just want to get some comments/advice from all of you here while I am deciding on my "frequent flying strategy for 2001"...

I have been a UA Premier Executive (requiring 50k+ miles a year) for a few years now...and a CX MPO Gold (requiring 60+ miles a year) for a couple of years now too...both middle tier...now thinking whether I should try to renew my MPO Gold or not...

this year, I probably would want to go for a top-tier with an airline, given all the special perks/upgrades and treatments I've heard, given to UA 1K, CX Diamond, or AA EXP...e.g. UA 1K get 6 one-way systemwide upgrades while AA EXP get 4 VIP2 upgrades (good for roundtrips)...while middle tiers get none of this...and, AA EXP gets me into the first-class section of The Wing in HKG, which as a Gold MPO I have never had a chance to go to (I was very lucky to have got quite a few operational upgrades from J to F on CX, short regional routes, but those don't get me into the F lounge)...

given my current estimate of business and leisure travel in the next year or two...it would again be mostly on CX (not a surprise since I am based in HKG)...and I usually do at least a couple of transpacific trips to US a year (or even through US to Europe, for mileage runs)...so the 4-segment minimum on AA should not be a problem if I choose to get AA status...

my thinking is...it's not hard for me to do a mileage run or two, in addition to the planned travel, to get 100k Q-miles on AA (for EXP) or even 120k Club Miles on CX (so CX Diamond is ~20% more travel than AA EXP, not talking about the detailed 50% mileage credit etc)...

however, in the process...I could have racked up some other 200k bonus miles with AAdvantage (100% as PLT/EXP, on all oneworld flights, status either through challenge or comp; another 100% if I return all the complimentary domestic upgrades, an unpublished perk)...but with CX, 120K Club miles mean exactly 120K Asia Miles only...and in many cases Asia Miles awards are a bit more expensive than AAdvantage awards (and also all the great promotions, either earning or using miles, with AAdvantage members flying CX)...

is it worth it getting only 120K award miles with Asia Miles (vs 360K potential award miles with AAdvantage)...just because CX Diamond would get better treatment on CX flights ?? or AA EXP, as oneworld Emerald, would do me good enough on CX flights ?? again, most of my travel, say 75% of the flights, would be on CX...

trying to get UA 1K probably don't make much sense, given that I do many CX flights a year, right ?? keep in mind that I do need to do at least a couple of mileage runs on my own to get this...and, I probably still want to maintain a certain MPO level, say at least Silver...

these are just my random thoughts at the moment...any suggestions ?? does it make sense to go for one top tier rather than keeping two middle-tier memberships, which I have been doing for the last couple of years ?? thanks !!

it would be worth it if the majority of the trips on cx are premium (1st or biz). aadvantage does have limits on coach class mileage (as least for usa members). but they also have the maximizer bonus which offers 10k bonus miles for 6 premium class one way trips.

also, aadvantage offers extra bonuses for premium class flights on the long hauls from us/canada. 20k one-way/50k roundtrip from yyz, 10k/20k for all other gateways. i picked up another 30k bonus on my rtw with this special.

at this point i think aa offers by far the most opportunties for bonus mileage earning activity. my 105k miles of flying earned me well over 300k miles with see the continents, special route bonuses, ttbns, etc. new route bonuses pop up all the time, even on existing routes. and all 1w status flights will give you bonus miles associated with your status level.

start it off right by singing up for the platinum challenge, and take it from there.

i think the bottom line depends on which airline you expect to redeem the miles. if your free travels will be intra-Asia, no question stay with CX/Asia Miles. obviously this depends a great deal on whether you are an Asia or U.S. resident.

also if you expect your travel pattern to continue indefinitely, i say stay with CX so you get the perks on CX.

i had the same dilemna several years when i lived in HKG as an expat and decided to earn AA miles whenever possible. i think it was the right decision for me because i am a u.s. resident and expected my future travels to be on aa rather than cx.

