CX30616

Jetstar are almost everywhere in Australia, Japan and SEA, so it should be easy and cheap to have a MR on LCCs, and don't forget to choose the fare with QF miles. (Sorry for OT there)

QRC3288

Just to correct a common misperception on here: partner award tickets, particularly in J and F class, have a not-too-far-apart contribution to CX as ID tickets (ID tickets are what you call "non-rev"). Partner award redemptions are low revenue business. They aren't quite as low-yielding as ID, but they are indeed just a few hundred US dollars off for a J or F class ticket to/from North America, for example. You are correct that partners pay more to CX's bottom line but it isn't a big gap at all.

CX indeed treats the two constituencies very differently on-board - ID pax generally get last meal choice, don't get lounge access, walk on glass, etc. while partner awards are treated like normal passengers - but in terms of $$$ contribution to CX, partner redemptions are faaaar closer to ID ticket contributors than partner redemptions are to cash ticket contribution.

swingaling

There's one other aspect to this that certainly adds revenue for CX, though somewhat indirectly. While partner premium redemptions on CX provide substantially lower revenue than a cash ticket (e.g. $1k vs $10k for F as a general ballpark, respectively), these reciprocal agreements among airline partners do give CX the ability to offer partner (AA/AS/BA/...) redemptions to its own AM/MPO members. That offering certainly adds significant value to their loyalty programs, especially for AA's NA routes and BA's EU routes.

QRC3288

There's plenty of arguments I'm sure by the partners to make it sound economically equal. But in general, I suspect it is more one a one way street (in favor of partners) than mutually beneficial street (aka Asia Miles members doing just as well). CX is a primo destination for partner award booking. Meanwhile, I'm not sure how familiar you are with Asia Miles award chart, but it isn't very attractive. There are a few sweet spots on partners but overall we'd be a lot better off burning AA miles for AA, Avios, etc. Not that I'd want to burn on AA anyway, but that's another story...

Keeping this tangentially related to the topic, my hope is these extra CP enhancements strengthen MPC / AM. Anyone captive in HK to the MPC program is rooting for the program to be stronger, not weaker. These changes hopefully slow some of the exodus from the Y and PEY ranks.

fakecd

i still dont understand why CX have not differentiated flying on CX metal vs.OW partners or intoduced elite bonus. someone mentioned retension as urgent task, if cx cut CP to half for flying partners whilst upping the CP like they did for own metal, that sends a strong message. but they are doing half arsed solution which yields little impact... once you do that then you can compete on price front.

i hate to bring QF as comparison repeatedly but for aus hk route, not only is QF program gives twice the SC (CP equivalent) and points (for OWE) to fly on own metal compared to flying CX, they are still CHEAPER than cx which makes my choice easy. i can say i probably willing to pay say 10% more to fly QF in this case for those benefits. and if this was a work trip on business class CX MAY win on scheduke front, but even at major bank corporate policy is changing to cheapest business fares...

sxc

@fakecd problem is that CX earning on CX metal is already so low compared to other programs. And flying on other airlines is a fact of life. If they cut the earning to half for non CX, then the earning is next to worthless and people will then just join other programs to credit those flights and then realise how bad the CX program is.

HaikalS

This one is a big pet peeve for me, ie earning table ie 750-2750 miles but redemption is 750-2500! Impacts other geographies as well eg SEA

garykung

+1

If CX is serious about hoping GRs coming back, a retention offer, like BA's 2-year extension, should be provided.

Simply increasing CPs will not attract people back.

ernestnywang

I concur! The MPO changes 1.5 years ago already made it much easier for F and J flyers, so those should not be the group that really had an incentive to leave last time (not considering the fact that seat guarantee is almost gone and J lounge access for DMs flying non-OW, etc.). Now it's time to address the customers who were put in a disadvantage last time.

sxc

Not sure how many people commenting on this SCMP article are Flyertalkers, but the comments seem to reflect the sentiment of many here:

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/e...those#comments

ermen

Some people should not be allowed to own smartphones.

ernestnywang

Just realised one thing - now there is a real incentive to take CX*/AA flights for US domestic connection flights (instead of booking the AA prime code), although there will be a ~10USD extra YR per sector, as the TP disparity between CX and AA short-haul flights increases.

hew204

As someone who primarily flies ultra-long haul PE, I generally welcome the change. My travel patterns allow me to comfortably make GO each year. With the change, it should allow me to consistently get the GO mid-tier upgrades.
However, for this year, due to some discount C fares and unique C routings, I just hit DM yesterday. Yay! well kind of... Correct me if I am wrong, but this will disqualify me from getting GO mid-tier upgrades next year.
For me, I value the GO mid-tier upgrades over the DM perks (except for maybe opup priority). One change I would like to see is for CX to provide some benefits on the way to renewing DM. Since they don't (again correct me if I am wrong), what I value will lead me to just obtain 600 CP this year to drop back down to GO and then just 1000 CP the following years. If they gave me upgrades again at 1000 while working to renew DM, I would certainly make a push to renew.

christep

I guess you could contact CX and ask them not to upgrade you to DM if the F lounge access is less valuable to you than the mid-tier upgrades. But I bet, in the usual HK way, "computer says no"!

hew204

Haha - sums up Hong Kong customer service perfectly