nightkhan

I made OWE one year and flew NYC-HKG RT 3 times that year and got op'ed up on every flight. Definitely didn't happen when I was CX SL.

dek526

SuloL

Not true according my source, who seemed to recall the training materials and the pecking order on the subject very quickly, and whom I have no reason to doubt. I was told CX DM - CX GO - OWE - CX SL - OWS. This supports my own first-hand experiences.

I would be surprised if status was the only part of the equation. If I was an airline, I would look at fare classes booked and customer value in addition to status. Also, plenty of reasons outside of these that could affect the op-up processing, e.g. service recovery gestures, higher status pax travelling in group bookings, etc etc.

BOStoHKG

lixiaojuventus

Just curious: I find that AA codeshare flights operated by CX are generally much more expensive than native CX flights. Are you experiencing the same?

BOStoHKG

I've only bought one, just flew last week. I took a CX/AA codeshare BOS-HKG, but JAL premium econ on the way back, and overall it was less expensive than doing the same on CX. Sorry, don't have a lot of experience here.

nightkhan

This is due to revenue sharing for the codeshare. I'm not entirely sure on specifics, but I'm sure more knowledgeable flyers would be able to explain further.

lixiaojuventus

Thanks for the reply! It seems that there is basically nothing to credit to AA if one does not buy codeshares. Most (and I really mean Most) native CX fares do not earn any AA points at all.

lixiaojuventus

I think it is the standard practice that codeshare prices more than native flights. I think Joint Ventures are exceptions, as UA/NH, AA/JL, DL/KE codeshares price almost the same as native flights.

jh_

andersonCooper

Yes, that's how easy AA EXP is attainable with CX PEY, but the same trips in CX will give you 60*8=480 CP, not even GO. It is extremely hard for US-based pax to maintain MPC status, but it might be pointless except for access to FL.

For the op-up - yes it's easy to get op-up from Y to PEY, but I have never been op-up by CX from W to J in the last 3 years, about 15 RT between US and HKG (mostly JFK/EWR).

yyla

Would you mind saying what status you are/were? For CX SL my op-up was pretty much 50%, for both Y to PEY and PEY to J. CX GR would be around 25-30%. Recently switched to OWS and got op-upped once out of once (PEY to J). Would really like to know if CX SL gets better op-up chance than OWS as I'm thinking about switching back to CX SL. I also fly JFK/EWR to HKG most of the time.

From my op-up experience it seems OWS?=CXSL>CXGR>>>OWR. CX GR is definitely better than OWR in terms of op-ups (though I'm sure not many of you care lol)

andersonCooper

Only 1 trip was taken as OWS, all others were OWE. The fact is op-up is highly route-/time-dependent. I am fully aware of the fact that JFK/EWR sold really well on J, but not so much on PEY (recently PEY has been good though), so whenever Y is oversold, OWE got op-up easily from Y to PEY. However when you have a full J cabin due to either too many business travelers or AA/AS miles users, there's really nothing too much to expect. My purchased J with EWR/JFK always featured full J, except for JFK - YVR seg.
In addition, weekend/weekday might make a difference, but I am too lazy to dig into my trip history.

synthkeys

I'm probably in a similar pattern as @andersonCooper. 6-7 longhauls, EWR/JFK-HKG on PE, no other travel. I try to get redemption upgrade to J with R class ticket on each trip as company won't pay for J. I haven't switched to AA, but would probably make OWE pretty quickly. WIth MPC, that pattern has me in GO/OWS for the last 3 years. I thought I had a chance for DM this year as I snagged two J class tickets during the black friday sale last year, but a little work hitch left me three months with no travel over the summer. If I can get an extension in November, maybe can get to 1100 points and hope they would bump me up.

If I switched to AA, I'd get to OWE quickly, but lose the J class redemption upgrades. As @andersonCooper mentioned, op-up is very route/time dependent, but IMHO seems EWR op-up has decreased with the change to A359. JFK op-up has never seemed great for GO. I have a few co-workers that use JFK-HKG, and they hardly ever get one although they usually take the Sunday CX845 and Friday CX840 flights which seem pretty elite heavy. I'm more willing to choose midweek or Saturday flights.

With the redemption change, and upgrade rate going up to 70K miles round trip, I'm still able to afford the miles, so I'm sticking with CX for now, but I do contemplate switching to AA. I don't really care about F lounge access, Pier J is good enough for me. Sure I'd like to be DM, but without the additional local travel, don't think I can get or maintain with my current pattern. CX GO works for me, albeit only slightly more valuable than SL.

suziemay

Having a similar dilemma. I'm having trouble maintaining my CX Gold due to family members relocating and my travel patterns changing, and wondering if I should just credit to another OW frequent flyer program. BA seems to always pop up as the easiest to attain OWS status.

I did want to point out that for domestic US lounge access, AA actually screws their own so if this is an important benefit for you, keep this in mind. For example, I can access the AA Flagship Lounge at JFK with my OWS access flying in domestic economy, but whatever AA's equivalent is for OWS cannot do the same. I don't know how their status maps, but this is what is on their website: AAdvantage®Executive Platinum, Platinum Pro and Platinum customers traveling solely on North American itineraries do not qualify for Flagship Lounge access.