Jackolee

With the closure of arrival lounge, I can't differentiate the benefits between SL and GO.

I usually arrive in the early morning and take a shower in the arrival lounge before heading to office. I also find one of the menus (Japanese set) ok. Last night when I got in, there was even no food service already, set aside those doritos...

Even in the recent month, no greeting on board at all for all of my flights (flew 6 sectors to & from KL)... I always travel alone and so I don't need to bring any guests into lounges. I'm not trying to DYKWIA but I simply don't know what GO can get now - we are like the middle child.

QRC3288

You're right it's not a whole lot, but:

*OW Sapphire, which is definitely useful if you travel on partner airlines
*Seat guaranteed, although watered down now that it's Y / W / J only
*Higher priority on wait lists?

You're correct that GO is really stuck in the middle.

IMO Silver is the best "bang for the buck" in the whole program if you're based in Hong Kong. Relatively easy to hit, and then access to all the CX J departure lounges at HKG. CX essentially treats SL like a GO normally would be treated in another program, and then GO is lost in the wilderness.

lixiaojuventus

Just curious, do Silver members get lounge access at outstations when flying CX/KA?

QRC3288

yes, they either get the CX lounge (if CX operates one), or whatever contract lounge CX is using.

But the reason I say Silver is particularly good if you're HKG based, is because CX operates 4 J class lounges in the airport, and Silvers can us all of them. Including Pier J, which I think is the nicest J class lounge I've seen anywhere.

I think Silver is a great deal especially for HKG-members. The lounge access benefit is what makes that elite level stand out. MPC deserves a lot of criticism, especially from the higher yielding members. But for Silvers, I think they do a very good job and it's a smart program.

Jackolee

I very much agree. To me:
- By eliminating the arrival lounge, the only 'extra' lounge benefit to me as GO diminishes. SLs can also enter the lounges at outstations when travel with CX/KA. I'm seldom on domestic travels within US and Australia (let alone those like S7/RJ/MH destinations), so lounge access to partner airlines may not be a big deal to me. The only possible benefit in this regard may be QR lounge access even in Y...?
- Chance of op-ups is almost the same for SL & GO members based on my experience (even more op-ups when I was SL a few years ago for the same travel pattern).
- Don't know if it's a new practice, you become non-existent on board. No greeting to GOs in Y and everyone is greeted in F/J, no matter which status you're at.

In this way, it seems that there is no point to pay the premium to maintain the GO status. I'd better hunt for the best bargain offered by no matter OW or *A airlines and keep the minimum points for SL which is much easier to fetch. Perhaps few people here like me have this feeling triggered by the closure of the arrival lounge!

lixiaojuventus

Good to know! Thanks for the reply! It is really nice that they also provide lounge access at outstations

Cambo

When flying J on non-F birds, the GO values give you the option to haul around 50kg of luggage and some buddy lounge passes. So, not really significant value.
Only with DM, you'll get presumed King-treatment (useful with IROPS) and F-lounges. No opups, due to the lack of F on the birds.

When flying in lower class, GO gives some advantage, as you wrote.

infinitium

Completely agree w/everything that's been shared so far. I've spent close to 2 decades, shuttling between both levels - GO and SL.
Honestly, there isn't much difference and value -- to me -- between both.

As a person who flies via HKG primarily for connects, the biggest value from having status is J-lounge access (which SL already affords).
Every other perk that comes w/GO, I've hardly enjoyed (I don't need 50kg luggage space, nor have I needed priority standby/waitlisting in 2 decades of corp travel, nor care if I board first w/Biz, or 3m later in a separate queue lane).

wandering_fred

Depends on whether most of your travel is solo or with a (limited status) partner. Silver lounge access is holder only. Gold can guest one.

Just wandering

Fred

Cambo

I agree with that, though it looks stupid to me, to alienate 50% of your customers by not rewarding them to fly more with CX, simply because they fly solo .......

LoveHateRelationship

There's still hidden unpublished benefits that come with GO, just depends on if you care about it or not.

I found that as a GO on long haul J, I get served my meals first. The flight crew also remember you by name and address you by name even in PEY and Y I've found. These are nice little touches I've found that add to the service. Anecdotally though I'd say I get more op-ups as SL than GO. I've been upgraded 0 times since becoming GO. As SL, I used to get upgraded about 25-30% of the time with the same travel pattern.

tentseller

One GO SL difference is TPAC flights it is three bags for GO and two for SL.

Cambo

Everybody his/her own experiences, though things like "first meal" in J only applies for me, when I did book a special meal.

Called by name: Yezzzzzzzzzz, but only after they read the seating overview with names, which is taped to the cart and in the galley. Might be my difficult to remember and pronounce name though

Op-ups: Unlikely, since I fly on non-F birds and I don't think, they'll invite me into the cockpit (not that I would like to sit 10+ hours in a pilot seat, let alone the jump seat, this Pro stuff is far less comfortable then the regular J & PE seats).

Though, of course, everybody's mileage may and probably will vary.

Curious that the GO experience varies that much among the routes.

Jackolee

Indeed! May be my bad luck, I am no difference with other Y passengers on KA flights. No hidden benefits observed at all since the past couple of months (perhaps KL is too elite-heavy?). On the other hand, published benefits become fewer with the elimination of arrival lounge. SLs can also choose first-row seats, get priority lines and enter into lounges.

So perhaps it's worthy to pursue a GO status only if:
- You always travel with another one (with lower membership status) - can bring him/her into lounges.
- You always travel Y on partner airlines - can get access to their lounges, especially for domestic flights.
- You always have ad-hoc, last-min travels - Y seat guaranteed.
- You are a frequent TPAC traveler and need to bring a lot of luggage.
Anything else I missed?

Sadly I'm none of the above

Rain187

Same here, when I travel in J class as a GO, I do get greetings when on board (depends if there is a lot of DMs) and they tend to serve your meal first or ask you directly to make a hot one (even for my short haul flight). My recent travel in J with no membership number added, I do feel the difference between a no one and a GO.

For my flights in Y or PEY as a GO, personal greeting is there and the crew is happy to address my request (either water or fast pass). Also, they do address your surname / name when serving meal.

One more thing I think GO is pretty good, you can basically access to any oneworld lounge regardless your travel class, so if you have a long time at airport (even outport) you can do lounge hooping. Same CX outport lounge is not as good as the partner airlines one, say NRT, sakura lounge defintely win and the aa lounge is not bad too. SL cannot access to partner airline lounge if you are travel on PEY/Y. I cant deny the 4 cx lounges in HK is good but they are too crowded these days so I tend to go to other lounge.