They must be working with CX cargo!

I spoke to a CX agent today who basically told me the same. She referred me to the website linked below which states it very clearly. As indicated by the ** footnote which also applies to Gold & Diamond members. Namely, when flying economy, members can only access CX operated lounges. And that applies for Silver, Gold, & Diamond.

Edit: that agent apparently didn't know what she was talking about. I spoke to 2 more agents who said the policy is the same as before, SL members when flying economy have access to third party operated lounges.

Lounge Admittance | Travel Information | Cathay Pacific

So they just devalued the entire MPC program? It makes no sense that EY Diamonds can only access CX operated lounges

And I'm pretty sure the footnote has been there for a long time. It refers to those when on codeshare flights not operated by oneworld airlines, you can only access CX lounges.

Edit.

I agree. Makes no sense to limit GO's, DM's (and arguably SL's as well) to CX lounges only when flying Y.

I was also about to say the footnote symbol (**) is placed rather awkwardly in the sentence. The location of the footnote seems to suggest that the "No access to 3rd party lounges" idea only applies to members flying on codeshare flights in Y. In other words no change to lounge access entitlement for SL's in Y who are flying on CX-numbered flights on CX metal.

If there was indeed an SL who was denied access to a 3rd party lounge while flying in Y on a CX ticket on CX metal, I'm sure we would have heard a first-hand experience on this forum by now. A change of this magnitude seems way too significant to go unnoticed.

more of incompetent CS issue than any changes on TnC?

I mean, there could be a chance where the CS has been briefed on the changes but they haven't announced it to the public yet.

Its completely possible CX is planning on making this change (SL Y class only access to CX lounges) and the CS team knows but not the public

The possibility CX’s CS team - particularly the chat mob - knowing any information that we don’t is virtually nil.

Disinformation, certainly.

Fair - the CX CS team is pretty incompetent.

I've had better experiences calling up their call centres than using the whatsapp chat

Ngl even call centers can be hit or miss. But WhatsApp agents are certainly inferior compared to call center agents somehow.

During an inbound flight delay last month (non-HK weather related), I tried to ask the WhatsApp agent whether the outport lounge will remain open until last flight of the day departs after delay. The WhatsApp agent simply send me the web link of the lounge, showing it closes at the original last-flight departure time. I followed up by asking whether it changes due to flight delay, they insisted there is no updates, so it closes at 7.

I called the call center right afterwards, the agent immediately put me on hold to ask for clarification. After 5min the agent replied it remains open until the last flight departure.

There's one sure way to find out, fly out from one the the airports without CX operated lounge on Econ class and see if your boarding pass has the lounge access eligibility printed at the bottom (which they normally do AFAIK) and if you're allowed admittance. Given how frequently forum members fly, we should know within the next few days.

I'm on my third OWE but I've never been SL.

I managed just now to speak to a CS agent who seems to know what she's talking about. She confirmed that as long as we're flying on a CX operated flight (not sure if that applies to code share or not), Silver members flying Econ can access third party operated lounges (just like before).

This has all been a NOTHING BURGER (once again). This entire thread has been a nothing burger.

Thanks so much for the clarification wadia. That makes much more sense.Noted the high possibility of this so I tried contact CS using different ways at different times, still getting the same but wrong answer. Perhaps the gang are following the same falseful answer sheet...