QRC3288

My suspicion is the latter. The MPC changes have not just been a hot topic of conversation among us members but within CX as well, including among front-line staff.

Cathay Boy

Over the years ISM has been asking questions based on my particular situation, I have been asked:

1) "Mr. X, I see you are flying PEY instead of Y now, what do you think of PEY?"

2) "Mr. X, I see you have fly CX less now, are there any issues?"

3) "Mr. X, may I ask about your general opinions of how we are in PEY and Y?"

So it seems like CX management will ask ISMs to ask particular questions to particular subjects based on patterns.

Nicc HK

Perhaps I have been too consistent in my flying patterns.

The only problem with ISMs engaging passengers is that it is too late.

I would be fascinated by a statistical analysis of current members intentions, though I feel from talking to other MPC members with similar concerns, and from reading here, there are definitely three trends:

1. Unsurprisingly the Business/First chaps are not going anywhere, and CX has obviously aimed to protect/kiss up to this client base.
2. Those who have decided to wear it, especially regional/China travellers.
3. The longer haul travellers, who seem to be far more willing to switch, with UK/Europe travellers going to BA, Aussies to QF, and North American to AA.

Admittedly these are generalisations.

Nicc HK

QRC3288

Interesting post. Here's my data point:

After CX released their criteria, which won't change my earning or may even accelerate it, I knew I would stick with MPC for OWE status. The incremental benefits, particularly the 4 J-F certs will be awesome.....although I'm kinda waiting to see how these play out in reality, as I could forsee a situation where they're just as hard or perhaps even harder to use than F upgrade awards...so while valuable, they'd be less so. If CX is stingy with them theyre definitely less valuable. Not to beat an old drum, but the real cincher for those awards is if they can "trump" partner F award availability. Aka come out of perhaps A fare bucket, or even F care bucket. Time will tell.

So the second question for me was twofold:
1) what do I do for OW travel over CX's 1200 points threshold? And
2) what type of loyalty do I display to OW (and inevitably CX) in situations where I'm pretty flexible?

For #1, that answer is still accrue to CX. After seeing both CX and AAs changes, I've decided on skipping AA entirely. Years ago, I made the stupid decision to just blindly follow MPC and AM. That's in the history books nothing I can do. AA was clearly the proper currency to bank the excess miles; I likely wouldve been double OWE for CX and AA, earned a load of AA miles, and then exclusively used my AA miles for 67.5k one way F tickets back and forth. But now that AA (or is it CX, behind the scenes?) has nearly doubled the cost of CX F tickets. Furthermore, I read (as someone with lack of experience here, going by what I'm seeing online) that scoring partner awards on CX isn't as good as it used to be, and I'm still a little nervous there could be further changes to AA award availability on CX. I just don't think it's worth the hassle to put my earning in excess of 1200 tier points to AA, primarily because AA redemption costs for the use I intended - CX F, probably exclusively - have gone up a lot. Whether this was all AAs doing, or perhaps CX contributed, who knows. So I'm staying with CX (over other OW partners) in this respect.

For #2, I still have become more of a "free agent", and I fly enough that I will easily earn DM on CX, plus can put a good chunk of miles or EK, BR and SQ. The last year has been enlightening, to say the least. Competitors have excellent products. CX has massively stepped up their game with the lounge improvements IMO, but on board competitors are a threat. The issues with CX's onboard soft product are well noted, as well as regional soft and hard products. To give two examples here, I was just pricing "Scoot biz" to Singapore for a one way ticket. It's basically premium economy.....for 1100 HKD!!! Usually, I'll buy CX rconomy tickets short haul blindly, no questions asked, pay what the website or secretary says the price is. Yet this Scoot thing leaves at 7am (perfect timing for an early afternoon meeting i have), and is basically premium economy for cheaper than CX regular economy! The seat looks better than CX economy. To me that's a no brainer now, whereas a year ago I wouldn't even price another carrier. For longhaul, I've been trying others too. I've now used BR longhaul (it's basically the same hard product as CX, with better wine), and this year bought two F tix to SFO on SQ. This year is the least SFO revenue I've given CX in perhaps 6-7 years (part of that is due to an excess of LAX flights, but the other part are the SQ flights to SFO). Again, in the past that SFO flights were CX's business, just was my upcoming economy flight down to Singapore. These are the types of things I never would've done in the past. So I guess this is somewhat a verdict on the relative difference between CX and competitors, which for me appears to be less significant (or even favoring competitors) than I knew before.

percysmith

ScootBiz? Muhahahaha.

