Never again will i fly with Cathay. Very, very disappointed, upset and tired of the airline promising the world and delivering nothing...The staff are wonderful, but have no ability to act on discretionary circumstances. I am a Marco Polo club memeber, my girlfriend is a marco polo club member, i am also an RBC/Cathay Pacific platinum credit card holder.. all of which cost upwards of $300 in joining fees alone.... we have traveled on a 15.5 hour flight direct from toronto to HK, and have had a Christmas day layover in HK for 18.5 hours before heading home to see my family in Sydney which is another 8.5 hour flight... all i have requested is access to the lounge to rest and have been denied...

I would like to rescind my MP membership and i would also like Cathay to pay for my credit card annual fee and cancellation...they have ruined our Christmas with their unwillingness to show any goodwill towards their loyal customers...

Welcome to FT, assuming we see more of you.

It's a shame you didn't research your lounge entitlements before you traveled or you would have avoided disappointment. You'd have to be at least a Silver tier member or flying in Business or First class to have lounge access. I think you'll find that nowhere in the promo materials for your credit card did it list lounge access as a benefit. And to be honest, if you don't fly enough to at least hit SL or spring for a premium-class ticket, you're not one of their "loyal customers," so it's not surprising they wouldn't make an exception.

In future for a layover of that length you should look at hotel options near the airport, or one of the pay-in lounges. And as for "ruining your Christmas," I think most people will agree that in this case that's mainly a matter of one's attitude, not the airline's actions.

Loyal customers doesn't necessarily means elite or premium customers. You can be a loyal customer by flying Y only once a year for 20 years but only fly with CX for example. But unfortunately MPC is not designed to recognize this type of loyalty.

Welcome to FT.

Not sure why CX has to pay for your cc annual fee and cancellation...lounge access is clearly not included w/ the RBC/CX card...

If you are MPC silver or higher or flying in J or F, you will have lounge access. Otherwise, no access. Also very clear when you joined the MPC...

For an 18 hrs layover, I would have booked a hotel room. If you really wanted CX lounge access, you could have redeemed it for 9000 miles per person, or use one of the pay-in lounges at HKG.

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I recommend you fly air china

Never again..... Should you book economy when you actually want business.

Why didn't you just redeem lounge access as you clearly weren't entitled to it?

"...The staff are wonderful, but have no ability to act on discretionary circumstances..". I take this to mean that you expect CX staff to break all the rules just because you believe that they don't apply to you.

You got the wrong card mate. You should have applied for the Amex Canada Platinum Charge, get Marco Polo Gold with that http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-track-24.html and you can parade into the lounge in whatever you like to wear whilst giving the rest of us the bird.

We really don't have much sympathy for people who can't research this site properly around here.

I had a gut feeling when I read the thread title, and I clicked anyway. When will I ever learn?

and the worst part was on our Sydney flight, they assigned a stranger to be sitted in the middle of my girlfriend and I!

There are plenty of seats available to rest in in the public areas at HKG. I don't know what you think is in the lounges but theres nowhere you'll be able to sleep for 18 hours, and no airline in the world will let you in their lounges flying one economy return a year.

When you check-in together they will assign seats together. If somebody is sitting between you, just politely ask to switch seats with him.

I think if you're a loyal customer, you'd should already know the terms and conditions, right?

So effectively, you will never fly CX again because they enforce their well-publicised lounge access rules whilst you would have liked them to be suspended for you, and because someone selected a free seat while you took the gamble of selecting window and aisle hoping that you would unilaterally "privatise" a third seat which you did not pay for?

I sympathise with your disappointment and suggest that you stop flying altogether (you might consider an exception for private jets or buying your own airline so long as you don't mind the crew serving you macadamia nuts in a bag) as no airline I know of would conform to your exacting standards of letting the passengers write their own rules.