Enhancements

I do think it's a little too late to retain people. Given that MPO qualification is cascading (club points reset with every tier) it will take a lot to convince now-GRs or SLs to go the extra mile back to GO/DM.

Cathay Dragon 666

Based on the sentiments here, seems like most people that have left is very happy to find greener pastures elsewhere.

If they are hoping to retain people back, the success rate will be mixed. But it's better than doing nothing.

Cathay should make changes in the hope of attracting new sheep, as old sheep has found out even with this latest enhancement other programs are better. But new gullible sheep might not be as sharp and fallen into the Cathay net.

I say that not to make fun of, but it's reality of business, and if I'm Cathay management I would make changes aim to attract new suckers. The old ones are angry, fed-up, found better pastures, and short of throwing them free DMs they are less likely to be as loyal as before.

hew204

Solution - instead of CX hiring overpriced consultants to revamp MPC, as they did with the last major change, why not reach out to active CX FTers to see if they would be willing to consult? Maybe CX did, in fact, reach out to customers when considering prior changes, but given the fall out from the last round of changes, it is apparent they did not have a grasp on customer behavior throughout all MP levels. Based on the CX related comments I have read over the years, FT is a gold mine for understanding what makes us (frequent flyers) tick.

QRC3288

To be fair, I have seen some improvements lately that at least don't have me jumping ship:
*Super lounges (well known across the board)
*F class upgrade vouchers at 1,600 points is a great benefit to me and is keeping me loyal.
*Companion GO at 1,800 is also worthwhile for me, although I understand others may not care. But I now target 1,800 per year before quitting (versus 1,200 before the mid-tier benefits came out)
*On-board service towards DM hasn't changed. True, staff are less happy now than 5-10 years ago which is a real bummer and a poor reflection on CX and Swire. But still, the service standards and respect for DM are very good and staying strong, and this is appreciated.

My biggest complaints on the micro level are:
*Endless cuts to F&B in J and F class, which I primarily fly. The cuts after cuts after cuts are noticed by us who pay CX's bills.
*Awful regional J class hard product, as well as terrible regional J catering.
*Gutting KA catering, which used to be reliably superior to CX is now just as bad as bad CX short-haul flights.


Biggest higher level complaints, which are improving, are:
*Overly generous treatment for partners at the expense of MPC / AM.
*Ties in with overall weakness of MPC program.

Hello CX...the world is global. You have an noncompetitive program. By favoring MPC members in things like award bookings (complemented with MPC benefits), you will drive incremental purchases of Asia Miles and new MPC sign-ups. When it can actually be superior to be a partner (example; AA EXPs, aka OneWorld Emerald status can make a bunch of bookings on CX flights and then cancel them for free with AA. This essentially gives clever AA members a superior waitlist to CX's own MPC members! We are, after all, forced to ticket redemption bookings and cannot hold more than 3 at a time).

I'll add CX's revenue contribution from me has dropped significantly once I found out you could essentially "buy" CX F class for 2-3k USD round-trip via Alaska Airlines arbitrage, which is an insult to any of us who actually paid freight for F class over the years. I've casually chatted with a few peers who also pay for CX F. This isn't scientific, but "incredulous" is how I'd describe the reactions. There are longer term costs to filling the front this way and CX is starting to feel that now.

Improvements won't happen overnight, but the higher level complaints are slowly being addressed. I will absolutely jump ship if more cuts happen or MPC is further reduced to where the gap with competitors widens further, but my take on the new management is they....have a clearer concept of who pays the bills. Hint: it's not the bloggers and mileage burners, even though they're the loudest cohort by far.

So in response to your post, although I am absolutely more "aware" of getting ripped off by CX and MPC and will jump ship if things get worse, right now we're at a reasonable steady-state I think and perhaps even the situation is looking up, not down.

Ausriver

Why would you value 4 upgrade voucher over DM? I personally found them very hard to use for my wife. They came with terrible value if used for Y->W or W->J, or used for short hauls. While most medium haul came with a PEY cabin, they just so hard to really get the value came with them.

We end up with using all of them on KA, HKG-PVG flights, does came with 15 club points each, which is good. however, if you ask me would I chose 4 Y->J upgrade on HKG-PVG or a DM tier normally came with 4 more op-ups a year (if you flying at least 40 legs) + other perks......I wouldn't care much about the 4 upgrade certificate.

LapuLapu

I'm one of those old sheep who's found greener pastures with EVA Air and their cheaper PEY seats, better cabin service and internet while being on board between LAX and MNL.

I used to be CX Gold for the last 10 years (DM in 2008-2010). Now down to SL and just took 1 roundtrip this year on CX as I moved my flights all to BR.

The increase in the points is interesting to me. It looks like I can maintain GOLD, if I fly about 4.5 PEY trips per year which is doable.

Will I jump back? I'm not sure...I do miss HKG as the transit point and also the convenience of CX's multiple flights to MNL. With BR, I end up being in TPE for about 4-5 hours transit vs 2-3 hours in HKG.
I would definitely miss the internet onboard as it makes the flying time more bearable. I would miss the more attentive service from the FA's of BR vs CX. CX has lost their legendary on board service when they stopped hiring from other parts of Asia instead of millenials from HKG only.

Will I jump back even if CX says, we will reset you to GOLD again if you fly with us again? It would be tempting and I would definitely consider that as an atonement for their disastrous changes to MPC.

