Originally Posted by QRC3288

I think sscywong is referring to full Y fare ex-HKG. Unfortunately, CX isn't that stupid. (and this is why Cathay Dragon's frequent exhortation for CX to sell cheapo biz class fares ex-HKG is difficult, although it isn't impossible and I like the suggestion. Just saying there are more variables that must be dealt with).

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Originally Posted by brunos

My family experience with CX, BA and AF is that they renew the current status for one year, even if you miss the qualification level. It is a "joker" that you can only use once.
It might not be automatic but is clearly frequent.

Originally Posted by Cathay Dragon 666

Well, I've figured something out (I'm sure experts here already figured this out and posted somewhere in here). Just take a short-hop to TPE (not on Cathay because of price.....) and then origin the flight from TPE and all of a sudden you get more than 50% off.

Last time I tried to price HKG-PEK-HKG, $6,000 HKD. Changed it to TPE-HKG-PEK-HKG-TPE, the price reduced to $2,800 HKD. Ridiculous.

Originally Posted by Ausriver

Unless OP's been flying all short hauls.. otherwise it is very unlikely that he/she would have more than 1200 cps in the updated system.

It is actually good to know. My wife is 40 points away from renewing her GO at end of Dec. I guess she can relax now without doing a MR which will be a waste of few thousand HKD.



Is your DM renewal date end of Oct or Nov?

Originally Posted by amgsl55

End of Oct
I received my new DM pack on 3 Nov

Originally Posted by kawaii

Woah, this is great news for me. I will probably be 100-ish points short of renewal by end of Nov (when my term is up) and hopefully will be re-upped for another year.

Originally Posted by Ausriver

So I guess you've already given up hope and was ready to be downgraded to GO... and they kept you.. Did MPC sent you an email mid Oct letting you know about keep your status?

Great work!

Originally Posted by amgsl55

no they didn’t
they just sent me new DM pack

Originally Posted by cxfan1960

I was downgraded to GO a year ago. Got to 960 CP this year and stayed GO... Perhaps if I could keep DM last year, they might allow me to stay DM this year with 960 CP

Originally Posted by fakecd

see their inconsistent bending of rules just makes people like Cxfan1960 more annoyed... i would be if i were you... someone who suffered last year have no recourse yet DM this year seems to get free extension. where do you draw a line?

as far as good gesture is noted, inconsistency plants sense of unfairness to others and do more damage. granted not everyone is aware of stealth renewal but all it takes is Apple Daily to report (in fact, any reporters here?) and agitate the masses.

i respect rules. i want my FFP program to be clear and transparent... not moving goalposts subject to mood of prevailing CEOs

Originally Posted by Cathay Dragon 666

I've been a Cathay DM for more than 10 years and I've never received such "joker". The two-years that I literally just-missed (one case 3000 miles, another case less than 1000 miles), I called MPO to appeal and no avail, the best is one-to-two months extension.

I'll go on the record. I have around 700 points (not 800 points as the lucky poster that got renewed to DM), but they are all C class travel, and most of them J/D fares. If Cathay also renews me that would REALLY impresses me, and definitely win my loyalty back.

Originally Posted by QRC3288

CX is historically ruthless to people who pay serious $ to the airline, but fail to make the grade the next year. This situation (renewing at 800, and with the number of similar anecdotes that are piling up here and in other threads) is definitely a new thing. I am perhaps taking this too far a stretch, but given some of the changes that are happening on the customer side, I think Hogg must have a different leadership style / philosophy than Ivan Chu and we're seeing some effects immediately. (one other positive thing not mentioned in here: prices for staff travel were just reduced for many routes. I'm all for anything picking up staff morale, because selfishly it helps us the customer. We the paying customers ultimately pay the price when staff hate their job and don't trust the CEO).

Interestingly, I think CX is keenly aware of a Hong Kong dynamic this last decade - the total death of the expat package - on the cost side, but hasn't realized it (or is just realizing it) on the revenue side. On the cost side, obviously CX is hiring local pilots and cutting all foreign pilots to a local package. Instead of the half million USD/year packages and living on the peak old school expat pilots enjoyed (perhaps some exaggeration, but not much), which is obviously unsustainable and completely unnecessary in this day and age. But on the revenue side, how tickets are purchased have changed. It's not a hardship to get people to move to Hong Kong. And local financial firms do not have to offer the same perks to employees transferring from NY or London, even if those employees enjoy lucrative compensation privileges simply as a result of their rank and industry.

What I mean is, 10 years agoI could point to multiple banks who had more "loose" travel policies in Asia versus North America, and part of that was the internal understanding banks needed to encourage talent to travel abroad to developing markets. (It also helped that emerging markets were seen as unlimited growth potential and Asia was exotic to guys in NY, so the tolerances for absurd Asian loss-making divisions were high). You would have vice presidents and below on equity capital markets teams flying primarily economy class in the US as dictated in their contracts, yet they'd be exclusively in J class in Asia. Well, those days are ending too.

Yet CX's MPC program still is designed for expat types, as Harbour Gent alludes to above, instead of folks who either pay for their own travel or self-direct it. Hong Kong's legacy as an expat banking center is one of the reason it hasn't been too big a deal for CX to be ruthless to travelers who maybe are DM for 5 years and "pay" (aka Morgan Stanley pays) a few hundred thousand in revenues to CX, but are quickly cut to GO or SL the first year they don't make the grade. This is acceptable behavior if that traveler was a VP in derivatives at Morgan Stanley, because realistically he might've just transferred to Dubai where he'll be flying Emirates, or to a different broker with a travel different policy, or the buy side. In short this traveler is under no illusion that his DM status is nothing but a result of his job at MS. It's almost a perk of the job.

But as expat-type packages and travel policies in Asia are cut, you end up filling J class with more self-directed spenders. And for those people the relationship with CX is more personal since there isn't a middle man like the employer (or, I know of multiple firms where the employer is paying, but the staff are legitimately choosing and "paying" for their own travel out of a budget allotment, and the staff are incenvitized in various ways to save costs for the firm).

Originally Posted by Ausriver

Make sure you post back.

Originally Posted by kawaii

Was 110 points short of renewal, membership to expire on Nov 30 - just checked and was renewed until Nov 2018. Woo!