hualaan

Okay, I'm based in Toronto and have flown AC almost exclusively for many years. I am now considering a change and would appreciate some comments/advice.

My situation: In my current position, I fly a few times a year, mostly long haul flights and almost always to Asia (Beijing, Bangkok, Colombo and KL so far, but mostly Beijing). My company won't pay for business class, but will pay for upgradeable seats. I usually end up in bus. class, though that always means hanging around the desk at the boarding gate hoping my name is called (I have Elite status).

On my last trip back from KL, bus. class was full and it was a very long 15.5 hours in economy.

Since CX flies Toronto-Hong Kong direct, this would seem like a good alternative, but how do the airlines and reward programs compare?

To be honest, I don't have the complaints about AC/Aeroplan that others have had. Most of my experiences have been reasonably good, and my airmiles have bought several tickets so far between here and Thailand (five, to be exact, though only one for me )

What matters most to me are the following, in order of priority:

1. Ability to upgrade to bus. class

a) How much more expensive is an upgradeable seat than a non-upgradeable and, if possible, does anyone know how this would compare to AC?
b) AC gives out upgrade certificates, depending on the status level; how does it work with CX?
c) Is it practically (rather than theoretically) possible to upgrade without a certificate of some kind? I read a post somewhere indicating you could pay for an upgrade at the gate for a price that varied by availability, but wasn't unreasonable. Is this true? (Not possible with AC at all.)
d) With upgrade certificates, or whatever the CX equivalent is, and the appropriate fare class, how likely is it to be upgraded?

2. Ability to use miles for tickets to Thailand (or elsewhere, but mostly Thailand). I need 75,000 for an economy class ticket (round trip) on AC, and that's for the full trip on all Star Alliance carriers. Am I right in thinking this would be 90,000 miles on CX? I can't find a mileage chart on the CX/MPC website, just their mileage calculator.

3. Ability to hold on to accumulated miles. Aeroplan has a seven year limit on miles and clears your account if you have no activity for a year, regardless of how many miles in the account. Although I've never come close to this, it's the principle of the thing...

4. Airline lounges. Aeroplan doesn't give me access to any but AC lounges and none of those, as far as I know, are in Asia. In fact, I think the only one outside of Canada is in Heathrow.

Aside from all of these, how is the service and travel experience on CX, especially in economy? On AC, it's fantastic in bus. class, but pretty middling in economy.

Sorry for the long post; hope someone can answer these questions!

ACORD

My input - In random order

1) CX does not give out upgrade certificates -- but you can use Asia Miles to upgrade

2) You can upgrade with cash at the gate but this is no cheaper than buying a business class fare in the first place

3) The CX lounges in HKG are great but the BA lounge in YYZ is not so great -- so if you have lounge access through status then the benefit of lounge acess depends on which airport you expect to spend the most time

4) If you are connecting beyond HKG I like the fact that you can get virtually anywhere in Asia on CX metal. This makes for less lost luggage and fewer problems when things go wrong if you do the Transpac on CX

5) CX miles expire after 3 years

6) There is a double miles promotion on right now on CX if you live in Canada -- this only applies if you buy tickets in the premium cabins.

Whether AC or CX is better in whatever class is a matter of opinion. The YYZ/HKG route is on new planes on both airlines and I don't think there is a compelling difference between them.

I think the Aeroplan program is more generous that Asia Miles but in both cases you need top tier status to get the most out of the program.

In my situation I travel between HKG and YYZ in paid business class. The equation here is different -- CX have a first class cabin and I get op-uped roughly 50% of the time due to status. This is the clincher for me. AC does not have a first class cabin.

If I were in your situation I'd stick with AC. At least you get upgrade certificates with Aeroplan and there would be no way you could earn enough Asia miles to upgrade on as many flights on CX unless you spend a fortune on the RBC CX Credit Card. More most people it is better to maintain status on the main airline at your home airport

YMMV

tedhl

if upgrade is important, then I think Aeroplan is way better than MPO - there's no way to upgrade on CX that cost effectively as the upgrade certs from Aeroplan (you can still use miles earned in other ways while if you're with MPO, all the miles you earn with these flights won't be able to even upgrade a good portion of it).

as an AC Elite, you should be Star Gold I thought, and so shouldn't be limited to AC lounges but instead can access all Star airline business class lounges (subject to some exceptions) on the day you're flying any Star airlines including AC ?