Without a doubt stay with AA and rack up the extra miles in doing so. The AA card will be recognised under the Oneworld scenario anyway. Five years ago I would have said the opposite.
CX are flying full so they choose to give away little in their homebase and put the pennies in the directors'bonuses instead meanwhile fending off the pilot strike threats etc. Diamond tier - No upgrade certificates, no tier achievement gifts etc. Well if you are in urgent need of a seat and are Diamond then you can get on. If you decide to go with CX Diamond then if anything you should register in USA or Canada. That way you earn bonuses that you would not earn as a HK resident, although you will be HK resident since the overseas CX offices have better competitive marketing incentives to get bums on seats.
As regards CX Diamond getting better treatment on CX flights that is hogwash. On some flights the chief pursers (now Inflight Entertainment Manager) might introduce themselves to you as a Diamond member and as Gold and other MPO members, on others
they do not bother and do not care. It's pot luck. Also be careful if you stay with CX not to go over the 120k miles that you need for renewal - if you do they will scratch the miles at the end of your membership year and set the clock at zero again so you might as well fly SQ and rack up miles with them thereafter.
CX are a good airline who do not fly into hillsides, which is why I have been MPO for 21 years, but the benefits and incentives of the top tier have been dramatically reduced, especially for homebase members.

Hi, tedhl,

My 2 cents.

I would go for AAdvantage first and then if I hit EXP, I would start putting up miles with MP.

AAdvantage earns miles a lot faster than AsiaMiles and compared with MP it is a lot easier to attain oneworld emerald. (I also doubt AA would take note of that 4 AA segment rule and there is also a somewhat critical loophole in crediting CX miles with AAdvantage.)

And CX treats you very well. (Just an aside, In Dec. I was even bumped to bus. after I turned emerald and somehow given a box of chocolate before landing.)

Can I ask you a question, btw? I thought gold status with MP require 90,000 miles. After you hit silver (30,000 miles), the count is reset to zero and have to fly 60,000 -- this is what I thought. I hope I am very wrong, though.

[This message has been edited by Chiangi (edited 01-05-2001).]

I have stayed with AA and been very happy. As I have posted here previously, I actually seem to have an easier time redeeming awards for intra-Asia travel on CX through the AAdvantage program than my MPO member colleagues. Recognition of EMRD status has always been superb-- much better than as an EXP on AA.

one note here is CX honor their oneworld partner very well. i.e. if there is a promise that aa/ba emerald should receive this benefit, they do it. (unlike manay other airline who have unwritten rule of dscriminate their partner - i was totally ignored by AA when i should my emerald card a few times, they said it is NOT their program)..and the inflight service manager greets you in the flight whichever program u r in....when they disciminated, eg ungrade priority, they make it a very clear rule also..........all this being said, you get more benefits in total if u belong to AA

Talking of reduced benefits, did any homebase MPO members get the free CX diary this year or have they canned that as well ?

there is a form in your MPO mail you could fill in and go to either the airport or their sales office in penisula hotel to take it. but they dont mail it out.....so i guess most ppl dont bother

[This message has been edited by tedhl (edited 01-05-2001).]

lonman:

the mileage maximizer offer (10k for 6 CX J/F flights, the transpacific gateway bonus) ended on Dec 31, 2000, and CX has said that this will not be extended (although I would expect they probably would have some new promotions in the future that are equally attractive)...and, yes, most (or all) of my business travel would be in J or Y/B anyway...and for leisure travel, I guess most economy fares ex-HKG are from the higher fare classes...so it probably won't cost me too much extra even if I always need to buy H, B or Y...

Marco Polo:

what kind of extra benefits/bonuses can I expect if I am a CX Diamond registered in US/Canada, as you mentioned ?? anything you can share with me ?? regarding the ISMs greeting me as a Gold MPO, that happens to me maybe a few of times when I travel in J/F...and never when I travel in Y...

Chiangi:

can you tell me what you meant by the "critical loophole in crediting CX miles with AAdvantage" ?? if it's not appropriate posting here publicly, you can always email me...thanks !!

yep, every time there is a change in your MPO status, your Club Miles/Sectors balance would be reset to zero - e.g. if you start from nothing (MPO Green or Asia Miles), you need 30,000 miles to become Silver, at which point your "counter" would be reset to 0, and you need to fly 60,000 more miles in the next 12 months to reach Gold; but if you are already Silver or Gold, you only need 60,000 miles to upgrade to or renew Gold...not always 30k + 60k every year...or, maybe I should add that it's not really 30k or 60k...because in almost all cases with your flight that gets you over 30k or 60k, you will end up with MORE THAN 30k or 60k, but your whole balance is reset to zero, not just 30k or 60k deducted from it...

and, it is not always a bad thing, since every member has his/her own membership year...he/she always has the whole 12 months to fly the required number of miles...unlike say in AA, if you start flying with them say in August, you have only from Aug - Dec to accumulate the status miles for next year...and that's why I need to get started with AA now, early in the year...

