Oct 2, 2015, 3:08 am
Last edit by: sxc
Related threads:
What are the best value segments under the new system?
Switching out of Marco Polo: What do you choose and why?
FAQs as answered by AgencyGuy:
When will the mid-tier benefits be awarded?
They will be awarded as the member hits the mid-tier milestone. Not at the end of the membership year. These will be valid for a year commencing the day they are granted. No points are deduced when members are awarded these benefits.
Does that mean a member reaching 1800 tier points will get all three mid-tier benefits?
Yes, each benefit will be made available as the member hits the 1400, 1600 and 1800 point milestones
What mid-tier benefits will be awarded as of the conversion date of 15 April 2016?
The mid-tier benefits will kick in automatically after 15th April, if your converted club points balance exceeds the mid-tier thresholds. So for a Diamond tier member, if your converted balance is 1800 points you will immediately have access to two first class lounge guest passes, four bookable upgrades and one companion Gold card.
A Gold member on his/her way to Diamond pick up four short/medium upgrades along the way, but a renewing Diamond gets nothing?
You are correct, Silver, Gold or Diamond members on their way to renewal, don’t get additional benefits until they reach the mid-tier thresholds. But they will get there, I guess the benefits are designed to recognize members who go the extra mile after they have passed their renewal thresholds.
Is there any requirement on the underlying booking sub-classes when using a mid-tier upgrade "coupon"?
Yes, the original flight needs to be booked in an “upgradable” sub-class, the same sub-classes that qualify for Asia Miles upgrades
Is economy upgraded to Premium Economy or business for flights with Premium Economy?
It is always a one class upgrade so Economy to Premium Economy, if a flight does not have Premium Economy then the upgrade is to Business.
Are the sub-classes for the upgraded bookings A, I, and E (if applicable)?
I don’t know what these subclasses are yet other than that they will be revenue instead of redemption sub-classes. I guess they will be announced later.
What miles will be awarded for a flight upgraded using a upgrade coupon? The original ticket class, or the upgraded class?
I understand that both points and miles will be credited based on the upgraded class.
Green Re-Qualification
For Green members, if their membership year ends before 15 April 2016, like now, their membership will automatically be renewed. If their membership ends after 15 April and they have ANY club points at that time, they will be automatically renewed for another year (even if they are below 100 pts). If their membership ends after 15 April and they have no club points at that time, they will lose their Green membership or have the option of paying the US$100 fee to renew.
What are the best value segments under the new system?
Switching out of Marco Polo: What do you choose and why?
FAQs as answered by AgencyGuy:
When will the mid-tier benefits be awarded?
They will be awarded as the member hits the mid-tier milestone. Not at the end of the membership year. These will be valid for a year commencing the day they are granted. No points are deduced when members are awarded these benefits.
Does that mean a member reaching 1800 tier points will get all three mid-tier benefits?
Yes, each benefit will be made available as the member hits the 1400, 1600 and 1800 point milestones
What mid-tier benefits will be awarded as of the conversion date of 15 April 2016?
The mid-tier benefits will kick in automatically after 15th April, if your converted club points balance exceeds the mid-tier thresholds. So for a Diamond tier member, if your converted balance is 1800 points you will immediately have access to two first class lounge guest passes, four bookable upgrades and one companion Gold card.
A Gold member on his/her way to Diamond pick up four short/medium upgrades along the way, but a renewing Diamond gets nothing?
You are correct, Silver, Gold or Diamond members on their way to renewal, don’t get additional benefits until they reach the mid-tier thresholds. But they will get there, I guess the benefits are designed to recognize members who go the extra mile after they have passed their renewal thresholds.
Is there any requirement on the underlying booking sub-classes when using a mid-tier upgrade "coupon"?
Yes, the original flight needs to be booked in an “upgradable” sub-class, the same sub-classes that qualify for Asia Miles upgrades
Is economy upgraded to Premium Economy or business for flights with Premium Economy?
It is always a one class upgrade so Economy to Premium Economy, if a flight does not have Premium Economy then the upgrade is to Business.
Are the sub-classes for the upgraded bookings A, I, and E (if applicable)?
I don’t know what these subclasses are yet other than that they will be revenue instead of redemption sub-classes. I guess they will be announced later.
What miles will be awarded for a flight upgraded using a upgrade coupon? The original ticket class, or the upgraded class?
I understand that both points and miles will be credited based on the upgraded class.
Green Re-Qualification
For Green members, if their membership year ends before 15 April 2016, like now, their membership will automatically be renewed. If their membership ends after 15 April and they have ANY club points at that time, they will be automatically renewed for another year (even if they are below 100 pts). If their membership ends after 15 April and they have no club points at that time, they will lose their Green membership or have the option of paying the US$100 fee to renew.
