Thinking about returning to CX and go for DM again
 

I have abandoned CX a long time ago (was 15 years CX DM) since other airlines hardware have caught up. Recently I purchased CX J from Shanghai to Hong Kong and was very surprised that most passengers are Taiwanese and from their conversations their final destination is Taiwan (via HK). I know before the direct flights this is golden goose for CX, but just out of curiosity are many people still doing it to maintain status or simply love CX that much?

This made me think about returning to CX for the following reasons: 1) Chinese airlines miles expired after one year. They force you to use it on a yearly basis. I like to save them for family travel redemptions where I can fly my whole family with me in J class, but by making it annual, it's impossible for I have a big family. 2) As for redeeming points, forget it, most of the times the dates are blacked out or no availability. 3) Chinese airlines hard J products are either broken or have some flaws to them that makes resting hard and happens often enough to make any trip a very unenjoyable experience. 4) I'm shock the same can be said of Taiwanese airlines (granted Eva J product is magnificent, but good luck trying to reach anybody if you're not EVA Diamond and their points are mostly useless). Since abandoning CX I have mixed my travels around: United, EVA, China airlines, China Eastern, Xiamen Airlines, and American Airlines. All mid-tier with each airline, but I'm actually considering consolidating and returning to CX.

But before I do, I wanted to ask you all, is CX still as good as I remember them? Good redemption, good customer service, good hardware (if they do upgrade in timely matter), and good all-around onboard experience? (My trip from Shanghai to Hong Kong has great service from the FA but the ISM has an attitude and would simply invade my space without permission nor apology).

I have still been positioning myself to start CX tickets from TPE whenever my timing and effort spent makes it possible or worthwhile. These are especially for my long-hauls. I occasionally position ex-TPE to book cheaper J tickets to China (mainly to/from Shanghai). For the past 1-2 months, however, it seems that CX has rostered the old 773 onto the HKG-PVG route, so that most of the afternoon and evening departures are with the old 2-3-2 Business class seat. In that case, I have just booked economy class, and then snagged an exit row seat at Row 54. For a two-hour flight, this exit row seat does not make much difference to me vs. the old J seat. And, for my short trips of next-day-returns to Shanghai, I am still getting 40 Status points booking in Econ for fully-flexible ticket. All in price around ~HKD 2,500.- round-trip (depending on flights), so that's a good deal for me.

I dumped my DM status a while back and one of the ones I got on board with was CI Dynasty Fler. In no time I was uo to Emerald in no time. The service with them is good and I have found it easy to speak to the HO in Taipei. They are good at replying messages as well.

Yes, I heard if you're the TOP tier for CI or EVA they will be great to you, after that forget it. Well, not sure I can position all my flights ex-TPE to be their top tier.

Thanks for the tip, but my company pays for it, but I see what you mean about 2-3-2 (yeah, I was shocked). It's really a travesty these are still around for a supposedly top 5 airlines in the world (or trying to be). Even the worst you get with CA or MU is 2-2-2.

I am not a DM and only a G on BR but looks like their service has been going down for a while so now looking at CX once again. I fly on my own so cannot afford business all the time but PE I can and so looking to see how to compare CX PE to BR PE? I fly from BKK to YYZ and vice versa as my main route. It does not bother to transfer either at TPE of HKG. Only positive about TPE is the short connection time both ways.
Any advice or opinion would be much appreciated. And I think I can hit at least G on CX in a year. How long do their points remain and do they give better points for the milage that BR?
Thank you.

CX points don't expire as long as there's activity in your account.

If you're comparing CX to "a long time ago", you are going to be as disappointed as Noel Philips

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w1BEt0UHAY

Thoughts for you

• I also saw TPE-HKG is a mixture of old 773s and 321neos (that I also dislike in business)... if this is your regular route, it may not be ideal. Only some early morning / late evening flights seem to have more modern 777s
• Compared to the Chinese carriers that you list I fell that CX is going to offer a far superior service, though probably not as good as you remember
• My particular differentiator from most Mainland carriers (am less familiar with the Taiwan based ones) is the Cathay lounges are far superior, though there are fewer of them than there were 5 years ago (not so sure about a decade before that)
• Your Asiamiles now never expire, and CX does a good job now of making increased availability for CX flights for Asiamile members vs other oneworld schemes, you will see more availability than with BA Avios for example. I have also enjoyed the perk of being able to upgrade at the airport to First with miles instantly (obviously needs some caveats and there aren't many routes)
• Plus, perhaps a good thing as it was recent, the miles cost of CX flights has been devalued relatively recently so should be stable for a bit
• However, unlike BA you aren't going to get a guaranteed minimum number of seats on a flight from AM. But if you are booking for example a trip to Beijing in 4 months time, at least from HKG, there will be plenty of business class seats for the whole family.
• Diamond does get extra availability online in some instances, but nobody seems to know exactly what that looks like
• Unlike 5 years ago it is no longer possible on CX to create complex nested journeys, as most tickets now have a 168 (5 day) stopover limit... I used to have trips starting in TPE with a few weeks in HKG before I went to, for example, the USA

