Originally Posted by
midlevels
Why would BAEC Silver be better than MPC Gold for you if you're based in Hong Kong? OWE is debatably better than MPC GO even if you primarily fly on Cathay but can't imagine why a HK based person would go for BAEC Silver instead of MPC GO if they can comfortably qualify for MPC GO (but probably not BAEC Gold).
Originally Posted by
jdtravels
If you are based in HKG and can comfortably requalify for DM, then that is the best OWE status to have, no? I'm sure CX treats their DMs much better than other OWEs - people have said that CX Golds get better treatment than other programme's emeralds...
Depends on one's priorities. Not familiar with other FFPs (heard JGC and QRPC are good too) but for AA and BA, there are some advantages that let these programs 'make sense' even for an HKG-based CX flyer (aka me):
AA (only good for F/J/PEY flier tho) - you can fully qualify for AA EXP just by flying CX beginning next year. AA EXP excellent mileage earning (on CX), reasonably priced awards, very good service on the phone, free/unlimited/easy award changes etc, SWUs might be a 'plus' for people, but AA's SWUs are admittedly much more inferior compared to CX's. As for CC spending in HK, I think some time soon there will be some credit card deal offering AAdv miles as AA continues to expand into HK local market.
BA - avios is much better than AM for short haul redemptions, despite the 6-day block which makes things rather annoying nowadays. Don't forget AA and BA mileages don't expire easily either. BA is not too generous on awarding mileage for flying with CX, but you can say they're not as tough as AA still, aka you can still earn some BA miles flying CX Y. Good service on the HK hotline. Easy CC amassment of avios is possible too within HKG (and the rest of the world).
Also, both AA and BA offer some sort of lifetime elite status, although that is more of a moot point probably.
Perhaps in the near future there will be an F/DM only lounge. But I don't think this will happen at all because just look at QR, they are not making their premium lounges available for their top tier elites in Y either. So this can be crossed out.