Originally Posted by
QRC3288
To be fair, this includes both partner and MPC/AM elites, although the latter is more profitable since you don't have to pay the partner's program for the miles, not to mention you control the customer relationship and can track his/her spending far more closely.
You might be thinking about this the wrong way - yes CX has to pay AA/BA/QF/whomever for the miles, and also has to "pay" for their lounge access.
But is this incremental revenue that CX wouldn't have gotten if there was no oneworld arrangement? We know there are cheaper options ex-HKG (SQ, TG, NH, BR) .... how many people are swayed to CX because of their oneworld loyalty scheme? Maybe these incremental customers are MORE profitable as they actually had to make a choice to fly with CX vs the HK captive market.