AA_EXP09

I can't even get that price ai in Y...

Cathay Boy

This is a great suggestion for "revenue-based benefits". I also agree if you buy those group tickets or extreme discounted fares that earns no club miles, you should not enjoy club benefits. Because clearly you are just doing it for the cheapness of the ticket, not trying to be loyal to CX. Those that wants to be loyal to CX would always pay V fare or above should V be not available.

This makes much more sense than just telling Y fliers as a group that "you're not worthy"

GE90-115B

^ i agree

If CX really is that desperate to find a group to sacrifice in terms of lounge privilege then this is a good approach to go for.

Cathay Boy

Easy suggestion for CX to really distinguish those that truly loves CX and loyalists, to those that can care less:

1) Take away priority boarding for MPO Green tier - Green Tier should be that, "Green" as you are in the door but not much else. Let them check-in at PEY counters (should one be available) but if not then they can only check-in at Y counters, there's really no reason to give Green tier so many benefits.

2) Make 100% Club mile fares M fare or above, L fare = 75% Club miles, V fare = 50% club miles. This way MPO SL will not be that easy to obtain (unless you pay up) to appease that complain that all one needed is two trips and they are SL, now you have to pay M fare, or take 4 trips at V fare.

3) If one buys any club miles eligible fare one is eligible to enjoy their MPO status benefits. However, if one is buying non-Club miles eligible fares, then regardless of status (even DM) one will not enjoy Club benefits.

There, fixed.

jagmeets

CB- sensible points but #3 would probably be difficult to implement - would they allow other OW elites lounge access on a cheapo fare, while restricting their own? They could, of course, go somewhat the way of AA/QF though (with modifications)...

CrazyJ82

Apologies if this was discussed earlier and I lost track of it in this long thread, but wouldn't it be acceptable if CX went the way of BA with a tier-point based system?

It heavily tilts the scale in favor of premium cabin flyers. So that on HKG-JFK, if memory serves, a J class ticket earns enough tier points to reach their ruby level after one round trip, whereas a discounted Y flyer would need to do something like 4 rountrips to reach that level. (I might have misremembered the earning table, but you get the idea of the differential. It's a lot more than now where if that's your only route you end up at SL after two rts no matter which cabin you're in.) It's a much bigger boost than the current 1.1/1.25/1.5 multiples for PEY/J/F travel under the mileage-based system.

The downside for those who complain about F lounge crowding is that this makes it much easier for frequent J travelers to earn emerald status. I suspect it would thin the herd in the J lounges noticeably since frequent discounted Y flyers would have to fly more to earn status, and then to earn sapphire to bring a guest. But it does leave open a door to status for the most loyal Y flyers, either on segments or by racking up a large number of long-haul discounted flights.

nshizuka25

JL has this rule, if you get the cheapo fare, no matter you are JL Diamond or OWE, you don't get to pre-assign seats.

BA also has this rule, even if you are OWE/OWS, HBO(hand baggage only) fare doesn't get additional check in baggage allowance. (effectively 0+2=0)

I assume CX can negotiate the same.

I believe AA and QF also put restriction on domestic lounge access to their own members, since OWR doesn't give universal lounge access, it is not that you could just join other FFP to get lounge access.

KACommuter

MH also offers lounge access to its own Ruby level members, which makes 5 out of 13. Not really a OW standard then.

KACommuter

Good idea - tickets that don't get 100% mileage don't get lounge benefits even if you have DM status. Rather like the old rule for upgrades. That solves the thundering herd problem without irritating the more premium Y passengers.

Enhancements

Nope for MH. You get the option to pay RM2000 (550USD) for Golden Lounge access. Granted mileage is easier to earn on MH that you'd probably hit Gold with around the same spend as you do on CX.

Cathay Boy

Or do a cheapo $600 HKD upgrade to J at HKG and get lounge access. Do it everytime I used to fly MH into China.

CuiDawei

I'm sorry - but no lounge access for DM flying on cheapo fares? Seriously? And does it just stop at lounge access? What about check-in? Priority baggage? Boarding?

If I consider how much me and my partner (also DM) spend with CX - we are hitting the 2 million HKD mark a year. Our business travel is all in J, at least 4 JFKs for me and about 8 for him. Not to mention the AUS/NZ flights plus all the asia flights. If we want to buy a cheapo ticket to BKK one weekend for 800 HKD there is no way I shouldn't get lounge access - plus all the other benefits. It doesn't make sense, I don't think CX will do it and if they did I would leave in a heart beat. For personal trips it's really a mix of how much cash we have that month, how far we are going and if we have booked in advance. So sometimes its cheapo, sometimes V, sometimes E and sometimes I/D/C. It just depends.

We both have a choice to fly CX for work and personally - it's not a rule that we have to and will gladly move if my lounge access is taken away because I buy a cheap ticket to BKK one weekend and get no benefits. Ridiculous.

1010101

I still think just cut lounge access for Silvers completely. Because CX is such a proud HK brand every man and his dog is an MPC member, and it only takes a couple of economy long hauls to hit SL. Only CX know for sure but I would imagine a huge proportion of lounge users at any given time are SL members.

I agree with this. DMs and even Golds put serious miles in on CX and they shouldn't be restricted in any way.

midlevels

1) Green tier should get no benefits at all. They should do away with the US$50 entrance fee and make it a starting point that delivers zero benefits. I always thought it was crazy that CX allowed one to pay US$50 to get a lifetime of priority check in and boarding. If you eliminate these benefits, a lot of congestion at outport J check in queues and at priority boarding gates will be alleviated.

2) I don't really agree on this. V class fares are typically not cheap at all. Very often for trips to Singapore I would buy the HK$3600 V fares instead of the $980 or $1400 or $2100 other fares so that I can earn miles on the trip. M class is yet more expensive, I don't recall exactly but lets say $4500-5000. I don't think I value my Club Miles so much that I would pay $4500-5000 for a trip to SIN, so I would just downgrade to the $980 or $1400 fares. I think the loser here is clearly CX, not me.

3) Doesn't make any sense. The point of loyalty programmes is to give passengers a consistently good travel experience on all their flights. Award travel excepted, almost none of my flights are below V class but on the odd occasion (one or twice every few years) that I am forced to travel on a lower fare (package or group travel), I would be pissed if the airline chose to disown me.

For those who fly non-earning fares very often, it just means that they fly a LOT in higher classes too so to deny them privileges too also doesn't make sense.

There are probably almost no higher tier pax for example that get DM or GO on V fares in a few months and then spend the rest of the year travelling on S/N/Q/O fares enjoying DM/GO privileges. I doubt that this kind of passenger exists in any appreciable quantities.

Guy Betsy

That wouldn't be logical.