backpacker24

I've been with Marco Polo for almost a year now and flown 8 round trips between Hong Kong and Taipei as well as 1 round trip between Hong Kong and the US (Hong Kong --> Chicago, San Francisco --> Hong Kong), but I'm still only a Green member with only 3 club sectors and around 8000 club miles!

My job mainly takes me between Taipei and Hong Kong a lot, and I thought that I'd at least make silver on club sectors, but after almost 1 year I don't even qualify for a renewal of my Green membership (need 4 club sectors, I have 3).

The problem seems to be that nearly all the Taipei --> Hong Kong flights are fare class S, N, or Q which don't earn club miles or sectors Even 1 leg of my flight to the US didn't earn me miles.

Is there no way I can make it to at least silver with this kind of flying pattern?

TalkFlyer

HKG <> TPE x 8 = 8,000 CM & 16 CS
HKG <> US x 1 = 15,000 CM & 2 CS
SL MPC = 30,000 CM or 20 CS

U still short of 2 CS even if OP willing to pay DOUBLE fare as follow:

HKG <> TPE cheapest CX fare HK$1,200
but cheapest fare can earn CM/CS $2,400 ( it's a double.)

HKG <> US cheapest CX fare HK$6,060
but cheapest fare can earn CM/CS $11,600 ( it's almost a double.)

Are you willing to pay DOUBLE to get SL MPC?

zqsn5678

Have you bother to read the eligible club sectors in the T&Cs

zqsn5678

the OP did not fly in the eligible CLUB earning sectors, therefore he is not 2 sectors short.

OP: 3 club sectors and around 8000 club miles was all he earned (not short of) !

TalkFlyer

I mean even OP willing to pay double the fare, OP still short of 2 CS!

Psychiatrist

Don't worry about requalifying for Green, they will requalify you with insufficient sectors/miles.

alphaod

Yeah I have a habit of buying higher fares now so I can earn my miles.

Fortunately I have found it's not twice as much and usually by the time I'm booking the only fares available are 100% status earning fares.

Yeah, sorry to hear you're in this dilemna...

backpacker24

No, I'm not willing to pay double fares to earn Silver status. These flights are for work and paid for by my company, so there's no way they're going to pay double so I can improve my Marco Polo status

My question is just: Is it pretty much impossible for someone with this type of flying pattern of going back and forth between Taipei and Hong Kong to earn silver status?

It seems really annoying that I fly with them every month and can't get above green.

backpacker24

Yeah, I did read this, which is good to hear, otherwise that $50 joining fee would've been wasted. Unfortunately though, Green doesn't really give you much other than the dedicated check in counters and priority boarding.

QRC3288

Here's the math. The super cheapo HKG-TPE fares are about ~$200 USD in CX's pocket. Say you do that 10x annually = $2,000 revenue to CX.

Now, say you hit up the lounge each time you're in HKG and TPE. I think the lounge is about $15-$25 USD in HKG and not sure about TPE, but let's assume less maybe $10 USD/person. In essence, CX is going to incur $200-$500 USD on lounge costs for such a frequent traveler annually who is spending about $2000. Basically they're spending 10-25% of the revenue you give them back on your lounge fees in this case, since you have a lot of frequency but cheap fares. That's in addition to increased baggage allowance, greater staff/pax ratio at check-in, etc. It's not a good trade-off.

Maybe what you can do is offer to pay the difference to your employer. I'm not sure what fares you're taking, but there's a chance you'd only be out of pocket $50-$100 USD more per flight. Once you do the math though even that doesn't look so great because you're basically paying that much to get in the lounge. Which obviously doesn't make a lot of sense.

I think the bottom line is get an employer who doesn't pay for the cheapo fares. Somewhat surprising to me, since you cannot change those fares at all and they are non-refundable. One trip where you get sick, or the trip gets cancelled, etc and much of their nickel and diming will be for naught.

Guy Betsy

Rather than do the 'math' yourself, try to find a local travel agent and find out the differences in fares on CX. This is the best way to do it where you know what the cheapest fares are, and what is the amount you need to top up to get the available full miles.

lingua101

One a month round trip flight between HKG and TPE are not a lots. It is only 24 flights.

As some one has pointed out you can (or almost) qualify as Silver if you are willing to pay.

At least in CX you can qualify using sectors.

For Sq even I do weekly flight between SIN and KUL and pay almost full fare (SGD400+ for round trip), I will no where near Silver not to mention Gold

WarrenWong

So the $50 joining fee for Green is valid for lifetime?

HKGglobaltrotter

I just did a dummy booking for TPE-HKG next week:

the lowest 100% mileage accrual V class TPE-HKG return costs 7688 NTD
the cheapest discounted 0% mileage Q class costs around 6348 NTD.

Price diff isn't significant here (certainly not double up the fare given I assume that you're flexible on departure time ex-TPE) Perhaps it's time for your company and you to look closer at this matter and make the best use of the money - i.e. buying a more flexible fare and allowing you to earn miles to quality for Silver!

TalkFlyer

Yes, TPE <> HKG the cheapest CM/CS fare available is V class but HKG <> TPE only L class on CX.com.
It really depends on OP's company travel policy.
e.g. my company does not allow Jr. managerial grade staff to travel in Business class but all Economy Class booked must be flexible & sometimes discounted Business class is even cheaper than Y but my company's rules & procedure & Admiration Dept. do not allow it! Good luck.