I mean I agree with you. I love the 7am/1am return timing, and hard product wise even the back isn't that bad.

But you haven't factored in reliability (you're going there for a meeting right?)
They aggressively do tactical cancellations http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...ve-refund.html
And they're pathetic during IRROPs even at their home base http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...l#post25649164

I might still fly them again. But I'll give more time to buffer and only if the price is right to cover a tactical cancellation by them.

P.S. Me to sec (sec punched in my half day unplanned leave due to Scoot MX, was thinking about Scoot to OOL): "Will you still risk Scoot?"
Sec: "no no no no no"

QRC3288

ha, no I didn't know about that. I was just looking at the hard product, timing and price and thinking "wow!". I mean, 1100 HKD no questions asked, one-way ticket in premium economy at a superior timing than any flight CX or SQ offered seemed absurdly good. But I guess you get what you pay for. That'd be brutal if they just cancelled the flight and you're SOL.

I guess if it gets really ugly I could just buy a CX or SQ ticket to SIN that morning, or burn miles, etc. Do you have any idea if Scoot would re-book me on SQ if it was open? I have zero intention of flying them in regular Y - it looks like that 9 across seating in the 787 - but the premium economy product ("Scoot Biz") looks decent!

percysmith

I also spent last last weekend at DAD with UO (no issues) and I wondered after the TZ tactical cancellation+MX whether UO CoCs let them keep my money during a tactical cancellation like TZ. No they cannot - I'm starting to think now HK consumer protections are better than SGs (banks are also lot better with chargebacks here than over there).

I burned Avios even though it didn't save my morning. I didn't want the delay to drag on for the whole day...

Very sure no http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...l#post25649278

The missus who suffered the MX with me said Scoot again only if return fare <HK$800 incl tax - low enough to risk them cancelling flights and keeping our money again.

AA_EXP09

Some travellers may still prefer CX to avoid connecting in LON to go to AMS/PAR/FRA/FCO/MIL/ZRH/DUS/(MAD)...

mosburger

Transit at LHR is a complete waste of time when coming from Asia. However, the late LHR - HKG flights make it rather tempting when eastbound.

druid

i think i am who they are targeting, with about 20 long haul round trips per year (Europe & USA from HK) in paid J for business. usually with 72 hour notice and an additional 20 or so regional (from HK) in economy.

I have stuck with CX i think mostly because i am lazy. I know their system and the product (both soft and hard) are good enough. so what alternatives would you suggest since i will cross the 1800 point threshold in 4 months giving me plenty of time to play with others. I usually spend my points on upgrades for family since I dont care too much about the jump from J to F (since i usually sleep most or all of the flight).

I usually fly on CX metal, and plan to stick with that unless something significant changes. I routinely use the 10+ hour flight as the only time i get a good sleep, so that can't change (last week i had three 10+ flights in a row).

As an aside, i wont use AA unless i have no choice (i actually book a separate ticket from CX US hubs to switch to Delta to avoid AA)

AA_EXP09

UA is just as bad as AA, though.
(DL, I will not fly due to the poor FFP.)

soonyeap

You are saying you travel HKG-JFK weekly in J to get 1800 in 4 months ?????? And how you managed to squeeze in Regional flights ???

druid

I live on a plane, they now say "thanks for always flying with us". i do HKG -> SFO/NYC 11-13x / year. i do HKG -> ZHR/FCO 8x / year and HKG -> SYD 2-3x / year. i try to combine the regional flights as part of my other trips, so i am just carrying on. i just fly to work instead of driving...

at any rate, still interested in checking out a place to park the extra miles, or if nothing good i will just leave them all at MPC like i do now.

percysmith

Amex CX Elite HK to continue to offer free Marco Polo Green enrolment for new cardholders

sxc

But only for the initial enrollment. Basically a one-off green membership. After that, you need to requalify like any other member.