Originally Posted by
keepitfirstclass
Thank you, was actually looking at RTW tickets. I am based in the UK and now mostly fly BA but still holding onto my CX Diamond. I am about half way there (600 points) so need to do another 600 before it expires at the end of the year. London has been a base for a while but not necessarily looking at maintaining it.
(sorry for the delayed response)
Honestly, and I am an ex-BA flyer based in HKG now, and has been for seven years. So I would say that you would be better switching to BA at this half way stage. At half way on CX Diamond you could probably already be BA Gold, especially if you fly them a lot.
The reason I stuck with BA for crediting is as follows:
- With BA I "easily" make BA Gold each year based on flights, my minor niggle is finding time for the 4 BA flights (hello LHR-DUB-EDI-LHR-MAN on a day to get the 4 segments, now replaced by BA codeshares on HKG-DOH-LHR), but on CX I would struggle to make Diamond
- By this I mean, one RTW on oneworld, or 3x a HKG-LHR return on Qatar is BA Gold. On Cathay (direct) you'd be doing 5-6 flights at least, and probably 2xRTW tickets
- BA Gold has pretty much the same perks as Diamond when flying on Cathay (CX first class lounge, personalised intro on the flight, extra perks in economy, water bottles, extra booze), except for the same level of upgrade priority in economy/premium economy (i.e. CX diamond much more likely than One World Emerald, or OWE, to be upgraded). But, if you are flying a lot on BA, the alternative applies.... it's obviously less of a perk, but BA Gold is more likely to be upgraded than a CX Diamond inside of Europe
- Both Avios and CX have devalued their miles programs recently (and significantly). CX gives you more availability on CX flights by far, but you are based in LON so this gives you no benefit, and you are better earning Asia Miles via a credit card
- BA has lifetime status, approx. 15 years of OWE flying and you get lifetime OWE status (lifetime for you, or the airline of course)
Notes to be careful of:
- Getting to BA gold takes a mixture of flights for tier points, plus BA/codeshare flights.... so it will take a bit of effort. You need to be aware of the tier point levels and the BA flights to optimise the path. But honestly if you are flying BA regularly it should be fairly easy.
- If you are going to move back to HKG within the next two years (are you sure?) it may not make sense as CX has the same stepping stone to Diamond of course
- If you fly business anyway most times, best to just ignore the mileage programs and then enjoy a few of the middle eastern airlines, as long as you are doing long-haul flights regularly, and buy on price
So in my case I do OWE status via BA, but earn far more miles on credit card spending with Amex, where I can choose the program to manage the devaluation risk