I understand in the world of alliances you have to have some kind of equilibrium. However, there is no rules in the alliance to prevent you to truly value your most revenue earning clients, which are Cathay DM members. It wouldn't take much. Have an exclusive Cathay DM lounge. Let Cathay DM (and first class) board first (in all regions). Other benefits exclusively for Cathay DMs such as using C lounge even when flying non-Cathay flights, blocking seats, guarantee award seats even if only revenue seats are available, etc. These are all things that will attract people to spend directly with Cathay and earn them the most revenue.
Then again, Cathay management has again and again surprise us with illogical business strategy. For a corporation that used to symbolized Hong Kong internationally? Tragic.