I just took CX872 HKG-SFO. I knew the ISM from way past. He told me there were three DMPs on my flight. He asked what DMPs were. I was surprised there were so many on a single flight (given that there may only be 100-200 DMPs worldwide) - I was probably the only DM on SFO flights 10 years ago.

Maybe top exec. from Silicone Valley?

BTW - what is DM Invitation?

i am even more shocked that ISM do not know what DMP is....

They have private jets

DM IN: Consider them Lifetime DM (obtained this status some 20 years ago)...


That's exactly what I was thinking when I read that too.....

Not all INs are from grandfathered Life memberships.


To be honest, that's what I was thinking when I heard that..., but perhaps SFO is still not a common DMP route.

As correctly mentioned Diamond Invitation is an update of the Marco Polo Club Lifetime Member tier given to member who had flown over 2 million miles.

I reached that level in the late nineties and at the time it was a considerable effort as the route network was much smaller at that time.

When I first joined the MPC in 1976 the network was still very regional,there were no flight to London and as I recall there was no US destination yet.
The fleet was small with 3 X 707s being the mainstay of the long-haul routes which were then Sydney and Tokyo.

Pleased to mention I am still working travelling and flying with Cathay but it has taken me longer to reach the third million miles as I now fly mostly regionally in Asia. The forth million...I am hoping so.

Diamond Invitation are also those who are ahem invited to diamond. Usually people identified as influential within heir field/company that can sway dollars towards CX.

You will be surprised most of them don't.

For example, Sheryl Sandberg (Facebook COO) does not have a private jet and she flies commercial. She made the news when she missed the OZ 214 crash.

I'm not totally sure? I know folks who have been granted DM for this purpose, but they don't get IN. It's just regular.

I know and have traveled with folks who have "VIP" on their boarding pass. But that's clearly something else. IMO Diamond IN don't get anything special on-board in the limited instances I've seen it. VIP is a totally different league.

The only IN I know was a "lifetime Diamond" or something like that. What the fellow above is referring to. He earned it before they took that away. My impression, maybe it's wrong is just that IN are treated the same as normal DM.

Whereas DMP is a cut above, as is obviously VIP.

Is DMP really 1% of all the DMs? If there were 100-200 DM+, does that mean there are somewhere between 10000-20000 DMs? That number sounds a little too many for me.

This is very old data from the days when I used to be a DM and get to the events with senior management... (i.e. 2004). Back then I was told that there were around 5900 DMs of whom about 3500 were based in HK, and of those 3500 the split was about 50/50 expat & HK Chinese.

In that case the number of DMs now should be quite high- given CX's growth / KA frequent fliers' addition etc..the changes last year would have reduced the headcount, still..

One of my friend is DMP and I heard him say that there were well over 10,000 DM and some 2 to 300 DMP. If I were CX I would grant DMP quite generously as it primarily ego-boosting.

More like expectation-boosting, and all of a sudden you'll have all these new DMP's demanding service beyond even what they were already receiving as a DM.