christep

I've been on BA flights (say LHR-BRU/CDG/FRA) where more than half the passengers appeared to be BA Golds! The most I'm aware of on CX was 12 Diamonds on a flight up from Singapore just before the rugby sevens.

jasonho

Honestly, I don't see the reason for the fuss over comped SL vs Gold or even DM. Looking at the Club Benefit chart, the differences between SL and Gold are more Extra baggage allowance + you can bring a guest into the lounge.

DM offers more of course, which is checkin at 1st class counter + more Extra baggage allowance + you can bring 2 guests into the lounge.

And probably better chance of free upgrade?

Now for those who are really going for comped, this is a FREE offer. To me, as long as there's a lounge to start with when you move over your travel to CX/KA, are the other extras so important?

Sometimes I can't understand the mentality of people who are pushing their luck too hard for something which is a offered privilege and not a right.

O maybe I am getting out of touch with the world.

Sam7

In addition to what you have already mentioned, I also enjoy the benefits of having seats guaranteed. That,to me, is the best benefit of all

ChrisLi

Agreed. As most important if you are already OW elite, you only need to make a call to ask CX to give you elite treatment.

It's different when you comp people from other alliance, which you will throw enough goodies to get one to your side, if one is LH / SQ elite (or whoever except OW) I think MPC may be more generous to give out MPC GO from day 1

QRC3288

I agree very much with your opinion that people feel too entitled, especially when they come from other airline programs where people simply did not pay the kind of revenues you generally have to pay on CX in order to achieve elite status. It can be humbling moving over to CX, once one realizes later what was OW EM on other OW partners can fail to even make GO on CX. I know two AA EXPs who were convinced of their frequent-flier"ness", one just barely hit 60k MPC club miles without changing his flying patterns, the other fell nearly 10k miles short of CX GO. They had both been comped SL.

However, I would point out that GO is far superior to SL in a significant but less-visible benefit: the Y seat guarantee, at a low fare class. It is a great perk that allows for weekend getaways at very cheap prices. You also overlooked the fact that GO gives you the Arrival lounge, which would be helpful since even paid J can't use it without EM or GO/DM status.

jasonho

Ah, I missed those. Arrival lounge can be very helpful especially when connecting to a non CX/KA flight I guess.

Cool, nice to know that.

cxfan1960

That is truw for a CX GO member who has enough time to go landside during the transit. I doubt if a DM will go landside just for the Arrival lounge for such a connection.

Seat guarantee is the most useful benefit IMHO.

KO2546

The arrival lounge requires you to clear immigration so for most people it is not useable during a flight connection.

bpk6h

I fully agree. I was once a BA Gold...with MPC now at 63.25 sectors and +90K miles but with only a month to go in the membership year, I salute all the DMs...that's a ton of flying. ^

I only wish there was some hybrid qualification of miles+sectors rather than just miles or sectors. I'm pretty sure I could qualify for DM if I asked for a one month extension (if granted) as I have a RTW (HKG-JFK-LHR-HKG) booked plus regional flights but I'm thinking to just have it count towards next years GO requalification. I feel fairly well looked after as a GO.

ChrisLi

I think 3 months extension is pretty well-known here .. so you probably safe if you ask.

But do you have any plan of next 12 months yet ? early reset and make the RTW trip next member year may make sense also

balhr

New FTer yet truly amazed by the MPC.

In my humble opinion, be courteous yet persistent. Don't bother emailing, ask to speak to a supervisor at MPC, they will sort it much faster. All in all, provided that they look at your travel history favourably, it should take around 2 weeks.

PM if you want specific advice

ACORD

I for one am happy that CX is circumspect about their comps - and the fact that they maintain this posture even when facing financial difficulty.

Based on my experience CX are more generous when dealing with corporate accounts and will offer status matches up to including DM in certain markets (e.g. Canada). I would guess the CX corporate marketing types have more latitude than CX staff.

bpk6h

Small update: I asked for an extension and was granted such. However, with 75.25 sectors I was granted DM (membership year just reset today). I would have made it next week anyway with a couple of flights planned.

dabbagmm

But, in my view, CX appears to by least generous with their clients based in Asia! Well, personally I would not behave with such arrogance if Singapore Airlines is a close neighbor of mine.

KACommuter

I didn't realise CX could be so generous to customers outside Asia. Overall, I use to feel the MPC was somewhat stingy until I achieved KF silver with SQ, then discovered it offers nothing compared with MPC silver. No business class check-in, and no lounge access with SQ. Now I'm at KF gold and it's still not on par with MPC gold although the gap is smaller than at silver.