IncyWincy

What is FQTS?
and FQTV?

jagmeets

FQTS/TV..I forget which is which, but one is the 'currency' (asiamiles) and the other the 'status' (MPC) in a booking record. Like SQ lets you accrue the miles ('currency') to any partner frequent flier program but still tracks your travel/spend with them via this.

A fair few people do 'double-dip' by having different frequent flier numbers entered in these fields. The one time I tried that with SQ, however, many years back, the miles ended up posting incorrectly (and this was at SIN check-in, and by giving the agent specific instructions 'X' in FQTV, 'Y' in FQTS..and not 'I want the miles on United but can you enter the KF number for revenue tracking too'). I'd imagine that things are a lot simpler now with agents 'knowing' but still..

QRC3288

1.) I would still fly CX J and F class, but not as much as I do now. I'd spread it to other carriers a lot more and whenever practical. Realistically CX is going to still get >50% of my flights, simply due to me living in HKG and it being convenient. But I admittedly make decisions skewed to CX even when I have a choice. Ie, I fly CX usually to SIN and TPE despite a plethora of choices. In TPE, I'll go out of my way to return to HKG and fly CX to North America when it would be easier logistics-wise to just fly TPE-LAX or JFK....which I'm doing in a week! The CX fares ex-TPE admittedly make this attractive, but BR to North American isn't much different than CX ex-TPE, and CX tickets in TPE don't allow stopovers. Before this thread, I always would've flown TPE to North America via HKG. But not next trip. Or another example, I recently flew to the Middle East on CX, etc. What if in another life I accrued some miles to Alaska Airlines instead? I just learned you can even buy some miles on Alaska, and some quick back of the envelope math I could've probably had enough miles in a month or two to burn an Emirates award to the Middle East in F class, which is the A380 with a shower. Instead I stick to AM/MPC due to that's where I'm 100% loyal, and that program in turn encourages me to fly more CX. CX has a lovely bed in J, but most of the rest of the J experience is subpar, and I really value CX because of how I'm treated with soft service as a DM. If I lose that, I'm going to place a lot more emphasis on earn/burn in different programs.

2.) Maybe it is better for CX! I'm not really sure here that's their call. To be fair, I can't imagine it is good for them if I buy a cheapo S class ticket to Singapore, which I've done before! I've gotta guess if I only spend a few hundred USD on a cheapo ticket to SIN and I use the lounge a few times, I might even kill their incremental revenue gain by flying me. But this cuts both ways. I've also flown full Y and B class to SIN, and on KA to China. Sometimes you just gotta buy last minute tix and I often don't have schedule predictability. So yup, sometimes I buy cheapo Y fares, and other times I buy more expensive ones.

and...I'd like to point out that CX could probably almost completely eliminate me flying cheapo S class tickets if they incentivized DMs above 120k. They could easily incentivize me to keep flying expensive fares by saying, alright once you clear DM any Y/B/H/K ticket you buy or J/C ticket you buy gets you op-upped into J or F if there is a seat open. Lower ticket classes don't count. I am a total sucker for prizes, and if they gave something cool like that, or an upgrade cert or dinner or whatever at 150k or 180k or 200k or whatever, I'd probably not want to risk missing out on it by buying an S fare that doesn't accrue elite miles. There are so many ways to do this. CX could've pretty easily gotten me to part with more of my money this way. But as it stands now, CX practically incentivizes me to fly cheap fares after I clear DM!

oatsmeal

Indeed, CX could offer their "titanium" members unlimited upgrade a la the US airlines, as long as you buy Y or B. Op-up into F should require co-pay, otherwise the product would be too much cheapened. The other side of the coin though is only Y/B/H and J/C/D/I/A(and whatever stands for First Class) gets status credit in the new MPC program.

QRC3288

fair, skip the F part. agree.

historically I've always been opposed to freebie upgrades if J is open, but I think this would be exclusive enough that it wouldn't matter.

personally, I'll buy up to 4 O or S fares each year after clearing DM. That's 8 sectors. I bet I get upgraded on ~3 of those sectors anyway for free as an op-up. I would definitely pay for Y/B/H/K, it's only $200-$300 USD more, if CX gave me some incentive - any incentive - to keep earning elite miles after clearing DM. Iat least personally, I'd definitely ditch the S/O ticket for YBHK if CX offered J to already-reset DMs if an open seat was available. YBHK have better flexibility anyway. I just can't pass up a deal if I have zero incentive to pay the higher amount, and am already reset.

my point is, I'm already getting op-upped on many of these flights anyway. it's not actually significant dilution, especially given the rather lame state of CX regional J. And CX would only have to do it with folks who have already cleared DM, giving us a clear incentive to both stay with CX after clearing, and send more revenue their way.

the only downside i see is dilution to J class, which would be minimal...only applicable to DMs who cleared already. and since we already have access to the F lounges, the incremental costs here are minimal. just the extra $20 or whatever in catering. Meanwhile, I'd be spending $200-$300 more per round trip.

anyway, it sounds like this Titanium is a done deal let's just hope they don't screw it up. given they swung and missed on the coffin J, and now they're already changing their "new" lounge design (from Wing/SFO/etc design to the "warmer" feel of the Bridge, HND lounge, new Pier, etc.), CX does not have a great track record of getting big initiatives right the first time. i'm quite skeptical, but hey it's not a done deal until we see the details.

fakecd

This is the same airline that once offered free diamond gold membership to amex card holder... I guess they learned something new in last few years

Marco Polo

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...r-major-review

Cathay Pacific confirms major review of loyalty scheme after it becomes 'too popular'
Sunday, 18 January, 2015, 5:30am
News›Hong Kong
AVIATION
Danny Lee [email protected]
Cathay Pacific says its frequent-flier scheme has become too popular and is unsustainable in its current form.

