Hi all,
I'm new here and new to the frequent flyer thing as well.

I am thinking of joining the marco polo club but I just have a few questions.

1) When should I join? I won't be travelling on a CX flight until mid june but am going to book it quite soon. I may be travelling on a dirt cheap BA flight in May but I doubt this will give me any miles so I don't have to worry about that. Do I need to have joined MPC at the time of booking to get the miles credited to my account? As i won't be travelling at all between Feb-May, i don't see the point in joining so soon if i can avoid it. How long does it usually take for them to send out the card as I'll probably need it for my first flight as a MPC member?
2) Re: the 4 sectors for renewal thing for green tier, does it have to be on a CX or CX codeshare flight for it to count or does any OW flight count towards it?

1) It doesn't really matter. Joint now or later you'd still have to pay $50. Well, say at least 1 month ahead, so you are sure to get your card. OR, you can join now, and monitor your bookings on cx's MPC website.

2) Rule say on CX metals only, but I can almost certainly say even if you fly 0 times, your membership will NOT be terminated.


It sounds like you won't be doing much of a flying. If you don't make it to Silver minimum, there really isn't any benefit. (except for using business class check-in at HKIA, but that's really all)

Thanks for the tip.
I only travel for leisure and most of the time I go to HK to visit my family.
I'm going to be in HK for 3 months during the summer and am planning to use HK as a base to go to the rest of east and south east asia. I'll be using CX for all of this so i thought I might as well rack up some miles while I'm at it. And the exchange rate between US$ and GBP is so good at the moment, it makes joining MPC really cheap.
I am also planning to go travelling in October/November and february/march 2006.
i should have no problem making silver during my first year and I'll just have to see how much holidays i'll get when I start working to determine how much flying I'll be doing (hoping it'll be 2 weeks holiday for every 3 or 4 months worked).

Also just want to check something about discounted economy and mileage accrual. V class on CX earns 100% miles and 1 sector for each sector flown. I got told by my travel agent that V class doesn't earn any miles. Also cos I'm doing MAN-LHR-HKG-LHR-MAN, if the MAN-LHR has a BA prefix on it, which they sometimes do, does that mean i earn 50% miles for V class travel?

Many thanks.

V class earns 100% miles and 1 sector for each segment flown. Refer to this site: http://www.asiamiles.com/am/1,,22481...rtravelcredits

CX had a minor realignment of mileage earning classes several months ago. If your travel agent says S class earns miles and V does not, then the agent is referring to an old table. S earns nothing now.

According to the chart above, V on BA does not get you any miles.

From the sound of it, you are using the asia passport deal? (or whatever they call it up north). Just make sure that fare is counted for mile accural, because I'm not 100% sure.

fakecd, AFAIK all OW flights count toward Marco Polo Club requalification/tier upgrade?

shevygol, you might want to consider joining Asia Miles instead of Marco Polo Club if you just want to earn the miles.

True, but if the entire trip MAN-LHR-CX is booked in V class using CX flight numbers then I believe it will earn 100% miles and sectors. (CX doesn't operate MAN-LHR, but most/all of the BA flights can be booked as a CX codeshare.)

I thought but i could be so wrong, but for green tier only, the rules were that you needed 4 CX sectors for renewal purpose. I just checked cx.com but couldn't find any such clause...

but once again, this 4 sector for green tier is almost never enforced. otherwise my mother would be paying $50 every year for her green tier, when her miles balance is almost negligible.

https://www.cathaypacific.com/intl/f...,82287,00.html (but it seems you need to be logged in since that is in the MPC members' area)

I believe you need Silver for the business class check-in. Green gets you the Marco Polo Club check-in lines where there exist.

christep, that's correct for all ports except HKIA in recent days.

Previously, the section "B" business class counters have been only accessible for silver members, and the designated club counters at the "C" asile near internet-checkin counters.

However, when i was there recently, I saw signs of "Marco Polo Members (hence "green" is also allowed?)" in the "B" asile Biz counters. Matter of fact, I did see quite a few people lining up with green cards there. It was quite annoying during the peak times, when a parties of 3-5 with 1 green member each are lined up at biz counters where supposedly only the elite members are supposed to be allowed. Perhaps someone else can shed light on this, but i don't know the exact arrangements.

Thanks for thhe advice.
yeah i was thinking of joining just Asia Miles but thought that I might as well join the marco Polo Club given that the exchange rate is so good at the moment (~�25-30 to join) and if they are not that fussed about the 4 CX sectors thing then it might be OK for me. I know I'll be doing MAN-HKG via wherever at least once a year because my gran lives in HK and she hates flying and living in the UK so I'll have to do the trip if I want to see her. This is most likely going to be on CX even if it's one of the more expensive fares around cos I don't like flying with the other airlines that offer this route so I should have no problem getting renewal. It would obviously be alot easier for me if the four sectors were on any oneworld flights as i can easily rack them up with BA with trips down to LHR and MAN from EDI. Obviously things might change and I just want to know whether i will have to repay that US$50 in the future to rejoin if my membership was terminated for not flying.


Anyway, i think I'll join around April. If I have already made a booking before April with my travel agent (most likely to be H class because of the flexibility it gives me - free to make date changes on the inbound and outbound leg), will i be able to add my itinerary to my MPC account to monitor my booking online?

Also I probably should start a new thread on this but does anyone have any suggestions as to where to go in asia for a short weekend break from HK? Currently I am spending about a week in Sapporo and a long weekend in Singapore and was thinking of Perth in australia but the weather there at the time I'll be going is shockingly poor or Cairns to meet up with some friends but can't think of a way of synchronising our trips so that we could meet up. I have so many weekends in HK during July and August (working/studying the rest of the time) that i don't know what to do with them. Is Bangkok and KL feasible destinations for a short weekend break? (It would be a flight on Friday nite or Sat morning to the place and be back by early Monday morning at the latest) A friend told me that I can do Tokyo in 3 days or less if i wanted to.

You would need to ask your travel to enter your account number in the Record and then you will see it online.
Indeed you should - preferably in the Asia forum, not here

I joined Asiamiles (not the MPC) by the beginning of last year and after doing 30.000 Miles on CX, I got invited to the MPC and received my silver card. I never paid the 50 US$. I was calling CX in Germany (as I am a German Resident) about that when joining AM and they confirmed me in advance that this is normal procedure - although it isn't written down anywhere.

I read the same in this forum a while ago from other FTers. So I guess this will happen to you as well. Just to be sure, you might wish to call them.

In my opinion there is really no point to join at a green level and pay the 50 US$ - no matter how good the exchange rate might be. As mentioned before green gives you virtually no benefits at all and you will get your silver card as soon as you qualify.

When I asked MPC for clarification, they told me (via email) that they checked the requirement for at least 4 CX sectors only for Green renewal. If you make it to at least Silver, then the four-CX sector minimum doesn't apply, and all OW flights count. But as fakecd noted, maybe this rule isn't strictly enforced.