Can't sort an upgrade in one call?
Mar 26, 2019, 8:54 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HK
Programs: Qantas (Lifetime Gold), PAL (Elite), British Airways (now sadly blue), Cathay MPO DM
Posts: 647
Can't sort an upgrade in one call?
Tried to book an upgrade online, only one direction was showing up so I rang the Diamond line. Pressed 1 for English and then they cut me off. Rang back, got through to someone whose English is truly dreadful and they have found my upgrades (ExpertFlyer has shown 8+ I class available so I didn't think it was an issue!) but cannot actually ticket them because "another department has to ring me back to take the tax". Seriously? Has something changed? Always used to be able to process things in one go ringing up Marco Polo..... anyone else experience this?
(also, the upgrade was the sub of each direction - is that also new? Previously a return upgrade was less than the sum of the parts....)
(also, the upgrade was the sub of each direction - is that also new? Previously a return upgrade was less than the sum of the parts....)
Mar 27, 2019, 5:34 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: TPE / HSZ
Programs: CX GO (=SPH), IHG Diamond Amb, Hertz 5*, Accor, Hilton, National
Posts: 6,437
Are you referring to the mileage requirement? Since the change of redemption mileage requirement last year, all round-trips are priced at twice the one-way cost.
Mar 27, 2019, 5:42 am
#3
Join Date: May 2015
Location: WAS, SZX, HKG
Programs: AS MVP Gold 75K, CX Green
Posts: 735
Yes. I was told in this forum that the MPO and AM call center is being outsourced to HKT or something, so most agents do not have the ability to manually calculate taxes. Numerous times when I try to redeem for a ticket they have to call me back to tell me the taxes and finalize the transaction.
Mar 27, 2019, 11:44 pm
#4
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: HK
Programs: Qantas (Lifetime Gold), PAL (Elite), British Airways (now sadly blue), Cathay MPO DM
Posts: 647
Yes. I was told in this forum that the MPO and AM call center is being outsourced to HKT or something, so most agents do not have the ability to manually calculate taxes. Numerous times when I try to redeem for a ticket they have to call me back to tell me the taxes and finalize the transaction.
Mar 28, 2019, 1:56 am
#5
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: HKG
Programs: CX DM, SPG Pt, Le Club Accor GO, Shangri-La GC Jade
Posts: 1,327
This would be idiotic... While I understand that this means CX's own agent can focus in working on confirmed and issuing ticket and no longer need to answer the hour long phone call to check this and that for those who are far from making up their mind.... This definitely sacrificed customer experience....
p.s. Just called x3888 to ticket some redemption tickets.... Everything was as usual... but one noticeable change is few months ago it took them 3 days to issue my ticket after my call... Now only 3 hours....
p.s. Just called x3888 to ticket some redemption tickets.... Everything was as usual... but one noticeable change is few months ago it took them 3 days to issue my ticket after my call... Now only 3 hours....
Mar 28, 2019, 10:01 am
#7
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: San Francisco
Programs: QF Platinum, Former CX Diamond, TG Gold, HH Diamond, IHG Spire Ambassador, Amex Platinum
Posts: 173
Ludicrous that they had to call me back to charge HK$10 to my credit for a recent upgrade. Asked why I couldn't complete online like I used to and was told "increased security to protect you". Suspect this is a result of the data breach but I say too little too late.
Mar 28, 2019, 6:39 pm
#8
Join Date: Nov 2006
Programs: MPC,CA,MU,AF
Posts: 8,171
I used to pay the additional HKD20 ACF when I called for ticket upgrade, but that changed about three months ago. CX called me back to get the my CC information. It happened again a month ago - this time they called me back after one week for the payment.