20k to 2million miles...goodbye CX!
 

I have been a Marco Polo member for more than 20 years and I am 20k miles before reaching two million miles with CX. I had asked for a grace period to requalify for Diamond as I only had 960 points (30 missing) at the end of my qualifying period in January. They said they would extend until the end of April for me to make up the remainder. In early March I spoke to the club and asked if the added crisis bonus points can be used toward my criteria and the answer was yes. We even added upcoming sectors MNL-HKG-MAD and realised that I would have 1205 points, well within the requirement. Two days before my trip, Cathay emailed to say that my flights have been cancelled. The Madrid service has since been terminated and they emailed again to cancel a second time.

I have purchased a ticket on CX that would have allowed me to requalify to Diamond. The problem is the flight is no longer operating and will not resume until after my extension period. Marco Polo was adamant that they will not extend until the flight resumes. They said I should fly on a partner carrier. I am under lockdown in San Francisco. Given the extraordinary circumstances, I find it unreasonable for Marco Polo to be unyielding with this matter.

How do I fly the qualifying flights if they cancelled it? The flights are paid for!

I have the ticket that will make me requalify. It was them who keeps rescheduling my flight. After all these years of loyalty, why will I bother to reach 2m with them?

I feel your pain. But this is in fact the worst time to travel, regardless of your reasons. So FWIW - you can't really blame airlines for cancelling fights.

Also - CX does not really have a MM/LT program. So congratulations on such accomplishment, the purported 2m really means nothing...

Maybe a membership holiday would help?

Also, if you are "under lockdown in San Francisco" and booked MNL-HKG-MAD, you would likely not be able to do a regular transit anyway due to quarantine requirements:

• Only Philippine residents or diplomatic passport holders are allowed to enter Philippine and needs 14-day quarantine
• Only HK residents are allowed to enter Hong Kong (and probably needs 14-day quarantine before attempting to fly next sector); transit is suspended

Not sure if you are trying to do club point runs or really need to repatriate, it's now much more difficult to do actual travel than finding a way to extend your status.

What happened to your relief club points? They gave us 140 Club Points per month for February, March and April, which should have pushed you past the required 1200.

As it is not yet May, you could also call and request for a membership holiday.

That I also didn't get. Each month of Feb/Mar/Apr gets one 140 relief club points as a DM so by now OP should have been re-qualified already. Am I missing something?

OP mentioned January as membership year end hence no DM relief points. Surprised that they are so strict as I heard some got renewed easily. I have to decide tomorrow whether to ask for a holiday or wait patiently for CX to make an announcement in respect of those with Jan to April 2021 membership years. I can't see myself travelling till end of the year.

OP said he got extended till April 2020, and was told that "crisis bonus points can be used toward my criteria."

While not official, many people have benefited from milestone upgrades and 2 million miles is definitely a milestone. If you will meet the milestone with 3 TPACs, perhaps it's worth considering before jumping to another programme.

Someone recently got 4 bookable upgrades for 3mm milestone

Let's be realistic - you want a LT status or upgrades?

Thanks everyone, but it seems as if CX has dropped the ball on this one. I sought relief by getting in touch with customer relations but they endorsed me back to the Marco Polo Club to decide.

The crisis is probably the great reset button, the passage of what was once a great, customer service driven airline into just another ordinary airline trying to survive. This is that point in time, perhaps, at least in my opinion, when CX became like Pan Am and TWA during their final years- a shadow of their former selves just trying to survive and forgetting all about what made them special.

Does MPO give up LT status for any milestone (no matter how high)?

If you think the world will change, it might not change the way you think. State owned carriers or LCCs will be the survivor, with no middle ground https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/ar...ine-buccaneers . These airlines have no need for (your) loyalty, that’s not what keeps them in business.

No.

But if you are really an extreme high spender, I think CX may give out Diamond Invitation. Just my guess here.

Everyone is upset by the pandemic and hurt in several different ways in travel restrictions and other aspects. I feel your pain.
To summarize your situation you were 20% (or 240) below the requalification sometimes in January. That's a lot. You were not due a grace period but CX granted it. Points are credited are based on tickets actually flown, not purchased. Relief points for February to April are granted based on current status, so I assume you are granted relief based on Gold status (65 for February and March) but it's unclear whether those relief points during a grace period would even qualify..

All airlines are considering how to deal with their elite status, but probably wait to see how the situation evolves. Unfortunately your status expired before the major impact of the crisis on airlines. But a gentle push might yield some positive result, maybe not today but in the future.Ranting at any airline, whose industry is the most affected by this crisis and survival questionable, seems a childish.

BTW: You state that you are currently in lockdown in SFO and booked in March a MNL-HKG-MAD. That sounds a bit weird.