Invitation Members on MPO
 

Does anyone know what does it take to be an invitational member in MPO? I think you get the same benefits as a Diamond but it is a lifetime as opposed to annual privilege.

HKTraveler,

You are right in saying that Invitation members of Marco Polo Club receive the same benefits as Diamond card members but the only difference is that Invitation is based on lifetime basis as Diamond is on an annual basis as you mentioned.

From what I believe, to get an Invitation membership to Marco Polo Club, the management of Cathay Pacific (either the Chairman or CEO) has to invite you to be a member. The VIP's of HK Govt, CEO of multi-nationals are offered Invitation Membership.

Basically, it is similar of Qantas' Chairman's Lounge program where the CEO invites a member of be a member of the program. Apparently, if you want to be considered for Chairman's Lounge, you need to send in your resume to CEO's office and Geoff Dixon will make the decision wheather you get the membership or not. I am not sure if CX operates in this fashion.

If anyone knows more about Invitation membership of Marco Polo Club, we would like to hear from you.

Cheers,
oneworld Fan.

Do you have the address of the office? It would be great if you can send it to me via e-mail... [email protected]

Thanks a lot...

Tim

Hey oneWorldFan ... Glad to see you back !!

I've only seen one Invitation Member to date. On his boarding pass it says IN/22222222.

It USED to be that one has to be a Diamond member for something like 10 years straight before one is invited. But that changed when CX joined OneWorld and now, the entry is really by Invitation only. Basically it is offered to HK chairpersons of large corporation who have flown with CX since the airline's inception.

To other laymen.... if you have to ask, you won't be invited! CX will ASK you to be a special INVITATION member. If you've appeared in the local HK Tatler enough times, you MIGHT be considered for early membership. Otherwise, take a number and wait like the rest of us.

[This message has been edited by Guy Betsy (edited 07-18-2002).]

Invitation is not a life time membership. My boss was an invitation member but when he left his post and retired the membership was reduced to a Diamond membership (so he said) like us mere mortals.

Quite surprised at this, on further questioning he explained that this was a condition given to him at the outset.

Now I don't know if this is the case with all or some but he was told that there is no such thing as a life time membership by CX suits.

I remeber reading that it is lifetime at least for the old invitation members, i.e. the ones who qualify by flying 1 mil miles over a period of 10 years.

Given this new system, it does not sound encouraging that mere mortals like myself will ever get there. It does make one wonder if there are any other ways to get the Diamond privileges without logging 120,000 miles a year. Afterall, I would like to get out of this routine one of these days.

I guess there are two types of Invitation memberships out there...

some of the current Invitation members used to be "Lifetime" members in the old MPO...then the criteria was to fly in any class a total of 2 million kms, with a minimum of 10 years of continuous membership in the club...at that time they don't have a tier like the current Green level, so every year you need to fly a certain amount equivalent to the current Silver level (then it was called Green) to maintain membership in the club...so, to make it short, you need to be at least Silver level for 10 years continuous, and total 2 million kms (you don't really have to be Gold or Diamond for these 10 years, just minimum Silver)...and in the old MPO Lifetime members did get something that the current Diamond members don't get, like 2 confirmed upgrades a year...and some benefits like seat guarantees and first priority baggage handling were given to Diamond and not Lifetime members at that time...

when the new MPO was launched, all those Lifetime members were given Invitation memberships in the new MPO, and I think these are all lifetime Invitation...and now the benefits are aligned, all Invitation members get the same benefits as Diamond's...

on the other hand, there is a second type of Invitation members now...those CEOs, VIPs, etc...as Shout said, these are not lifetime...while there is no official requalification requirements, it doesn't mean that you hold on to the status forever...it's still being reviewed on a regular basis I think...

the only question I have now is...while there is now no official way to qualify for a lifetime Invitation membership (like before)...whether unofficially, someone who flies a total of say 1.5 million miles on CX would get invited ?? maybe there is, but it seems none of us knows...

btw, in the old club, only CX and KA miles counted...so now while some of us might be Diamond for say 10 years and have 1.2 million Club miles, I guess many of those are not on CX only...in the old MPO, all that 2 million miles needed to be in CX or KA...

Let me add that my former boss's successor asked for the same Invitation status knowing his predecessor had it. He was declined and told that this type of membership will not be given out anymore.

I doubt this is totally true but I think the message is tey do not want to encourage this type of membership. Unless you are influencing many people to travel with CX there would be no benefit to offer this to someone who is flying and may end up travelling somewhere else knowing his membership with CX is safe.

I would think that the reason now to give invitational membership is for staff to recognize VIPs and not because those people have power to infuence others to fly CX.

Back to the original question I don't honestly know. What I have seen is that someone I know very well got a CX Gold card even though he never uses CX Macro Polo. He credits all his CX flights to BA Exec Club. He is a CEO of a larger company. Also he has some initials behind his name awarded from both the British and now SAR government just to give some indication of his recognition in HK.

I wonder if he would get an invitation if he did put his miles in CX. I doubt it.

[This message has been edited by bagold (edited 07-22-2002).]

Bagold, by "now" what exactly do you mean?


By recognizing VIP's so they will....?

Influence others to tavel correct?

There is an interview with one of invitation MPO member on the recent club magazine. It seems he's flown for past 20+ years every month, and he's the oldest club member!