I have something to brag about ... (and remember that I'm only a Green member!)

Maybe it's just my luck, or it's because I've spent so many hours listening to "I can fly ... I can fly ..." over the past few months. My last 2 calls to MPC have been answered within 5 minutes !

Called Tuesday at 1.30am (HK time). Was expecting a 30-40 minute wait. Got answered around 3-4 minutes later. That's the speed of light as far as my experience goes.

Called Tuesday at 2pm (HK time). Got answered right away. I was very shocked (and my mouth was full of food). I even blurted out "wah, it's never been this quick". (I choose the Cantonese one all the time). Having said that, I kept redialling from 1.30 - 2pm, either got an engaged tone or "please leave a message after the beep" or "sorry, mailbox is full". So imagine my surprise when it was answered at 2pm ... without having to hear "I can fly..." !

I hope my lucky streak continues. I've still got a few flights to add to my April 09 Oneworld RTW award - and the flights don't get released by AA until later this week.

What surprises me is the CX call centre inability to do much about KA seating and other KA related issues. Is that a completely separate entity?

All I can say is thank goodness for speakerphones on cellphones.

I tried from 8pm to 9pm last night and then 10:45pm to 11:45pm last night, with no success.

Tried as soon as I got up this morning and after calling at 7am, and got an operator at 7:15. Of course, the service was impeccable once we were connected.

As a general observation on my chances of getting calls answered sooner, I don't think we'll ever make MP Silver or upwards again. We switched to Air New Zealand for all of our long haul AKL - HKG and HKG - LHR. We've found that the service and product of CX on those legs is way behind Air NZ in every respect. Then there's the loyalty redemption.

While getting upgrades on Air NZ is difficult, you can use their points (Air NZ "dollars") on any flight for any seat, provided you have enough - and it can all be booked and confirmed online in minutes. The palava I've had to go through to redeem Asiamiles (especially with the new fare bucket requirements) has made the process so painful that we just can't be bothered any more.

That said, I really do hope that CX picks up its game in the next year. 5 years ago, we flew nothing but CX if possible, but the gradual decline in service gave us a good reason to switch over. If CX manages to become the airline it used to be, then we'd be more than happy to switch back.

You can also book unrestricted economy awards on CX if you use more points. Not quite the same as NZ, but at least there is the option on CX.

I have been using MPC on KA seatings and flight changes since the Elite programme was merged into MPC. There has not been any problem in my case.

Hmm, I've had problems every time when changing return flight dates through my TA and then having the seats they booked for me dissappearing when checking. CX call centre has said that I have to contact KA to sort it out, they can only book the CX seats again in this case.

I called this morning at 10am and the call was answered within 5 secs~~~

Thtz a generally better time to call than 11pm when I waited for around 5 mins before my call was answered...

Mind you the longest I have held even when I was an SL was only about 20 mins...and that was about midnight in HK...

Did you call the CX res centre? I may have mistaken - I was thinking about MPC. If you are a MPC member, MPC can take care of your KA seat assignments. Otherwise, the best is to call KA res.

Thanks. At least I think to have been calling MPC where I have "elite" status for what it is worth. And they have said every time that they cannot do anything about KA when flight dates are changed and TA booked seats for some reason do not hold. Maybe CX and KA still have separate IT systems?

You are probably right on their IT systems.

A year ago, I could not see my KA flights when I logged on. I called MPC. They insisted that my TA did not enter my MPC #. I know she did as both my CX and KA flights are on the same tickets. So they got on my KA record locator and fixed it. I did not argue with them as I only care that it got fixed.

A few months ago, the KA flights showed up in my MPC account, but the KA check-in agent could not see it. They asked me for my MPC number.

There was once they printed out a lounge invitation that said "CX DIAMOND" on one line and "KA/CX BUSINESS LOUNGE" on the next. When I handed the invitation to the lounge agent, she saw the second line and the word "BUSINESS" just slipped out of her mouth, and then she said OK, probably after she saw the first line.

I took my last KA flight in March. That was the only time when nothing extraordinary happened.

I called twice just now and got the engaged tone...

It has been a while since I have to wait when I call MPC. I called three times - one time with engaged tone, once with 40sec wait, and once 90sec wait. For both times I was connected, the agents had to ask me for my MPC # again.

The wait time was not bad for me. If that was because they tried to even out the wait for other members, I would not mind at all. But if that was because of insufficient staff, that would be terrible - I do not know how long a GR member had to wait.

recently for me it's been excellent - i've been calling MPO quite often the past 7 days sorting out a dozen flights / upgrades - only one engaged tone, and connected within seconds.

i do notice they spend a lot less time on the phone - no more chit-chat "anything else I can help you with today......and thank you for calling Marco Polo"

There's a trick!

(I have recently also been outraged at the i can fly song.)

When it goes "Welcome to the Marco Polo Club, if you are a member ....... please press 1" press one
When it goes "please enter your membership number and #, enter 123#123#123#"
it will go "sorry, you have entered an invalid membership number three times. your call is now being transferred to a member services executive to provide assistance blah blah

This gets you in the queue with the Diamond's!

Enjoy

No, it puts you to the back of the queue. i.e. non status