Slowly discovering DM's unpublished benefits
 

While I won't ask Cathay to cook me crabs, but I am discovering many of Cathay's unpublished DM benefits that I've taken for granted in the past. It does show Cathay really go above and beyond for their DM members, but unfortunately it also shows if you can't make DM then really hopping to another carrier is the right decision. Some of them I've made reference to in my other posts before.

1) MPO agents no longer try to help you on whatever you ask (within reason). Now they will direct you to the "right people" to call and ask. I've enjoyed MPO agent's assistance on making changes to flights, I find this one-stop-for-all very convenient and helpful. Now, I need to call a few different places.

2) Change of flight at airport now costs money. In the past when I arrive at the airport earlier than anticipated I simply asked to be bump up to an earlier flight with ease. Now, it's with a fee.

3) Even colder on-board services. This is subjective, but I do sense that not being a DM my cabin experiences have gone down even further.

4) Account Managers politely telling me to go through the proper channels. Over the years I have accumulated emails of Cathay Account Managers that handles my issues at request. Last few emails the replies are a polite request to ask me to call the public numbers, they are no longer at my disposal.

I'm sure many others have more to share about this, but these are just my personal experiences since dropping from DM to GO.

This post makes me want to hop over to MPC again.

I just got shut down by an agent on 27473333 that was so rude, I can't believe what I heard. She literally raised her voice on me. But I can't blame them as they are paid minimum wage and have to meet call number targets every hour. I can't believe I'm saying this but AA's agents are just light years ahead of CX's.

Even BA and QR, as a nobody calling in, treated me with basic courtesy and respect all the way through. That's customer service 101.

I (no status currently) have good luck with changing Beijing and Shanghai flights sans fees. It's much better for both the airline and the passengers if they allocate seats on flights that are actually flying.

i thought change fee is dictated by fare rule, not status, am I missing something?

I did notice the difference when calling MPO and onboard when flying as a non-DM (AA EXP or CX GO). The subtle difference is their willingness to go above and beyond :)

You are right,except that the airport staff can practically do whatever they want when the flight is under airport control. Staff at the call centres and sales offices are much more restricted discretion wise.

I always wondered about airlines that have and enforce this policy. Seems to me that it's a silly policy which is always potentially revenue negative leaving unsold and empty seats.

I would agree with you Dr. By the way, to prove our point, my flight is so full that they had to announce for people to take a later flight with compensation. They would of saved at least one seat by bumping me up to an earlier flight.

Anyway. I am having some fun flying as GO now with Cathay and slowly discovering the differences that I have taken for granted in the past. At the same time, I am enjoying the magnitude of points I get from AA when I fly their metal as AA EXP and long-haul C, domestic F. I have to say, how can AA make money when they are throwing away points like this? And AA veterans told me this is a "reduced" system versus years past when people can rack up millions of points in less than 6 months (premium flyers)?!?! No wonder US-based airlines are losing money.

Are you kidding? Using a currency that they have 100% control over in order to create zero interest expansion capital out of thin air constitutes "losing money"?

AA makes money as CX sends them $$ for those miles. It's also why in the USA you can reduce your qualification criteria if you have certain spend on their credit card - they are happy with the dollars that the credit card sends their way for miles.

Super Agents
 

While a fair few agents on the MPC DM line seem to be a bit green, in general, they'll at least try/ask for guidance from a senior.

And then, once in a while you get an agent who latches onto your complicated needs in a second and works it all out. Have a set of flights tonight, SIN-HKG-North America that we're already checked in for (can't cancel the check in online). SIN-HKG is a redemption and the transpac a revenue ticket.

Needed to change both flights to tomorrow morning, and have a rerouting/reissuance of the transpac. Agent needed to a) get award inventory opened up, b)liaise with reservations for the revenue ticket to figure out the fees etc c) send messages to SIN/HKG airport controls to release the check-in

(a) & (b) had an inter-dependency as well.

Not bad at all for a 17 minute phone call.

During the recent typhoon, all the lines were busy. My original flight was going to be cancelled and I called MPO (1st time after qualifying for DM) to help with my revenue ticket. The agent said normally this is handled by CX reservations but I said I couldn't get through. Very helpfully she sorted it out and apologised for keeping me waiting. Eventually I left on one of the last flights out that morning :)

The big 3 US airlines are the most profitable in the world. Last year they generated more than US$8 BILLION in revenue from selling miles.

Fundamentally, every time a mile is created into existence, someone is paying for it, and a portion is an instant profit for the loyalty program.

This is why Asia Miles is trying to position itself as a coalition program rather than an airline program.

haha yes, but.....mileage sales or not, these are not paragons of well-run businesses. All 3 went bankrupt in the last 14 years. United went bankrupt in 2002, Delta in 2005, and American in 2011. They have been reliable destroyers of capital over cycles, regardless if they're selling miles or not. In fact, one one of the reasons the world is awash in AA miles these days is due to some massive mileage sales AA used to pay off creditors.

The biggest reason the "big 3" compete these days is because they all went bust and wiped themselves free of liabilities and the stupidity they had buried themselves into for a few decades. The second reason is cheap oil. The rest doesn't quite move the needle like these two.

These businesses are remarkably cyclical. Times are good now and they will be bad again at some point in the future. And mainly, times are nice these days because of just some very basic cyclical issues relating to the cost structure, not mileage programs or other things. No offense but those really are ancillary in the big picture of the cycle, especially in relation to the cost structure - the delta on say a 50% increase in oil is just crushing and wipes out any benefit from more mileage sales. Simply put, oil prices tanked (...well, this was good for ALMOST everyone...except our favorite airline CX who runs a consistently brilliant oil speculation desk) and the big 3 US guys all have restructured their cost structure, including labor contracts.

Ironically, airlines that haven't gone bankrupt in the US are now at a disadvantage. It is an amusing bit of irony that to compete in the US as an airline you are better off today if you ran your company into the ground. Talk about screwy incentives. Of course, this makes it remarkably shameless when the CEO of US airlines are criticizing ME and Asian airline subsidies....because the US's generous bankruptcy protection laws enjoyed by Delta, United and American is a de facto massive subsidy!

Anyway, my tangent aside I do think CX is leaving money on the table by having an inferior CPLP to the global guys like AA. Asia Miles, by being an inferior currency and program, is yet another way CX is not run optimally.

Because:

1) US Government bailed them out. Or we would be talking about them in history books.

2) They get very cheap oil/gas prices.

3) They nickle and dime US passengers on virtually all things (if you are not an elite member).

4) They are virtually a no-frills airline (domestic routes) masquerading as a full-service airline.

If Cathay has all of those 4 going for them. They would be one of the most profitable airline in the world. The Big 3 are profiting despite their loyalty program, not because of it.

The scary part is that CX and others will look to the US3 for profit-making inspiration.