Water bottle should be standard for all PEY passengers.

I think the greeting is a nice gesture, though it is done at a moment it suites the ISM, which might not be the passengers' optimal moment. I got greeted as GO, last week and I could hear the assembly line of ISM introduction coming, which definitely lowers the perceived value of the greeting Also the speaking is in such rapid voice, it needs concentration to hear and comprehend what is being said, especially the name of the ISM might be an important value, just to be able to have a better follow-up later in the flight, when needed. The best greeting moment for me would be, when I just sad down and have sorted out my first "making my home for the next many hours", before I head into other items myself. It would also be the moment, the ISM could offer some service, be it an extra blanket, a drink refill or whatever. Declassifies the whole as an assembly line and values it as a real greeting.

What would increase the meeting value even more, would be a touch to make the greeting unique&new for the crew: "How may we address you ?". Which would make sense in my case, since my surname is pretty well impossible to pronounce for Asian people. This is how CI does it and makes it more comfortable for the crew to.

During meal/drink service they address you by name, though have to lookup the name from the seat allocation paper. That's not a personal service

I am running into the same situation as OP. I took almost a year off from work and flew a lot on QR & AA J class. My membership cycle ends in Sept, but by end-Feb, I would have already got 100k CP. My dilemma here is if I should get all my flights (from Mar-Sept) count towards 17/18 DM qualifications or save it for the 18/19 membership year. Given I won't travel as much this and likely next year, I should only marginally make to DM for 18/19 and will definitely fall back to GD or mid-SL in 18/19. I usually fly the cheapest available J class on long haul and lowest Y or redemption on short haul. I usually arrive HKG just 1 hour prior, and my favourite lounge food is dan dan noodle instead of fancy meals, so I am struggling if DM memberships give me a lot more value versus money spent & effort. I am also running into another problem of having too many AM. Would be good if anyone can share your wisdom

Sounds like you're indifferent about the better ground services for DM. And the higher chance of op ups doesn't matter as much as you only fly short haul in CX. So the only point where being DM vs GO will make a difference to you is the ability to redeem flights. DM's still get better availability especially near peak periods. If you're very flexible about when you redeem flights AND don't rely on the better hotline service, then you won't lose much dropping to GO.

And, when already flying J, the GO might not be so much of a value either ........

I have been downgraded to GO and I'm a C class flyer. I can honestly say I might as well have no status as it gives nothing additional to me when I'm flying alone (the +1 lounge is worthless). 3 pieces, what good is this for Business travelers that tends to travel light? All other tangible/published benefits I get from the ticket itself. The point of a status is to give extra benefits that make flyers want to retain that status. Such as bonus miles, or goodies like upgrade certs (not wait till mid-tier), etc. Now I feel less intelligent for retaining GO in the first place. I will now officially become "Free Agent Business Class Traveler", there is really no airline that's worthy of my loyalty anymore (for my fly pattern).

I think this is generally true if you are going to fly in ticketed J on Asian airlines i.e. benefits from status are marginal. Especially in today's world where the hard products across so many airlines have converged to a mostly acceptable standard.

I raised that some 2 months ago: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cath...customers.html
Though it got largely laughed away. For loyalty of J class passengers, this is a serious issue, though.

Spoke to the SP on a short HKG-CTU tonight. Isn't it funny that she the SP said Emeralds and DMs can ask for food and drinks from J?

Based on your posting history, it seems that you also travel intra-Asia with family. Surely status could potentially add some value there.

not if he buys J for all

excessive piecewise lol
or the other possibility is usa or japan or europe

extra luggage always came handy. It is more like a peace of mind, that knowing you've got 55kg check in luggage that you would never go over, even if you not a heavy luggage traveler.