Cathay is still in an essentially monopolistic position - I believe they make a lot of their profit from the Japan routes, but just look at the competitors on major routes to Sapporo and Osaka and Fukuoka (hint: it's their own subsidiary HK Express, or the less-than-great HK Airlines and Greater Bay Airlines).

The post-pandemic boom from HK has really been Japan travel (much like the rest of the world) and they are absolutely cashing in. I wish JL or NH would challenge them more on these non-Tokyo tier 1 cities.

I think rollover does make sense. Though we can retro-claim but you�ll be nobody (especially in Y) without the FFP number printed on boarding pass. I stoped using CX FFP when I hit 600 as a GO. The onboard experience is very different. Rollover would help eliminate this inconsistency.

Will there be a limit on the amount of SP that can be rolled over, and the timeframe? For example, if I collect 2400 SP in year 1, will I be able to roll over 1200 SP to the next year (year 2), which means I don't need to fly on CX during year 2 and remain as a DM in year 3?

Can't disclose / speculate on any details here but I think you can all be assured it most likely won't be a BA 2.0

If I can add: the single most valuable benefit of MPC DM by far and by large was the no ticketing deadline benefit. Sadly, this has been enhanced away last year.
(I would take the new improved priority redemption inventory as a consolation prize, but the utility doesn't come close. For example, it is very restrictive - you basically cannot access these inventory at all through the call center, so it is close to impossible to make changes or tag on another sector, etc.)

The unlimited ticketing deadline is now heavily restricted and forces you to issue around a month before your departure. I am experiencing this enhancement first-hand as I want to change my ticket but don't want to pay thousands of HKD. Sadly this benefit is now limited to a very small group of passengers.

As for the priority redemption, I am unsure if it's still possible to ask for redemption seats from CS if there is V class. Also, I am unaware of changes towards the redemption system, at least not towards a DL/VS-style one.

I think I can answer the reason here, with a fairly simple illustration. Of my Hk-based social/professional friends people I interface with most regularly (I don't know how to better describe, these are "friends" and "associates", not like my actual mates but people who are in positions in their companies similar to mine and we know each other somewhat), I would say DM is probably the most common title. There are also DM+, IN and VIP. Pls ignore judgement about our lame conversation starters, it is true this is an easy way to break the ice in HK, since Cathay has a big role in a lot of people's monthly and often weekly lives here. It is very easy common ground to start a chat. Despite cumulative hours and hours of small talk about Cathay and a lot of details shared among people, I had never heard of this benefit, not had it ever come up. Seat guarantee, yes. Lounges, drinks on board, J and F seat design, wine, events, all the time conversation. But "cancellation/ticket hold benefit", never

I only read about this benefit here, as it was shutting down. I really felt i had missed something great. My hunch is it was probably heavily used by a small percent of DMs in the known and a majority of us were none the wiser.

This is probably like an "off-menu" item in restaurants. I found out about this DM benefit over the course of working with the call-center exhausting ticketing options/dates. Call center did not promote or explicitly state, at least during my interaction with them, this benefit existed and it was specifically for DM. And some call-center reps did not even know about this benefit and sometimes they would even get the allowed ticketing deadlines wrong.

I agree with you, and I must admit I've never been able to understand why this benefit is so important (a DM friend try to explain when he wanted to get me onboard a protest against the change last year, but I never really comprehend).

Becuase in my understanding, ticket price generally only goes up. Even if it doesn't go up, it is very rare to have a sudden price cut days (or hours) before the actual flight. So you tend to get the higher (or highest) fare class ticket issued when you use this benefit.
I'm not a big executive, are those people so busy and their schedule so hard to confirm that they need to book 4 seats on every CX580/581 departing in January from 1st to 31st in order to have their yearly family skiing trip?
Apart from CTS (and maybe SHA), are there many ports or flights so full that a DM couldn't get on even with his seat guarantee? But if a flight really is that full, I assume all I and P classes are gone so they effectively need to pay J class fare - then why don't they simply use seat guarantee in the first place rather than holding so many seats that the management couldn't tolerate anymore?
Or those busy execs could only confirm their schedule like 2 hours before the flight so even seat guarantee benefit can't help?

In short, the unwritten benefit can help you save money. To me, this is the most important benefit because it affects my bottom line.