I was loyal to CX for over 12 years and it was hard to let go. If they are serious about making it right again, they have my interest piqued.

hew204

I was able to use the ones I earned this year for my partner and me to CMB over Easter, which resulted in a real value of over USD4k. If I continued to earn them, I could use them when I travel to India and DXB. All these routes allow for Y->J (lie flat) upgrades.
I will see how lucky I get with DM op-ups this year and see if my comparison view on the value of GO upgrades changes.

Cathay Dragon 666

I would say only the combination of competitive fares (Y fares are competitive), eased up points system (done), and increase in product/services (in progress) can win lost sheep back.

So Cathay spent 30 years training Y-DM/Y-GO on paying more to fly with them, only to forced a mass exodus with the new program, and now seems to wave the white flag again and accept Y-GO back at discounted ticket prices.

fakecd

they can double CP. but i still wont fly them on 3-4-3 777s.

the type of guys who pay premium for FFP benefits are savy and wont choose sardine configuration. the type who buy absolute lowest fare dont.care about seating or CPs as long as you can get there.

You cant succeed just with a generous FFP when your operation is medicore LCC

Nicc HK

You could well be right, but for me, it is Sayonara.

fish0105

I think the 343 cabin will be tolerable on regional routes.(As I am a skinny guy)

However their regional J is still not competitive to their competitors even they boosted the CPs IMO.

QRC3288

I know this is getting way too advanced, but in a perfect world

a) CX would stop swapping regional and longhaul aircraft, aka you could actually predict, and
b) CX priced the two products differently. Perhaps I or D fare from outports can't access longhaul J regionally or something.

I realize this is impossible, but I'm just throwing it out there given how vast the hard product gulf is between regional biz and longhaul biz. CX pretends they're the same for pricing but they're not. And since CX J catering is so poor, there is just nothing to fall back on except to say yup I got ripped off, if you bought the expensive ex-HKG Tix.

Likewise, CX could award you significantly more Club Points for paying consistently higher regional fares. If CX would guarantee me 35G J class regionally to places like SIN, SGN, NRT, PEK etc. and gave more CP to boot, I would absolutely be +15-20pct more loyal AND would be willing to buy rack rate J or C each time. And I wouldn't even need too much improvement in F&B if CX insists on keeping the food crap in J because I have a very spacious seat and, in the case of 35G, WiFi so I am nearly as productive as I am in the office. It's not mainly about wifi though, it's about value. If I buy SQ1 or 863 or the late afternoon flight to SIN I get longhaul J. In 3 years of using SQ more often, and 10 years of using them sporadically, I have not had a swap on the A380 or 77W flights. Aka I can count on it like you can 77H to HND. As a customer who pays my own bills, I appreciate this. I can actually buy a J or occasionally F class ticket down there and lo and behold I get what I think I paid for.

Versus CX...you usually can predict with CX, but not always! And it's those infrequent but persistent swaps which just ruin the value proposition somehow in my mind. Sure it's all business class, the technical minded people will say. But the practical person says no, 2-3-2 with no direct aisle access at many seats and people crawling over you is NOT the same as your own private seat with guaranteed aisle access and tons of storage space. Very different.

And why pay up when the two hard products (regional vs longhaul) are so obviously different (hello CX, they are obviously quite different to us customers despite you pretending/wishing they're not), when the product itself could be swapped away if you "book" a regional flight rostered as longhaul J? And to top it off we get not much extra to buy rack rate J in terms of CP, F & B is downright awful, and staff are clearly demoralized and rude to each other and don't have much pride in CX anymore... which we the customers experience in the form of poor service.

So until that happens, I'll continue to fly SQ, EK, etc. regionally and medium haul where I can get the product I paid for.

Rant over. I wish I could stress that equipment swapping regionally is a major factor for me, along with biz and first class catering. Staff demoralization and how well CX treats partner award bookers / aka the weak value proposition for MPC+Asia Miles probably round out my top three or four main issues. I earn too many CP to count so I didn't fall into the "CX screwed me over" group of loyal Y and PEY pax, but I sympathize with then too because that was also idiotic.

Kachjc

yes please go fly SQ, who send their regional cabins on 8 HOUR MISSIONS

and please stick with EK, whose stellar new 777 long haul business cabin is 2-3-2 configuration!

The average CX flight has a superior hard product to any of these airlines , yet you chose them.

SQ still has 777;s without power sockets!!

CX has not screwed you over, its EK's and SQ's trashy bling and gold trim...

QRC3288

I fly SQ to SIN in J and F, SQ to SFO in F, and I fly EK in F. I do not fly EK in J class.

For SQ, I choose my flight numbers to be on 77W and the A380 and nothing else. I would say I am fairly familiar with this because I buy an excessive amount of airline tickets.

When I go to DXB not on EK, I fly CX J class. Which is guaranteed Cirrus.

I​​​​​​ have never had the problems you describe on any of those flights. For CX, there are no flight numbers where you're guaranteed an aircraft to SIN. I am speaking from an extreme amount of experience here - you can pick your product on those other carriers where I fly. I'm sure you can find examples in blogs or on the internet proving otherwise, but I do my research, buy tickets, and do not have problems on those other carriers. Meanwhile, on regional routes I have been burned by CX many times before.

Cathay Dragon 666

The worst thing about Cathay is not their superior hard product, is that for regional routes they can screw you over. I always buy regional fares based on aircraft (if I can), but I've found out the amount of homework done is irrelevant, they can switch craft on you any second and you found out you're on one of those grandmother 777s.