Differences between gold and diamond?
 

Is there a huge difference between gold and diamond member? Can some dm member here share about your experiences? Thanks!

I am currently gold and had about 8xx club points, my calendar year end at march 2018, is it worth for me the run 400 club points more to reach the diamond status?

f ground service is the main perk for dm

Aside from F ground service, my experience has been:
- Far better call centre service - I generally have someone on the line within the first 3 rings on every call to the DM no.
- Better availability of full or upgrade seat redemptions on CX flights.
- More frequent op-ups when flights are oversold in the class you're booked in. I value this on short haul flights as company policy is to fly economy under 6 hours.

Points already listed above by 360cisitalia and KACommuter. The F lounges in HK are very nice but really not that necessary.

Is it worth it for you to "run" 400 more club points for these perks? If you are spending the money yourself then I'd argue not.

OP should also consider the mid-tier GO benefit... If you will still be far from DM next year i.e. your travel pattern won't afford you to stay DM then maybe you can run the mid-tier GO benefit instead...

Some of my friends were recently being upgraded from Gold to DM at their renewal. One of them even only had 700-ish CP.

so may be you don’t even need a run to get the DM

heard of this rumor/anacdotal stories after recent exodus but that's very very poor form. My colleagues did some miles run to meet the requalification (flew business to LAX) and if he figures out they are doing this what do you think he feels?

anyways that answers... Gold and Diamond are treated equally, if qualification bar is unofficially lowered.

Gold is $1278.47 an oz at the moment...
Diamonds...... I wish I could have an oz.

With a DM you can play the DYKWIA card properly with out being laughed at by any other DMs.

You probably will also be greeted so many times that makes you feel like a royal...

You can also proudly have first class tags every single time when you fly CX and KA!

Revenue based ? Hmmm, not sure, I got offered Gold from scratch, by just a click on a button after travelling J for less then a total value of EUR 7K.
Looks more "panic mode" to me, TBH.

Only AM sign-up and fly in 16 months for around EUR 7K. Got an email with the MP Gold offer, after flying 3 returns and one outbound AMS-HKG-BKK in J (effective I). And TBH, one more return purchased at that moment.

What might have helped is, I made a positive cabin crew recommendation on the last outbound (although that only got acknowledged a month after flying the inbound).

And what might have helped, is that none of the Gold perks would be applicable for me. So, effectively the only costs for Cathay would be sending the badges......

That seems useless, so they offer you gold status with no perks?

Gold with all the perks, though all the useful perks for me are already included in the J Ticket.

I've been pondering this question as I've calculated based on my travel plans next year, I'll be at around 800 with a few months to spare before the end of my membership cycle. From all the research I've done, I don't feel it will be any added value for me to go on a MR just to try and hit diamond.
- I don't fly that often, mostly just long-haul J every 3-4 months with a few short-med flights here and there. Therefore the chances of me being op-ed up will be slim, based on the fact that I don't travel that much compared to others. I've thought about trying to book PEY on my long haul flights and testing my luck, however I've realized I NEED to guarentee my comfort on a 15 hour flight.
- Other perks such dedicated telephone line, or better availability for seat redemptions won't really matter based on my current flight patterns.
- I don't value F lounge access that highly. CX J lounges are perfectly fine for me and to be honest, I usually go to the airport as late as possible and just pop in for a bowl of dan dan noodles.

As cool as it would be to actually hit Diamond and knowing that next year will probably be one of my best chances, it's just not worth it nor neccessary for me. The 1000 mid tier benefit however... not sure if it would be worth it to try and get that if I'm close.

Oh, my bad!
Yea, when you fly business class, the gold perks are useless and MPC need to work on that

Yeah, MPC Gold is rather useless, when you fly business class, I already raised some suggestions, see ;)
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cath...customers.html

But isn't it the same across any airlines that offer business?

Yes. I figure you get the following perks for being SL & GO flying CX J only:
1. extra luggage. It does come in handy when you've done some shopping.
2. guest 1 pax into lounge for GO.
3. Better chance and flexibility to use your miles.
4. Better chance to op-up into F

and I guess that's about it. However are you really missing compare with SL & GO flying Y?
1. priority check in
2. lounge access

My wife moves in between DM and GO each year depending on travel patterns. A few differences i have seen:

- DM call centre is much, much better. They answer instantly whereas the Gold line can take close to an hour at peak times.
- Gold rarely gets a greeting/water bottle onboard in Y.
- Not much difference in upgrades.
- no difference in flexibility if you need someone to push the boundaries of ticket terms. Both give a little but not a lot.
- priority boarding, J queue can often be enormous, F is rarely more than a handful of people.