Let's use a HKG-MXP return as an example. Departing on 11-May, returning on 17-May, HKG POS. At the moment, the outbound has I class and the return is selling D class. On top of my head, there are a few benefits:

1. If I call CS now, I can reserve the I and D class fare. I am already locked into the I-fare. Even when HKG-MXP is selling faster than Taylor Swift concert tickets, I am guaranteed a discount business ticket. Since individual fares are rarely re-batched, I don't have to think about the cost going up.
2. I can waitlist for cheaper fare classes for my MXP-HKG. If I-fare opens up for my return, I save a lot of money from not having to pay D-fare.
3. What if I am unsure whether I am going to Milan Fashion Week or meeting the pope that week? I can hold a set of tickets each for MXP and FCO.
4. I can see MXP-HKG on 20-May selling I-fares, I can call CS to amend the reservation without paying thousands of HKD. This reduces a lot of change fees.
5. I don't have to pay until online check-in.

This is a very simple scenario. If you get creative with the ITA matrix you'll discover another dimension of complexity. If you want to understand whether your fare would be repriced, you need to read the fare conditions. The agents can tell you the 8-digit fare basis.

So what are the problems?
Revenue loss. Why not squeeze an extra few thousand a year from change fees? Why not force you to buy D-fares instead of I?

The extreme example was a couple holding up all 6 F seats, paying for two J tickets, and trying to force an upgrade during check-in.

No, you can hold a specific fare class rather than a cabin. I have held (and am holding) I specifically on flights. As I understand it, there are sub-classes/fare rules within fare classes so for example I have been told by an agent before that even though I can hold the I seat indefinitely, I need to ticket before a certain date or else the price will for sure go up (as opposed to may go up). Another situation is where I have held a J or C or a D indefinitely while I am waitlisted for an I.

I have also seen close in price drops before. For example, last Xmas, I had a Europe-HKG-Europe I (or maybe it was P) ticket that I held before they cut the benefit but didn't issue until early December. The lowest fare class went up in steps to J but about a week before departure, they opened up some I and P.

Point 1 - Why are you locked into I class? The final fare class is the one for sale when you pay for the booking, not the one when you first hold the ticket right?
Point 2 - Don't you think generally speaking, chances are higher that even D class is eventually sold out so you would land in J class, rather then I class miraculously reopen?

Edit: If fare class can be held like CX860 pointed out, I definitely could understand why so many people love it and why CX must kill it.

This is new for me! Before the ticketing rule changed last year, I held a ticket (I only wanted to hold for 2 days) but was told the fare class isn't held. The agent said I would be paying the price CX is selling in 2 day's time.

But how can you make the agens do it now? Last month an agent held a booking for 48hours and issued a payment link which was valid for 12 hours. After around 15 hours I decided to go ahead with the booking, and another agent told me although the booking is still being held, the ticket need to be repriced as 12 hours have passed already. Luckily the new price remained the same.

Re 1: You pay for the fare class you lock into. Even at the moment the flight is selling D, you pay for I.

Re 2: there is no downside for holding a ticket. Worst case you still pay for D, best case you pay I.

I think based on his replies that CXwaterboy has the same experience/understanding as me.

I am getting the sense that you have had some bad agents haha. The official T&Cs say that the ticketing deadline extension for diamonds is as communicated from time to time. I can't find the communication but if you look at the second response in the thread below, you will see what it was communicated as (officially). Its meant to be 5 days but somehow I always end up with a longer deadline (3 weeks usually - maybe CX had a quiet change of heart). In any case, if you want to force it, there are cheeky ways to force a longer than 5 day deadline.

Honestly, I don't really care for the 1,600 and 1,800 benefits since I find them a bit impractical - but there seems to be a split opinion on this in this thread. The ticketing extension is much more practical for me (and it seems some others). If they want to get rid of mid-tier benefits and swap out with rollover or some other perks (maybe more generous ticketing deadline but I can think of a few others), I am all for it.

https://www.cathaypacific.com/cx/en_...onditions.html

Ticketing arrangement for Diamond Members
i. On CPA marketed and operated flights, Diamond Members and their travel companions travelling on the same reservation may receive an extended ticketing deadline (�Ticketing Deadline Extension�) when booking their tickets through Customer Care, subject to the terms below. The applicable Ticketing Deadline Extension is as determined by CPA and will be notified to Diamond Members from time to time.

Removal of DM no ticketing deadline benefit wef 1 Sep 2024