Hi mxr

Thanks for the thoughtful insights.

You are right about upgrades --

In 100 flight sectors with SQ as PPS or Gold in a mix of F/J/Y over the past 6 years I cannot recall a single instance of a complimentary upgrade, although during those same years with 30 sectors on StarAlliance partner AC I did receive one a couple times.

Over at OneWorld, I had QF Gold for most of the same period and with 60 sectors on QF and 50 sectors on CX I was also pleasantly surprised to receive a few operational upgrades.

I agree with your point about the limited lounge access in the SQ program, especially in Singapore for the main Silverkris lounge. This is a key deficiency in the SQ program.

Regarding my in-flight experience between SQ and CX:

Entertainment -- CX better (especially for tv series but SQ also good for movies)
Food -- CX better (all classes)
Staff -- CX better (more genuine)
Seats -- SQ better (prefer width over length in J)
Colour -- CX better (prefer green over brown)

In terms of non-flight aspects:

Website -- CX better (new SQ web and mobile so troublesome)
Telephone -- CX better (staff more informed and efficient)


Altogether, I have decided to aim for CX Diamond and let SQ Gold fall back to Silver.