Changes to MPC announced for 15 Apr 2016
Jan 17, 2017, 2:32 am
#1006
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 14
Recently, I signed up for AAdvantage and am about to join JMB. Easing my way out of MPC...
Jan 17, 2017, 11:27 am
#1008
Join Date: Dec 2011
Programs: Marco Polo
Posts: 15
Got the survey as well. I was actually surprised because I am only a SL and will barely retain my status next year (flying Y/PEY and heavily discriminated against). The same brutal honesty in my response as other posters. There are just way too many choices for Europe-Asia route.
Jan 18, 2017, 4:27 am
#1009
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: 1A
Programs: Elite Diamond Purple Dot Gold Silver Titanium for life
Posts: 1,822
My company does a lot of Statistical Analysis and surveys for capital markets. Without having seen the survey in question, it was not sent to me, and nor has CX/MPC once asked me my opinions before or after the change, here is what I would have considered asking members in a post implementation survey (please bear in mind this is without access to the data MPC has which would impact the questions asked):
<snip>
The answers to the above questions can be directly verified against booking/membership data for a proper impact analysis. It would also probably require a minimum of 4 x 6 monthly surveys to ascertain the overall trend. I would send to ALL MPC members on the list as at 16/4/2016, nobody joining afterwards.
My point is that I believe CX did do due diligence but their sample universe did not seem to include significant sections of their MPC, especially the ones likely to be most sensitive to changes, PEY/Y DMs (or sadly ex-DM like me) and Golds.
I would argue that the sample universe MPC selected was deliberate. CX’s strategy was worked out in advance (i.e. a cull of the PEY/Y members) and this latest survey is all about meeting the remaining MPC members’ expectations post-changes.
The changes have happened, no going back, but tweaks going forward, as CX works towards its preferred MPC elite membership profile.
<snip>
The answers to the above questions can be directly verified against booking/membership data for a proper impact analysis. It would also probably require a minimum of 4 x 6 monthly surveys to ascertain the overall trend. I would send to ALL MPC members on the list as at 16/4/2016, nobody joining afterwards.
My point is that I believe CX did do due diligence but their sample universe did not seem to include significant sections of their MPC, especially the ones likely to be most sensitive to changes, PEY/Y DMs (or sadly ex-DM like me) and Golds.
I would argue that the sample universe MPC selected was deliberate. CX’s strategy was worked out in advance (i.e. a cull of the PEY/Y members) and this latest survey is all about meeting the remaining MPC members’ expectations post-changes.
The changes have happened, no going back, but tweaks going forward, as CX works towards its preferred MPC elite membership profile.
Why bother asking these questions to customers at all? I would have used email coms as a way to ask questions which cannot be obtained by other means; such as, list in order, which of these 20 benefits do you value the most to least.
Back to the survey. Between actual past/upcoming flight data, search history and other peripheral data points on users, it's entirely possible to obtain this data *and more* with greater accuracy than surveys provide!
Heck, with a little more effort it's even possible to know exactly how much a user is flying another airline: https://www.traveldatadaily.com/360-...mer-view-data/
One of CX major competitors uses basic machine learning algorithms and can predict when you are most likely to book a revenue ticket with >80% fit. Even better, they can also predict when you are likely to book an award flight. This intelligence could easily be overlayed onto past flight data to understand if a MPO member would have booked a CX flight.
To highlight my point - my company did cognitive text sentiment analysis of every post on flyertalk. From this analysis, it's possible to understand what status people hold both with CX and other FFPs, the users general attitude towards CX (and other airlines) over time. With more investigation, this data could show which MPO members are at most risk of churning to other FFPs, and also monitor other FFPs for unhappy members who are considering MPO/AM, and the CX team could shoot them an automated offer etc..
Nicc HK, for fun, here's what analysis on your posts looks like (under 0.50 = negative sentiment, over 0.51 = positive). From this, I can predict all sorts of useful information, including how influential over other FT members you are (using centrality networks/weighted NN based on quote/replies), if program changes had an impact on your views, potential spend, status levels and much much much more.
Now imagine how powerful this intel would be when overlayed against actual CX data...
Surveys should be used to capture unstructured and creative input. Not transactional info which can be obtained elsewhere with greater accuracy.
Come on CX! ... It's Time To Win
Jan 18, 2017, 5:05 am
#1010
Join Date: Jan 2006
Programs: AAdvantage Asia Miles Air China
Posts: 870
Surveys should be used to capture unstructured and creative input. Not transactional info which can be obtained elsewhere with greater accuracy.