HKG_Flyer:

interesting..."to have an easier time redeeming awards for intra-Asia travel on CX through the AAdvantage program than my MPO member colleagues"...I thought the awards came out from the award inventory ?? or maybe it's the EXP desk who went the extra step to request extra award inventory for you when it's not available ?? I always hear the EXP agents are among the best...

pegasus8228:

I don't even know you could pick it up from the airport...I thought only from the city sales office in Peninsular...that's why I never bother to pick it up...

[This message has been edited by tedhl (edited 01-05-2001).]

it seems almost all of you here suggest me to go for AAdvantage...in fact it's similar to my own thinking...now it seems all your expertise confirmed what I think...

in fact, there is a few features in MPO/Asia Miles that I like:

- flexible Asia Miles award structure: in many cases you can include one more airline in your itinerary without giving up extra miles (I will use my remaining 200k or so Asia Miles for this purpose)...just like you are getting the whole award on CX alone...these airlines include AA, AY, IB, QF, OZ, SN, SR...

- confirmed economy seat (no need to be full Y) for MPO Gold when reserved 72 hours in advance, economy/J seat for MPO Diamond 24 hours in advance

- for MPO Diamond, access to The Wing's business class section (and other CX business class lounges worldwide ?) with 2 guests even when not flying oneworld

- upgrading with a wider range of carriers using miles, including CX, BA, KA, SN and SR...while I think with AAdvantage miles, there's not much upgrading opportunities other than AA, and CX (from full fare only, and transpacific only) ?

- earning/redeeming with Dragonair (of course I will continue earning Asia Miles when I fly KA, while it doesn't contribute to MPO)

- earning miles with credit cards in HK (so I will still be building up my Asia Miles balance, although not MPO status)

- earning miles while dining in HK (although I do not have that great an experience recently with the program)

tedhl, thanks for the clarification.

This really is a nice perk.

Ok people - this is my 2 cents worth of comments too.

I am MPO GOLD and AA EXP-Emerald.

I had decided earlier last year to give up and ocncentrate on AA when CP quit OneWorld. But once I figured out the amount of travel I had to do, realised that I could split equally my flights on OneWorld and stil attain CX GOLD renewal and qualify for AA Executive Platinum as well.

The advantages to CX GOLD is the high priority and guarantee of economy class seats within 72 hours of travel. Note that you can get confirmed seats on cheapie consolidator's seats too. Having said that, you can almost be assured that chances of you being upgraded at the airport is quite high on a full flight.

The downside to CX is that there are no loyalty bonuses, and the award requirements are quite high. The 'Diamond' upgrade perk is not guaranteed either, and that you require 120K miles to get here whereas on AA you only need 100K.

There are bonuses to AA's program but note that if you want to redeem CX flight awards, you may only do so ORIGINATING from North America and that upgrades are good on Full Y to J or any J fare to F class. The award requirements are also so much lower than CX's AsiaMiles. 40K on AA's award for an upgrade reward (only upgrade awards may originate from either Asia or USA) compared to AsiaMiles' 95K!

Having said that, as my travel dwindles somewhat considerably, I will be dumping CX's GOLD programme and concentrate all my flights on AA's now that I have more or less relocated to San Diego.

Guy Betsy,
According to AA.com, there are in fact awards from HKG to North America, although a little bit more expensive than the other way round (at least in J and F)...

North America - HKG: 60k/70k (Y), 85k (J), 125k (F)
HKG - North America: 60k (Y), 100k (J), 140k (F)

of course, if you are talking about the Millenium Award Sale, yes, those are valid for North America to HKG only...but those are Y awards only anyway, I am more interested in the J or F or upgrade awards...