I have sent an email to MPC to ask if this is a new business initiative. If it proves that I can keep my GO status by keeping Amex Plat and not fly with CX at all, I will stop buying V ticket straight away - they are usually 20-30% more expensive than NQS.

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 4: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B206 Safari/7534.48.3)

Well if you need seat guarantee you still need to buy V or above (of course if you ever need it)

Good point. I forgot about it.

Interesting read so far. I am EXP with AA, but travel a significant amount now on CX (from leaving UA and doing DCIR trips). I have thought about switching over to CX and get diamond status since the INTL longhaul flights are on CX mostly. However, being based in the US and still doing a fair amount of domestic travel and AA's "earn and burn" ability is tough to beat.

I guess I will have to continue to evaluate this as I go forward.

Bear in mind that it will take you 210,000 base miles to reach DM in one year. CX has an awful feature of resetting your qualifying miles when attaining each level. Silver then back to 0, gold then back to 0 then finally DM! It's a tough slog in one year to do.

Yes but if your pattern warrants, they will fast track you.

... unless you fax MPC your fly patterns and ask them to start your membership with Silver or Gold... which is not impossible.

To OP: what benefits were you expecting/hoping as DM?

I'm sure there is some devaluation of DM since the introduction of Amex DM's but from my time as DM, it's still quite different from GO (i.e. first versus biz lounge access, op-up priority, overall treatment/recognition on board, mileage redemption).

As to op-ups, the biggest factor is which routes you fly and having flexibility as to which flight you take if there are multiple flights to that destination on same day. Your op-up rate is probably due to lower yields in Y over the past year as I don't think they prioritise DM's based on revenues in terms of op-ups (there are suggestions that lower BN's have better chance but I don't think the system can op-up based on a DM's recent/past revenue).

No need to evaluate - AA is better than CX.

Even I assume CX will immediately fasttrack you to DM, here are the instant that you will lose:

1. 100% Bonus miles (When you travel on CX on AA codeshare, your earning rate follows AA, not CX)

2. A more restricted mile expiration policy (AA - 18 months after no activity, CX - 3 years after they are earned)

3. Your EXP complimentary upgrade as well as eVIP.

4. YQ/YR for award tickets

But here is what you can gain back:

1. Possible op-up chance (You will need to ask an actual DM for that possibility)

2. Guaranteed lounge access (AC requires membership, if you are AA members)

3. First-Class lounge in HKG

4. And various gestures discussed through here

how much DCIR are you doing a year? Can you maintain CX GO (60K status miles) whilst being AA EXP?

If i were to give some suggestions, i'd recommend you speaking with cathayboy and Short Hair Francis. They are the people that i can ring off my head that have made a strong decision for 1 over the other (CB with CX and SHF with AA(mainly). A few others here also have some stint on both airlines...

Thanks...I am aware of it. I do around 250K and looks to go north of 300K a year over time, so I would wait (if I did it) until the timing is right to get through it quickly.

Thanks for the pros and cons.

Looking at DCIR26's mostly at 6 to 9 times a year. Plus, sprinkle in US Domestic travel at 50-60K a year. Then, other trips INTL that I cant make fit into DCIR's.

Thanks for suggestion. I have been with AA for quite awhile (2MM+ with them) as well as a heavy UA until recently, so I am a little apprehensive to make the move to CX...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/catha...l#post18760306