In the airline's first response to the Sunday Morning Post's revelation last week that a major overhaul to the scheme was on its way, it said: "The overarching belief is that the current approach has to change."

Complaints include crowded lounges and overextended priority-boarding privileges, with the effect that passengers who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year no longer feel rewarded for their loyalty.

The Marco Polo Club rewards travellers based on the distance flown and the number of flights taken, but the Hong Kong carrier says this is "not always the best measure of value".

"Airlines all over the world are recognising the anomalies created by a mileage or sector-based reward and recognition system," it added.

READ MORE: Frequent fliers in Cathay Pacific's cheap seats face big let-down [1]

"We are carefully studying the impact of this and the possible implications for the Marco Polo Club in terms of how members earn their status and what benefits and recognition they should be receiving based on the value they bring to the airline."

Changes are likely to come on line next year with the Marco Polo Club focusing on big spenders who travel only with Cathay and its sister carrier, Dragonair. Customers of premium seats or the most expensive, fully flexible economy fares stand to benefit.

GE90-115B

I wonder if this revamp in the program will cause lots of MPC members to flock to AAdvantage. I have a feeling that buying the H fare every time I fly will still be cheaper than fulfilling the revenue contribution benchmark requirement in order to earn any sort of status with MPC. Switching over to programs of other Oneworld partners might be a more economical solution to get the basic benefits such as lounge access.

This "change" will be a total loss for Y-fliers who primarily survives on K or M fare tickets, and even more so for those to barely scrape through to become MPC SL. I'm sure there are a ton of people who enjoy the goodies MPC SL offers such as lounge access, priority handling with luggage, J class checkin etc. And all you have to do to get those perks is to fly 2x to North America a year, which isn't hard even for students. These people feel truly blessed about the benefits MPC Silver offers, since the "Silver Tier" of many other airline programs are much more primitive and pretty much the "Green Tier" of MPC.

SinoBritAsia

Compare and contrast.
Here is Cathay Pacific's statement to the media in full released recently. Identical to above:
(Indicates this has been crafted by an external PR agency).

"We are aware that airlines all over the world are recognising the anomalies created by a mileage or sector-based reward and recognition system. The simple fact is that miles or sectors flown are not always the best measure of value.

"Like most airlines, we are carefully studying the impact of this and the possible implications for the Marco Polo Club in terms of how members earn their status and what benefits and recognition they should be receiving based on the value they bring to the airline.

"We have had feedback from members that some of the benefits they receive as our most loyal passengers have lost some of their exclusivity, with sometimes-crowded lounges and long waits in priority queues. We have been carefully looking at their feedback and will take passengers’ preferences into primary consideration, along with interrelated factors such as our operation, infrastructure, capacity and prevailing market trends, when we effect any changes.

"No conclusions have been reached, but the overarching belief is that the current approach has to change. We appreciate the loyalty of every single one of our passengers and look forward to being able to introduce better ways to reward and motivate our members."

I think most frequent flyers accept that crowded lounges - among others - contributes to the loss in exclusivity. As long as CX makes it clear. Flyers will accept the changes - I think.

AA_EXP09

I think that BA may be a better option as Avios is less prone to change than AA personally.

AA_EXP09

I think that in many cases, the crowded lounges primarily include other OWE which cannot be controlled by CX.
As for the 'hundreds of thousands a year (presumably USD)', I wonder if these include users of RTW tickets? (I could likely buy 7-9 of these in D class and 4-5 in F class and easily make GGL on BA.)

SinoBritAsia

Problem for those who think about switching:
- For regional travel in OW: Avios is significantly cheaper for redemptions than Asia Miles (minus the taxes!)
- With BAEC, you can climb up the status ladder, unlike MPC where you can only go status once per year
- To even be eligible for lounge access via BAEC, you need to do 4 flights a year on BA, IB or a codeshare, to retain the status the following year.

Overall, BAEC plays well for HKG-based members with Europe travel. Not North Americans.

sscywong

Actually I remember once there was discussion here on whether miles member or sector member (hope you know what I mean ) is more loyal to CX... And as a sector member one thing that kept annoying me back when I was SL was "Why I need to fly 10 round trips to get SL while others only need two trips to JFK to get this". One possible solution is to have a minimum sector requirement for miles member...

But of course this won't help CX to identify valuable customer... Actually if CX wants to count revenue, simply count every dollar paid regardless of what fare class my ticket is... If I managed to get 80++ sectors / 120K++ miles and say US$25K+ revenue to CX just by flying L or V (e.g. round trip Tokyo weekly will do), why not recognise my loyalty?

Of course how CX can tracks how much I paid them (since if I book through TA money I paid =/= money in CX pocket) is another story...

Cathay Boy

Let's see: CX claims the biggest problems are overcrowded lounges and long queues.

BUT, the problem of overcrowded lounges is more due to OWE/S and CX's refusal to capacity control (CX probably likes them more than their own MPC members). So in reality CX is really saying we rather cut our own loyal customers away from lounges, because OW fliers brings them $50 per visit.

Long queues - this is the doing of MPO Green Tier. I know of no other FFP that at the entry level to give away such benefit. Simply make Green Tier what it is: something very basic or at least board them after J line but before no-status line.

Guy Betsy

Yes, refuse MPC Green from getting any privileges. Priority boarding should only be extended to OW Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald members. I've sometimes gone to queue at the economy lines cos the Priority line is just like being in an Apple Store on a weekend in Hong Kong !

I think MPC Silver might lose the lounge privilege altogether!