With regard to the survey in question it depends what the intention is. I was looking at in terms to assess whether the models and assumptions that CX went into making the changes were validated by the subsequent change in MPC members flying patterns, hence the questions I put forward. If I was doing such a survey it would be have far more than those few questions.
Really liked the graph, I have seen some interesting and very advanced stuff from Google Analytics and others regarding predictive behaviour.
I would say in sentiment terms the grah you produced for me looks quite accurate, though the recent uptick is probably incorrect. I have given up on CX as a programme and virtually stopped flying them other than codeshare connections and redemptions. So my posts are probably not as critical because I have moved on.
Indeed my interest in this forum is because through lots of AMEX Credit card points, and HK being my home and I fly way too much, there is a lot of value in what other say here. Do they listen to me? In terms of responses probably not much!
Kung Hei Fat Choy!
Jan 18, 2017, 7:21 am
#1011
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Asia/Europe
Programs: CX, OZ, MU (+AY, DL), Shangri-La, Hilton
Posts: 7,236
Not trying to provoke anyone, but I'm more or less happy with flying CX on MPC at the moment.
It really seems like the lounges are a bit less crowded and even the "status" boarding queues with the exception of HKG - PVG/SHA/PEK where everyone seems to have a MPC tier card.
Was just upgraded on my last CX flight so that might have to do with my upswing mood as well.
It really seems like the lounges are a bit less crowded and even the "status" boarding queues with the exception of HKG - PVG/SHA/PEK where everyone seems to have a MPC tier card.
Was just upgraded on my last CX flight so that might have to do with my upswing mood as well.
Jan 18, 2017, 9:58 am
#1012
Join Date: Jun 2016
Programs: Marriott Titanium, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Explorist, Marco Polo Gold
Posts: 1,084
I'm not as happy on my return as Cathay DM with them. Yes the unpublished benefits are nice. But, most of the same benefits are offered published by other airlines, and then some. Crew service to DMs are a little better, but far from the 90s and turn-of-the-century level that I have come to expect.
Don't get me started on lines. Many outports still cramp F/DM/C/GO/SL/GR together, and most secondary Chinese outports don't even enforce the lines and just let anyone through.
Lounge - depends where you are. F lounges seen ok. The few times when I was dropped to GO earlier and had to use C lounges, it seems as full as ever.
Onboard dining - paying $15,000 RMB to fly full-J round trip HKG-PEK and then get offered horrid selections? NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Don't get me started on lines. Many outports still cramp F/DM/C/GO/SL/GR together, and most secondary Chinese outports don't even enforce the lines and just let anyone through.
Lounge - depends where you are. F lounges seen ok. The few times when I was dropped to GO earlier and had to use C lounges, it seems as full as ever.
Onboard dining - paying $15,000 RMB to fly full-J round trip HKG-PEK and then get offered horrid selections? NOT ACCEPTABLE.
Mar 16, 2017, 3:37 am
#1013
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2004
Programs: CX Green, QF Platinum, BAEC Silver, Hyatt Glob
Posts: 10,780
I heard a rumour on the weekend from someone who works in one of CX's agencies that there are going to be some improvements in benefits to Diamonds coming along. I have no other details aside from that. So put this in the highly speculative bucket.
Whether they are true improvements or "enhancements" remains to be seen.
Whether they are true improvements or "enhancements" remains to be seen.
I will second the moderator's point. I have just received a call from someone claiming to be from MPO management (withheld her name for privacy reasons), and asking me to fly F/C class more often with Cathay because there will be new and exciting benefits coming to Diamond tier very soon. She extended my account 3 months to make up the points I needed to retain Diamond (I stopped at 800 points when I've decided to give up on Diamond and just go with AA EXP instead).
She couldn't tell me the benefits as I, like everyone else, needed to wait for the official announcement. But she claims I will not regret it. I can easily make up that 400 points in 2 months time but I shall wait and see this "unregretable enhancement" first. I am not holding my breath. The only way Cathay can win me back is to offer the following benefits: bonus tier miles, use Cathay C lounge regardless of airline flying (now that Pier C is amazing), and some kind of lifetime accumulation. I am still very upset to be a Diamond for 15+ years and Cathay has no problem demoting me as soon as it's able.
She couldn't tell me the benefits as I, like everyone else, needed to wait for the official announcement. But she claims I will not regret it. I can easily make up that 400 points in 2 months time but I shall wait and see this "unregretable enhancement" first. I am not holding my breath. The only way Cathay can win me back is to offer the following benefits: bonus tier miles, use Cathay C lounge regardless of airline flying (now that Pier C is amazing), and some kind of lifetime accumulation. I am still very upset to be a Diamond for 15+ years and Cathay has no problem demoting me as soon as it's able.
