Ok, this make sense. If one can upgrade on any fare class then it's a big applause.

This changes dont actually tackle most of the "issues" we discussed before, over crowding, priority queue etc etc... Removal of guaranteed seats in V class is a big Booooooooo!!!

Very interesting thread so far. A few comments from me by way of clarification.

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.

Redemption vs. Bookable Upgrades
There have been queries about the priority of bookable upgrades compared to redemption bookings. Bookable upgrades will be booked in a higher subclass than all redemption bookings.

Membership Holidays
The intention behind membership holidays is to help members that need to temporarily stop or significantly reduce their flying. For example, if they were studying or perhaps pregnant or sick. They would not be able to enjoy club benefits if they travelled during their membership holiday.

Great start to all these developments.

Best Wishes
AgencyGuy

All I would add is that it's a great shame that CX's loyalty horizon is 12 months. I moved to Hong Kong in 1999; it's been my home ever since, and in those 16 years I have never taken another airline on a route that CX flies. I've booked very close to 1 million club miles and would have booked probably half a million more if there had been any incentive to do so after retaining Diamond for each of the 7 years I had it (instead they went to AA even while my flights still went to CX).

But my travel wound down, and now I'm retired so I fly little. It would have cost CX more or less nothing to ensure what little I do spend these days continued to go to CX (and hence for me continuing to be a fan of CX and recommend it to friends and family): for example, lifetime Silver for 1 Million club miles, lifetime Gold for 2 million club miles.

As it is, my Green membership (not that it's worth anything) will be gone soon, and what money I do spend will go to the cheapest available carrier for the class I want to fly.

In my view CX should stop referring to loyalty when they talk of their frequent flyer programme - it is a club for short-term kickbacks, and nothing to do with rewarding loyalty as the term is generally understood.

And I wish I'd put all of those miles into AA all along, where I would have comfortably got to lifetime Platinum given the higher earn rate on AAdvantage.

I'm confused by this assertion, which seems to be contradicted by http://www.asiamiles.com/am/en/site/terms#13 which states, inter alia: It seems to me that it is possible to confirm in J and then rebook in F, albeit at a cost of either USD100 or USD120 depending on whether that is regarded as a cancellation and new award or as a reissue.

Please could you tell me what I am misunderstanding?

Christep: I think qrc3288 means we can't do it for free - we need to pay us$100 each time we upgrade a sector or turn a one way into a return, and us$120 to cancel an award ("redeposit your miles" in AA speak). AA charges one way at 50% return, and EXPs don't have redeposit fees.

Qrc3288: I agree with most of what you said to nyc212, tho there is one way we can use waitlists against aa redeemers when close in - *if* we managed to find redeem dates "we can live with" (normally this means one way is good and one way dates not as good), we can ticket the not so good date, tell agents to remove the deadlines, wait for the waitlists to clear in T-36 to 24 hours and then rebook for a relatively acceptable 1000 mile.

Of course aa redeemers have a lot more flexibility redeeming segment by segment, and some can redeposit miles for free.

Agencyguy: some consolation but having to reach DM and then fly 33% more to get the bookable upgrades (the regional ones are meaningless) is a bit steep...doesn't AA give eight/year at EXP level?

Lost of seat guarantee
 

Just wondering, has anyone ever not been able to book into Y subfare class even on overbooked flights? How is it a seat guarantee then? Even in the worst case scenario for me flying YYZ/JFK/ORD I’ve always been able to book into Y, I just chose to book into V because its cheaper. I’ve never encountered the situation where even if I wanted to pay full fare I couldn’t get it.

After 15 Apr, aside from the guaranteed Y sub-class, SL and GO would then only differ by an additional 5kg bag allowance, 1 guest to J lounge and privilege with OW member airlines as OWR usually has no priority treatment...

For me and others CX/KA only / heavy (over 90%) flyer, I agree that it's close to no difference (for my leisure trip.... I foresee that my business trip will still be using the Y sub-class guarantee.....)


:confused: 1 week before departure? I usually can get a shorter deadline through my TA...

