Originally Posted by
Rivarix
At the same time, as some folks mentioned above, the new MPC seems to have the unintended consequences of driving a few folks away from CX and yet it seems to have failed to attract new fliers to replace those folks.
From discussions I have had with various people, CX knew they were going to lose some and felt these were not worth keeping anyway, i.e. the long term PEY/Y DMs and Golds, but it seems their models under-estimated the impacts, for instance, and these are my subjective views:
1. CX expected some leakage, but believed most PEY/Y DMs would accept being downgraded to MPC Golds, and in turn MPC Golds would accept being MPC Silvers. After all PEY/Y DMs and Golds have in the past usually booked CX and paid the premium to ensure maintaining status, and proven very loyal.
Looks like CX under-estimated this leakage. For me flying 140K actual miles a year loss of the DM benefits makes a real difference in making travelling bearable.
2. Also, CX expected what leakage to occur will go mostly to other One World partners (anecdotally seems right), but where this occurs the HK based PEY/Y flyers will continue to fly CX even if not part of the MPC programme.
Well people I know have shifted their flying to other airlines along with their FFP membership, especially when earning mileage/Status on CX when crediting to other FFPs has become so much harder, i.e. AA and to a lesser extent BA. In other words rather than automatically booking CX are now looking at options.
3. Thirdly CX expected that any PEY/Y leakage would be replaced by high spending mainlander passengers.
Here it looks like these passengers are now flying Chinese airlines as they have expanded their global reach to markets where once CX offered the best option, and also are very competitive in cost.
To me it looks like CX in being arrogant got their assumptions wrong.
Originally posted by QRC3288 I think CX should at least do something to better differentiate GOs, and particularly DMs, from other OW partner equivalents.
Makes sense, in the very small number of CX/KA flights I have taken since becoming EXP, I have noticed exactly no difference with my experience of being a DM. Admittedly a too small a number of times to make a real assessment, but in the past I never got the ‘hidden’ benefits, except the bottle of water and the seat block (which may or may not have gone), never invited to any of the events, and had an upgrade success rate of 3%. Now I never had any expectation of those benefits, but it validates QRC3288 that there is no incentive to be loyal except that if I fly J/F on CX then I am going to get to higher status quicker,
and if I am in PEY/Y I must accept there is a ceiling on ability to get higher status but get more miles and club points than flying on another airline, but where is the value in that?
Happy Dragonboat Festival!