I used to fly with CX and was their Marco Polo Gold member for a few years. During that time (which was a few years ago), CX was giving (freely) Gold and Diamond status through the Amex Plat and Centurion card tie-up. I remembered asking myself why I bother to earn the status the "hard" way with CX while people who may not fly frequently with CX or Oneworld airlines gets gold or diamond membership so easily. CX was (almost) literally giving away free upgrades due to their Macro Polo program where if the Y class seat is full, you can get a guaranteed Y class seat. This generally causes the Y class tickets to be oversold especially on busy routes.

I recalled a few instances, at the boarding gate on a full Y class flight, almost every other ticket at the CX biz class queue was "buzzed" for change of BP after scanning. At that time, I paid for the J class ticket and was annoying to find part of the J cabin passengers are upgraders, especially for those who are diamond members, they are treated better by the crew than those who paid for J class ticket (Example, they get first choice meals and drinks, blankets). There was one flight where the air con was cold and they had to apologise that they do not have anymore blankets to offer to me, even when I was in J class. At the end of the day, I was wondering why did I bother to pay for J class tickets only to be treated like a Y class passenger.

I gave up on CX and flew with SQ. I am a PPS member, and didn't get any upgrade even on my birthday. But somehow at least I didn't at least feel upset. For me, if I want to fly in J and F class, I learnt that I would have to either pay for it or redeem miles for it. That to me is a fair deal. I guess some people may not agree with my views, but at least, SQ has won me over and I don't mind fly with them despite no (free) upgrades.