Canadasiaflyer

I have flown both AC and CX economy in the new 777-300er. I would give the thumbs up to CX for better economy seat and service ^. My AC flight return home was delayed 2 hours at HKG and also delay at YYZ baggage pickup. Never a delay yet with CX. Both airlines offer video on demand in economy for the route.

hualaan

Thanks for the excellent replies. As I said, I've never really had a problem with AC, but so many people have - or say they have - that I figured I must have just been lucky and some day my luck will end. (Maybe it's not luck; maybe it's just my generally positive attitude?)

Having heard all the complaints from others, I thought I should look for an alternative, and CX really is the only alternative for travel to Asia from Toronto.

I've never had to wait in a plane on the tarmac at YVR for twelve hours. I have had only one really bad experience on AC, on a trip to Jakarta in January 2000. The temperature had just dropped to -20 from 0 the day before. A door sensor that tells the computers whether or not the door was sealed had frozen. Without a signal from that sensor, the computer would not allow the aeroplane to pressurize. We waited on the plane for several hours watching multiple episodes of Mr. Bean, while they tried to fix the problem; the captain kept apologising, sounding like he was going to cry. At one point we took off, circled for a bit, then landed again.

They finally took us off the plane and stored us in the boarding lounge while they readied a new aircraft and we finally departed at 2am, six hours late.

Of course I missed the TG connecting flight from Paris to Bangkok. An AC agent in Paris re-booked it and gave me a voucher for the airport hotel, so I spent a night in Paris. In the morning, I got to the check-in counter and was told the flight from Bangkok to Jakarta had not been re-booked. Furthermore, that flight was full so I would have to go on standby in Bangkok.

I arrived in Bangkok and, after a lot of difficulty and about half a day, contacted AC and had them rebook me on the next day's flight. I stayed at the airport hotel (Amari - which AC reimbursed me for), so I had a night in Bangkok. Four days after leaving Toronto, I finally arrived in Jakarta. (Good thing I wasn't there for a short stay!)

Nothing in that whole process was really AC's fault. Aircraft do have issues from time to time and the agent in Paris just made a mistake (and the Bangkok-Jakarta flight was on the second page of a paper ticket, so easy to miss). The only real complaint I have with AC is subjecting us to several hours of Mr. Bean!!!

Thanks, also, for pointing out that I get Star Alliance lounge access with Aeroplan Elite. I've been really out-to-lunch on the lounge access issue. I only recently learnt that I have access to the AC lounges with my card; I had always assumed I needed the lounge access certificates they give you as part of the upgrade package. I went to the lounge at YYZ last month and when I presented the pass, she looked around and asked me where my guest was! I had thought I was the "guest" of AC and the certificates are only valid for the AC lounges.

I really don't find the AC lounges useful to me, since I'm never at the airport earlier enough to take advantage of them. On stopovers, however, especially after a long flight to Asia, they would be very welcome. Thanks for telling me what I should have already known!

Hamilton guy

O fly yyz-hkg 4 or 5 times a year in J and would suggest one other option you might want to consider is joining AA, a one world partner of CX. You cannot upgrade on CX using AA points though, but get most of the other status benefits plus TD Bank has an AAdvantage Visa, allowing you to double dip very well.

cxfan1960

Be careful, if flying economy, AA members can only get credit for booking classes Y, B and H.

CPwingwalker

Also beware of the long painful process to move up tiers within the Marco Polo scheme. One (if not the only) program that has this incredibly ridiculous "resetting to zero" when you cross threshold. Someone once related that the original idiots oops management never considered that there would be high volume travellers that would actually make 0 to 210K in one year!!
It is not like AC where you cross the threshold then keep going to the next.

Op-ups on CX are very much dependent on your CX status -- they also treat OW top tiers well too.
Enjoy your travels!

YVR Cockroach

BA's EC is also like that, at least to get to top tier (only 2 though vs. 3? for CX).