Personally I find that the BA OWE (BA Gold) status is far easier to achieve than CX Diamond and has most of the perks I need in terms of onboard service and lounges, without the need to do the same number of flights as DM (being HKG based I only have 2 segments on most trips). I then earn my AsiaMiles via credit card spend, so I get the increased availability.... And having Avios + AM lets me take advantage that Avios are cheaper than AM for many Asian routes now (e.g. HKG-PEK is about 30% less on QR Avios, though it isn't a 1:1 comparison.... so recently booking 4 seats I did 2 on QR Avios, and 2 on AM) as that is what the flight had. I would value AM more highly than Avios, and have 500k+ miles in each programme due to the recent AMEX conversion devaluation)

I would be very tempted in your case anyway, whether BA Gold or CX DM -> I am biased towards loyalty, and therefore think it is better to have some form of status than purely buying a ticket on a cash basis each time... but I am not entirely price sensitive and tend to look towards quality as well. I also have to fly CX in economy for shorter trips with work... and find their economy perks when OWE, particularly the lounge and welcome water, make it a far superior experience to just a no-status flier - if you are purely flying business there will be less differentiation.

Is this to be combined with Cathay (RDM) miles from credit cards as well?

Because at 1,100-3,500 AM per TPE-HKG-PVG Y, 6,000-7,000 AM per TPE-HKG-PVG J, how many R/T to long haul J redemption from BIS (and worse, for family)?

Depending on RDM thru BIS as early modern FT history as fax check-in and reconfirming flights 72 hours before travel.

I think the more important question would be how CX fares against the current competition, rather than against how CX was 15 years ago; since the choice is what to fly now, and overall there has been a noticeable decrease in service levels globally.

Status: Having status, especially DM, on CX is still very valuable. The things you listed - redemption availability, customer service, all-around on board experience - is still very good for a DM, and I would consider it to be among the best in the world.

Hardware: Admittedly, hardware is lacking a bit, I was recently on some old 330's to TPE both ways, but when you compare it to BR's 320's where I didn't even have a TV on a narrowbody, and I would much prefer CX.

Bags / flight delays: Honestly I will still rank CX as among the best in the world. They did have high profile flight delays and cancellations, but those are rather one-offs, and much better than any Western competitor.

Lounges: Still good but I find them to be a lot busier than before, perhaps due to the fact that many credit card holders will get X number of lounge passes per year.

Service: Worse than before - especially in Y - but among the best in the world in 2024. Based on the other airlines you fly on, it will be a world of difference versus AA and UA.

VS other Taiwanese airlines: I put CX above CI and BR; I have only heard great things about JX but have not flown with them personally. Service as a DM is better than top tier on CI/BR; service as a no status, economy flyer is way better than being no status and economy on CI/BR.

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TL;DR Summary: CX service and reliability isn't as good as 15 years ago but still rank among the best in the world, since service standards and reliability globally has sadly fallen. I find them better than all Western and ME carriers (controversial but just my view), and I think they are in the top 5 with SQ, JL, NH, and perhaps JX.

Sometimes the carrier actually has to be somewhat efficient in gettting you from A to B. There's no point for instance saying SQ does a better job than the carriers currently operating from NYC to LAX, or even HK to Japan.

Yes, agreed. I just meant that CX is still in the top 5 in the world, since OP was wondering about the overall service experience.

Comparing their fares to BR are they generally more expensive on business class? I fly from BKK to YYZ and return and it could be KUL to YYZ or MNL to YYZ and the PE product on the BR 777 is fairly good. The business is very good. I know the CX business is very good too but not sure about the CX PE service. I should know soon as flying a short haul on PE on them.

Service level and amenities are better on long haul PEY (HKG YYZ) vs intra Asia short haul.