It depends on if Greens will be allowed to bring companions with them... because if they can't, then I see the number going down.

Is CX serious about dropping GR to AM this time? By current rules if you don't maintain 4 sectors you will be drop to AM, but seems like nobody did. I have many colleagues that flies other airlines, but still maintains their CX GR (one of them even stopped flying CX for 4 years! Still has a valid GR card because CX keeps sending him new ones year after year).

I guess if CX is serious, they are banking that people will love priority boarding so much that they will spend the $100 USD for it (and bring 10 people with them it seems). We shall see if that's true or not.

I haven't flown CX for a while (and for lost few years only on miles) and I haven't been kicked down out of MPC. But there wasn't previously an annual renewal fee alternative, and I fully expect to get kicked out in the coming months, 0.98M Club Miles notwithstanding.

CX's definition of "loyalty" is, apparently, very far from mine.

You sure they send a new GR card every year? When I was GR they NEVER send me a new GR card... Only once when they changed the design (to the current one) and GR card has no expiry...

Or am I too dated that GR card now also has expiry?

Just asked him, he says he was surprised as well, he's not even local, I'm surprised with all the cuts CX is still doing this?

Come to think of it, my wife's a GR and she hasn't gotten anything

My GR card if I can still find it, doesn't have a expiry date on it.

FYI - Changes in priority boarding procedures (for GR members) effective Jan 20:

https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_...rocedures.html

So GR will board with PEY. Will they be boarding with Y if there is no PEY?

Was at the airport last week on a 2 class plane, there was a separate line for green members. Right for econ, middle for GR, and left for the rest. Couldn't see the sign though, but saw the ground agent directed some people to the middle line.

On the way back from NRT, as usual the priority line was very long, saw 2 guys were escorting to the front to form a separate line, and asked the agent any priority for DM, and the agent escorted me to the separate line behind the 2 guys as well.

ah, is that how it's done at NRT? The boarding line at NRT is abysmal, one of the worst I've seen at any CX port...especially if you get 773. I was probably #100 to board, as a DM in J class a few weeks ago.

I normally don't care, but I left the lounge too early and the flight had an additional delay at the gate. Everyone was standing around there all tense, and the line fully formed 20+ minutes before boarding commenced due to the secondary delay. Originally I was thinking I'll just wait it out, let all the elites go first and then I'll join the J queue at the end. But it kept growing, and growing, and growing....until the whole area was packed with people tensely standing in line, or sitting on the seats / floor. Not pleasant. It was only security people checking passports / BPs in line, and as such nobody got pulled out and taken to the front.

Especially on those 70s gates, when you going to the gate close to the boarding time, it is very difficult getting to the lower floor since the crowd from priority line are blocking the stairs already.

It was my first time get jumped to the front in NRT too, normally I wouldn't asked, but this time I saw two guys were getting escorted, so trying my luck to get away from the tensed priority line. The agents seems to me doing it regularly.

Couldnt agree more, a lesson in frustration

I was at HND last week and they had 3 lines in place - F/DM/OWE, J/GO/SL and PE/GR - and went very smoothly

Don't know if TPE has changed any, but they only have 2 lines. They do board the left line first (using both machines), but the line is ridiculously long and many people are cutting in.

yea, TPE is bad and no change. Exact same format as NRT. That said, TPE is significantly "better" than NRT as the TPE boarding areas are a lot larger. NRT does the same style as TPE - two lines - but with ~1/4 the space.

An issue that exacerbates the problem at NRT as BUT777 alludes to is the stairs/escalators descend down to the front of the line at the check-in desk, whereas at TPE the stairs/elevator put you at the far side from the check-in desk. Overall NRT is a really bad design. I usually just try to stay in the lounge until the last minute.

I think the most important thing for this new procedure to work is that the staff MUST enforce the new concept by checking the BPs - directing the people with different status/class of travel to the relevant line. Most of the time I found both HKG and outport staff not really checking the BPs carefully.

Actually an interesting point I've recently realised is that CX can try and adopt the US/AA way of boarding - print the boarding Group (Priority, 1, 2, 3 etc.). This way it is crystal clear which group should be boarding when without any ambiguities