QRC3288, just out of curiosity, did you ever manage to reach DM+?

i get them in lounges.

Well, my company is flying me Y+ now (but not J) so I'll probably still stick with CX because Y+ is Y+.... darn you CX, you got me, darn you!

I took a bottle of water on my flight to BLR once, but that will not help if I fly HKG-SFO - will be confiscated at the secondary check... Getting a bottle of water on such a flight is good.

The secondary check is such a joke. Everytime they literally unzip, look in, zip up, and says "ok".... I feel so much safer.....

Please remember that the whole topic started as a rumour forwarded by one individual supposedly privy to the development to our Guy Betsy. As far as the story goes CX hasn't disclosed nothing officially, apart aknowledging it is looking into the issue, so while I would take any and all countermeasures for eventual unsavory changes, I would wait for a definitive answer from them.

So for those of you who hit diamond at around 6 months into your membership year, if they make diamond harder to attain so that you end up hitting diamond at 9-10 months, would that make you more likely to be happy with CX? You are still getting to diamond but others get shut out.

I would expect it's people like this that CX want to make the program more attractive to.

Yes, but the devil is in the details. One way to do it is simply make the qualifying club miles limit (as opposed to Asia Miles) higher. That discriminates less against the higher priced Y flyers. The other way is to focus on J flyers which then irritates the regular premium Y flyers.

And the noise and heat is being generated as no one here knows which way CX will go.

Couldn't have put it better myself. If CX did indeed go the opposite route, it will pretty much rule out PEY flyers like myself. I might as well fly direct from TPE to Dubai on the Emirates red eye instead of transfer in HKG like what I currently do.

I know there's probably no answer yet but what's going to happen to PEY flyers? Totally dropped?

No, never did. Just regular DM. I have had two (separate) years on CX where I probably spent $100k+ USD (excessive spend), 2 years of ~$15-20k (cheap spend), 1 year of $25-30k, and 2 years of ~$50-60k USD. Ballpark. That's why I'm considering switching, because I don't spend the same every year, even though I'm d@mn loyal!


not sure. agree with the others "devil in the details". bottom line is i don't know where the problem is. are there too many DMs? are there too many partners in the lounges? are there too many GOs? i don't know the #s, CX does. overall, i'm not going to react favorably to a gun to my head...aka, "pay us $50k USD every calendar year for basically the same service you get today, or else lose your high status". because as we've talked about exhaustively here, CX's gap with competitors like BR is declining - some self-inflicted by CX, some due to the improvement of competitors - meanwhile folks like EK and QR are growing like rabbits with solid products and often cheap fares from Asia. i have more choice than CX thinks. Yes, I am always going to fly CX and KA. But I don't have to give them 25-50% of my business that I do today, and that's what they'll lose if they rejigger the program in a way I don't like.

they've got a decision to make (waiting to hear details...) and so do I. Meanwhile, in the absence of any substantial details from them, I'll try the competition while I wait to reset DM.

Another thing I've noticed, is CX's Y fares around Asia are very cheap. I mean, they're absurdly cheap. I can't remember finding fares like this before 3-4 years ago. Even when I'm looking at business trips to SIN or PVG, I mean I'm finding $1k HKD fares, $1.4k HKD fares....is this normal? I kinda think this is related to our issue. For example, as a DM I have taken advantage of these fares after I reset. If I am to use the Wing F and bring a guest, and on the return flight use the lounge (say QF lounge in SIN) and bring a guest, I'm probably costing CX $60-$100 USD in costs paid to HKSH (operator of HK lounge) and QF in SIN. I mean, this makes no sense to me. They are practically daring us to buy cheapo fares where all the incremental revenue is lost when we just enter the lounge. Like I said in a previous post, I mean I like cheap fares but I'm also a sucker for prizes and would totally pay for a more expensive fare class if I had something to aim for like a 150k or 200k target or something.

Part of CX's strategy might just be to offer these cheapo fares, basically turning Y into a LCC, and only focusing on J and F (of course, the problem with this is their J class has a lot of work to do on the soft side after years of cutting). It seems like everywhere I'm looking to book an intra-Asia biz trip to (recent searches are TPE, PVG, SIN and NRT), I'm getting fares so cheap I can't believe it. I know oil is down, but still. This is nuts.

Since CX always market PEY as a "premium cabin", I would assumed their revenue would be counted towards this new MPO-remake? Otherwise CX is really shooting itself in the foot, I can, sort-of, understand the dumbing down of their noses on Y fliers, but to dumb down on PEY fliers? BIG BIG MISTAKE.

By the way, last 3 EWR round trips, J is 60-70% full, Y is 80-90% full, PEY is 3 to 6 people, whatever CX is doing to market PEY they are doing a poor poor job.

I think its the price difference between Y and PEY. Most people cannot justify paying between V and PEY. The difference can be as much as $1000 on long haul flights.

Y+ is a gateway to upgrade to J. Those with points to spend consider the extra $1000 as a way to grab a J seat.

I too am trying other airlines. Discovered that QR is selling HKG LHR D tickets cheaper than CX's upgrade able PEY so I shall try that. The laughable part is both the HKG DOH legs are on CX metal.