.

-- The soft service is pretty good. Onboard recognition seems to be becoming a little spottier, but they still sometimes come along with an extra bottle of water, or ask my meal choice ahead of other pax on long-haul flights. Seat blocking I have less experience with, and they've got a mixed record with that the times I've tried. And the one time I've found myself in a major irrops situation (knock on wood), they've come through pretty well.

-- You shouldn't count on op-ups, but they do happen and as a GO I've got a respectable track record. You'll be ahead of other oneworld elites.

-- If you're mainly flying CX and living in HK, huge advantages of being in AM include local card earning (check out our running thread on this), the ability to waitlist for AM awards, and the ability to use AM to upgrade if you prefer. Plus as a GO, you'll have higher priority on the waitlist.

The main knock on AsiaMiles/MarcoPolo is the poor earn/burn ratio. But it sounds like your main alternative, QF, is becoming worse. In your situation I'd probably stick with MPO as long as you get your credit cards set up. The earning boost you get from supermarkets, dining and so on partially makes up for the lack of tier bonuses on flights, IME.

number_6

QF Plat does give you Wing F lounge access, which is a big benefit; so that offsets the other considerations. But if you can qualify for QF Plat you should also be able to earn Diamond from a comped Gold base, which is clearly superior to QF Plat. If you can't make diamond but can keep plat, then I'd stick with QFF. Gold isn't really worth much on CX compared to diamond.

sxc

Though anecdotally, as a CX gold, I've been more upgraded than QF platinums who I know fly CX.

As a gold, they will usually but not always block a seat next to you.

Isochronous

I'm in a similar situation to the OP except that I usually book QF PE HKG-SYD-MEL.

If I were to be comped MP GO, how is the jump from GO to DM calculated? I just want to work out if I would make it or not.

jagmeets

Club mile/ sector balances reset, and you have a year and a bit to get 120K miles / 80 sectors.

JoshZT

Much harder to get CX DM than QF PL.
QF PL requires 1400 status points to earn or 1200 to retain.
HKG-SYD will earn you 30 status points on disc. econ or 60 on full econ (one way)
An easy way for me to top-up these points is to get a a cheap BIZ class ticket HKG-BKK with RJ (under $US600 vs $350 for econ) which earns 120 status points round trip).
No such tricks with MP unfortunately....

CrazyJ82

I imagine F lounges are nice, but I don't see many other ways OP benefits from not being a CX GO in this scenario. In particular, is use of the F lounge more valuable than the cash OP might save using the seat guarantee, the foregone AsiaMiles from credit card spend (or the problem of having flight miles in one account and credit card miles in a different program) and the occasional op-up OP is more likely to get as a GO than as another carrier's emerald?

As with most things FT, it is a judgment of what the individual values. I would only caution against the FT tendency to assume the highest-possible status is necessarily the best in each and every circumstance.

mayodave

Why am I having a hard time believing CX will offer Gold for someone who will only travel in Y unless its twice a week maybe

jona970318

QF have terrible redemption rates, although CX is not too far from that. OP, what is our flying pattern like? How many miles would you usually rack up in a year? You may be able to look at other programs in the OW system and see if there is any chance you can get OWE through another program. If not, I would suggest you to do CX instead for the slightly better value in miles and the quality of service

KeepDiscovering

kill two birds with one stone. they get a customer and steal him from their enemy

JClasstraveller

The fact that the OP is QF Plat says something about his flying patterns does it not irrespective of if he flies mostly Y?

If the OP flies monthly to Australia, CX Gold isn't that far fetched.

The question is what ports does the OP use in Australia - QF Plat only really helps on domestic Australian legs and in SYD and MEL where there is the F lounge.

If the OP is likely to use CX more, then who knows, you may hit DM if you end up with some more unexpected flying!

JoshZT

Flying 6x a year to Aus (+ Aus Domestic).
CX has looked at my 12 month history and seen me as a comfortable GO without managing DM. In fairness , it makes sense as the only reason I am able to retain PL on QF is due to double points promotions and finding cheap OW Biz class seat offering 4x points on QF but would only be x1,25 on CX..
Other OW? I hears AA is great, but whats the use if I live in HKG and would fly to the US one a year only?

JoshZT

Very good points! As QF PL, I use those F lounges - and are often overcrowded and not too much of a bonus over the Biz lounges.
The QF F lounges in MEL and SYD (eg free full menu resto) as well as the new on in HKG are amazing! But those are nice perks and not the reason to stick with a FF program.

JoshZT

Let me just clarify that the QF F Domestic lounges in MEL and SYD are often overcrowded. (BNE is even worse!!)
The QF 1st Intl. lounges are the nice ones with full menu restaurants.