You say "higher subclass" not "higher priority"... So I assume bookable upgrade means it will be in E / I / A sub-class and will be utilising the revenue inventory rather than redemption inventory???? :confused::confused::confused:

I was thinking QRC3288 means F redemption and J revenue booking are separate booking... Once ticketed J revenue you can't say "Hey I now get the F redemption and please cancel my J booking" (for D / I sub-class... Cancellation = cancellation fee apply), nor "Hey I now have an F redemption. Please up my J booking" (for J / C sub-class... My understanding is you can't transfer the F redemption into a J to F upgrade because they two are different booking... But once you release your F redemption seat it'll gone for good...).

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Think about chinese new year- it does happen.

Inspired from this thread (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...er-thread.html). I think we shoud start something similar here soon.

I’m not sure if that’s as applicable for YYZ, its usually the fullest I find in May, which is when university students are flocking home.

I'm very disappointed they have gutted the most valuable benefit to me - the guaranteed seat availability in V class. (How many people actually buy Y class fares anyway?)

The changes to the programme makes it very hard for people based in outports to remain loyal to Cathay Pacific - and that's coming from me, a CX fan boy. I've always promoted CX to my friends and family and have encouraged them to fly CX, but in view of these recent changes (and the deteriorating J offering compared to its competitors) I think I myself will be considering jumping ship - either to another programme within OneWorld or to another alliance.

QRC3288 meant redemption. You mean buying.

I thought it may be akin to (but not necessarily the same booking class as) companion redemption.

Yes you can - see my May 2014 SYD-HKG-SYD redemptions

My sister in law and niece are effectively double-reissued - start with return PE, reissue the outbound in J 2-3 days out (so it becomes one-way J one-way PE), reissue the inbound in J 4-8 days out (so it becomes one way J x 2), claim the difference between two one-way and return J on completion on trip.

I tried to have the inbound reissue charge for both SIL and niece reversed because I've already paid it on the outbound but my complaint fell on deaf ears.

(An AA redeemer will not have to pay a fee to upgrade like I did. Even if not EX.)

I only found out about guarantee seat books in V even if V is not available for sale recently. I probably wouldn't know about this feature until after I made Gold (or jagmeets explained it to me) but I appreciate the value now (and why this is probably costing CX).

My typical travel is 8-14 RTN flights in Y or PEY from LHR to Asia per annum.

I think this is better than the BA changes that made me change my OW depository to AM/MPC.

Its crazy now as I was, still am a OWS with BA, they did not down grade me despite being 100TP of renewal at 600TP. I switched to CX and made GO in six months. I truly thought I could mange to make DM using HKG as a hub and flying CX to South Korea, Malaysia and various cities in China from LHR for work. All the travelling is done in the correct Y or occasional PEY ticketed classes to get maximum mileage, but now I dont see it, so that amazing new first class lounge that I read so much about the Pier....is always in my dreams or a million miles away.

Suppose I will have to burn a few of my million miles and treat myself ;) to a trip in first...

When looking at the calculator/tables for earnings I fear a bug is in there.
Since I was zeroed at GO, I have flown the following sectors for 7955 Asia Miles

BA route MAN-LHR in M class = 5 pts CX 5pts BA
CX route LHR-HKG in E class = 45pts CX 90pts BA
CX route HKG-ICN in H class = 15pts CX 20pts BA

MPC shows I will have 80pts so somewhere there is a small bug.

So comparing the the above with BA I would have 115 Tier Points and with CX 65 Points with both having the same target of 600, I need to consider again my OW accounts...

No choice, CX is far better to fly with than BA, and Im sure there will be a wealth of information on here how to amass Points on low, low cost..Tier Point Runs..

One grip is the difference with PEY on CX and BA WTP 45 verses 90.

As for upgrade vouchers..that would be beyond my wildest dreams, so no comment.

Redemptions unchanged, thats very good news, compared to BA.

That's right. Your point should be 80 based on the fact that you currently have 7955 miles. The point transfer does not retrospectively re-calculate your flights based on the new system. I don't think CX IT is that tech savvy enough to do that!