Actually, the loyalty programs are there to create loyalty. And when the perks don't do so for J flyers, it's not a proper loyalty program. A proper loyalty program should fit all (or largely all) their customers. Not only those flying with cubic meters of luggage and/or have siblings not having lounge access on their own (because siblings not flying J themselves).

For example, China Airlines, just gives straight discount on new tickets (IIRC 5-10%), based on the previous flying. So, an instant "reward", good for loyalty, far better then having to accumulate miles on 10 flights and then HOPE, there is award available for the dates you want to fly. At least, CI did so, some 2 yrs ago, I don't know about the current situation.

Agreed. Premium flyers contribute the most to Cathays bottom line, and yet someone who flies exclusively in J would benefit the least from Gold. Talk about misaligned incentives.

If you are primarily a Y or Y+ flyer, than GO is good for you. If you are already a C flyer, then only DM is good for you, GO's benefits come with the C ticket already.

As for DM vs. GO, here's the run-down.

1) F-check-in - so much faster, very good service, and they are more generous to overlook little issues like over-weight baggage, etc.
2) F-call-center/MPO - again much faster, very good service, and again they are more generous to go above-and-beyond to grant you what you ask for.
3) On-board service - some crew will give DM very good service, and actively offer food from class above (but don't expect this, the point is *some* crew)
4) Problem resolution - DM will get the full service. Case in point: if I complain about luggage issues I always get a good amount of cash (my stays are generally short). As GO they keep making excuses and low-ball cash compensation.

I'm sure others can think of more. But these are the ones that stands out for me.

We have been complaining to Cathay about this forever. Instead of beefing up benefits for premium flyers, Cathay's dumb solution is to take away benefits from low-end frequent flyers. So afterwards Premium flyers are NOT happy (most of us don't get pleasure seeing benefits taken away from frequent Y flyers), and they upset their base of frequent Y flyers. A big loss-loss situation.

Recently to amend that situation they gave more Club points to Y and Y+ flyers, but the damage is done. So not only has Cathay lost their loyal base of low-end frequent flyers, they still have a bunch of upset premium flyers, and Cathay is wondering why they are losing money?

What is the GO benefits taken away for Y flyers?
The only one I can think is the 72 hour V class ticket...

I thought its no longer V class / lowest fare bucket anymore?

yeah, that's the GO benefit taken away for Y flyers....

I don't like long lines, and I guess most people, if given the choice, would prefer shorter lines. For that reason, and many more other fellow DM members have said, I think DM and GO are miles away!

Previously, they never responded/budged when I asked 'can you ask if an exception can be made from your relevant department', asking for an upgrade award seat to be released.

Today, they finally were willing to do that.

Plot twist, the response was still negative after the hold. LOL.

Well, 2nd day as DM and better results at 3888. Fell off waitlist yesterday, called in today ~72 hours before departure, finally got an R->U seat for my companion at J3 C3 D0 I0.

Did not have to pull a DYKWIA as agent said 'let me check if there is any seat available *to release for DM*'. So far so good :P :P :P

Checked availability for full redemption online prior to calling, it wasn't available for standard/Priority 1/2 either.

I have seen R->U seat available within 72 hours of departure with J3 C3 D0 I0 too ad a lowly SL. And whenever I call their standard response is always "let me heck whether there are any seats available".

So unless they mentioned specifically about "releasing seat for DM", it might just have been a coincidence.

(I don't mean to disappoint)

Are you able to call up CX and ask for seats to be released, even as a SL member?

Yes, my point being DM was specifically mentioned. Oh well, of course there's still a long way to go for CX to redeem themselves.

congratulations! Welcome!

......and given what a frequent contributor you are, and your familiarity with CX and the AA EXP program while mainly flying on CX metal, I hope you'll start a thread in a few months. One that breaks down the differences (if any) flying CX as a partner OWE vs CX DM, and perhaps why someone should (or shouldn't) consider being DM vs partner OWE when flying mostly on CX. Can't think of someone who would be able to do it better than yourself.

Hopefully Diamond is what you were hoping it would be.

For OWE on cx

i was not a believer of OWE when i was OwS... but once experienced it i definitely feel there is large difference between second in the pack vs top of food chain... in an essense the perception i have is as OWE each OW airlines will treat you like their own top tier member but as OWS you just become just another frequent flyer without much kudos.

so if you travel also on non CX flight i think OWE goes quite far, besides tangible benefits like F lounge or baggage allowance. if you are always on CX, they know they have to look after their Gold well too so you might not see difference.

I had DM for a couple of years then fell to GO when I put most of my miles to AA to get EXP, and now back to DM and no elite for AA. So it's DM - EXP (GO) - DM. Fly J TPAC for both business and leisure during this time on CX, JL, and US domestic on AA. On JL, I don't see any difference being an OWE or a nobody J flyer. On CX, I don't really see the difference between EXP and GO, but as a DM, I can really feel the difference :)