I am going to embark on a OW RTW trip from Australia in November, returning in Feb 2002. AT the moment my mileage is 59000, which is just short of gold status. If i travel the remaining 1000 miles say in July 2002 and become gold will I be gold until July 2003??
or will the points that i earn in Nov 2001 "expire" in NOv 2002 and thus my gold status only last until NOv 2002??

THanks for your advice

You must somehow earn your 1000 miles before your membership year expires. If your membership year expires in say, Sep 2001, by Oct 1, your 59000 miles will be zero'd down and you'd only just earn a silver level.

That's the way CX Marco Polo Club works I 'm afraid.

That's the way most FF programs outside the US work, no?

Thanks for your input...does the membership year begin when you first start accumulating points, or does it begin when you first join the Marco Polo Club??

Also, I've noticed on the Marco Polo Club website that American Airlines flights booked in M class only earn 50% of flight miles, whereas on the asia miles website M class earns 100%. THis isn't the only discrepancy between the two sites..

Does anyone have an explanation...or has the MPC website just not been updated recently..??

It looks like this is a very recent change. It says effective August 1, 2001.

Thanks chiym.

But didn't CX reverse last year AA's M subclass mileage earning ability from 100% to 50%?

i think last year it was really just a typo...they didn't really mean to change it from 50% to 100%...but this year it seems they are really changing it...although they haven't officially announced it anywhere yet besides in that little table the AM site...

it starts at the point you join...and ends on the last day of the month a year later...e.g. if you join say Aug 5, 2001...your membership year would be from that date until Aug 31, 2002...

however, if you reach a higher tier by getting enough points within the membership year, you will be upgraded to the higher tier and your "new" membership year will start at that point and last until the end of the month one year from then...

i would think that it's just that the MPO site is not updated yet...usually whatever you get from AM, you get the same amount of MPO club miles/sectors (for qualifying flights/activities only, of course)...

quote:
"it starts at the point you join...and ends on the last day of the month a year later...e.g. if you join say Aug 5, 2001...your membership year would be from that date until Aug 31, 2002...

however, if you reach a higher tier by getting enough points within the membership year, you will be upgraded to the higher tier and your "new" membership year will start at that point and last until the end of the month one year from then..."

so that means that as soon as you earn silver status you start a new membership year and will need to earn a further 60 000 miles to become gold then...that means u really need 90 000 miles to earn gold status...and if that IS the case, then I think that stating that gold status requires 60 000 miles is quite misleading..

yes, but just 2 caveats:

- you don't need to earn all these 90,000 pts within 12 months, in fact you could earn these 90,000 pts in as much as 24 months...e.g. you first earn 30,000 pts within the first twelve months, get your silver status, then earn the additional 60,000 pts within the "new" twelve months...yes, you need 90k total, but it's not within 12 months...and, of course, for renewal, you just need 60k, not 30k+60k...

- if you did earn 60,000 pts within the past 12 months, e.g. you earned 30,000 pts in 4 months, then your balance got reset, and you earn another 30,000 pts in say the next 4 months, talk to MPO or send an email to them, tell them you did get 60,000 pts within the last 12 months...i would say most likely they would be happy to upgrade you to gold...

so, i would say in general their system isn't bad at all...everyone has his/her own membership year...you always get a whole 12 months to earn those 30k/60k/120k...unlike other programs that are calendar-year-based...

This is very similar to InterContinentals' system for status. You need 30 night in a calendar year to reach Executive status. As soon as you hit 30 nights, your year starts over. If you then hit 50 nights in the next 12 months, you recieve Ambassador status, and a new year starts.

However, given how restrictive Marco Polo is, maybe you should consider joining one of the other OneWorld programs. The only downside is slighly less chance for an operational upgrade...

To add my 2c worth again.... chiyim, you mentioned that you've already gotten 59,000 m so far. Would you be relating it to Asiamiles? Now being a member in Asiamiles is not automatically Marco Polo Club. You still need to JOIN and pay the joining fee - though your travel agent may be able to waive the fee if they conatct the CX Sales office.

So even though you've got your 59K miles now, all previous miles flown on ONeWorld carriers do not count towards your Marco Polo Club membership. Your membership year starts when you join. If you have flown on Oneworld carriers a few months preceeding your application, the Marco Polo Club might take that into consideration and include some mileage into the year.

How MPO works in Asia/Europe/Australia is exactly the same as how British Airways Executive Club works too - because these two Clubs' award travel goes into Asiamiles.

Thanks for your replies everyone..they have been most useful..

guy betsy: no i have not earned those points yet, at the moment i am trying to weigh up the pros and cons of joining MPC and crediting those points to MPC vs other ff programs. Evidently it will be worth it as i should be able to attain gold status...whereas i would only be a silver with qantas...
i have not considered aa because they do not credit points in m class on some of the airlines that i am flying..and only 70 % on others...
i do not have enough info on the ba ff program...
any ideas..??

Sorry for digging out some old thread, but wanted to ask those who are familiar with the club membership structure.

Question 1) Say I achieve 34000 miles therefore I "renew" my membership year and qualify for silver. At this time, my qualifying miles have been reset back to 0. Well, my question is this. I had 34000 miles, but only needed 30000 to qualify. Then what happens to the difference of 4000 miles? Could I write to MPC and ask for this to be credited to my account?

Question 2) I have qualified for silver SO FAR. But counting from April of 2001, I would have earned 61000 miles accumilatively by Feb 2002. Since I earned all miles required for Gold level within the 10 months period, I should be able to ask to be upgraded to Gold as of Feb. 2002. If so, do I retain my Gold status until Feb 31st of 2003? (most likely I will only requalify for silver after that though...)

In fact, since there is loyalty bonus (due to work-to-rule) for the elite members, it should be even easier to retain the newly achieved status.

[This message has been edited by fakecd (edited 12-17-2001).]