CXFlyerBoy

Is it? I don't see this in the Marco Polo Club membership agreement, nor in the published benefits of the program. If it is standard policy, perhaps you can provide a point of reference?

How is one long haul every two months valuable to CX? This is not a lot of volume compared to those who to weekly commutes, maybe in higher cabin or fare classes. Past spend and loyalty don't count nowadays. The bean counters look at your current spend and fortunately, that is what the 12 month rolling deadline is good for. it tracks your customer worthiness score. There are not a lot of airlines that track lifetime spend nowadays.


Oh sorry, your original post did not indicate future bookings save for the third datapoint.


The tone of your original post made it sound like an entitlement. If CX were to be doing it, it is a goodwill and shouldn't be expected.

Oh and I would be curious if you could find an airline in the current market to fulfill your expectation.

lixiaojuventus

I'm with you on this one. If CX thinks 290 MPC points is enough for SL for everyone, they will revise their policy and move the SL threshold down to 290 points.

tentseller

You missed the requirement by almost 20%.
You ask for an extension.
It was granted.
You still didn't make the requirement with the extension.

If you ask for a DSE rewrite and still fail, do you think anyone in HK will feel sorry for you?

woutr

Not that it matters, I got upgraded from green to silver at 295 points, and my membership year still had almost 6 months left.

NeoZ

First things first, I believe everyone will agree that the main reason why I wrote my experiences on FT is to share, and hope this will add valuable contribution to the discussion. From my experiences, I find that not everyone can upgrade to Gold or retain Silver if they did not collect the required Club points.

CXFlyerBoy I disagree that my tone in my original post implied that I see it is as an entitlement to get grace periods and upgrades. I was just stating what MPC told me. Nor do I agree that I am being unreasonable in asking for such offers. It is common sense to ask for something you want, rather than remaining quiet. There is no harm asking but if you feel I am demanding - I disagree.

I believe everyone agrees that the fact that MPC offers upgrades and tier retention is a sign of good-will gesture, which encourages members to continue take CX/KA flights. There is no guarantee for such offers and I did not take this for granted. The fact that we spoke to the senior manager was because the duty manager had invited her to communicate with us.

The fact that you think CX should not offer good-will gestures to silver members is unreasonable and cannot be understood.

As a commercial company, every customer’ input is valuable to the company. For example, many people travel one long haul every two months; many people only travel during the summer/winter holidays; many people may want to visit HK, so they choose CX; many people travel for business. Everyone has a different reason for choosing CX and a different way of contribution/support to CX. Using your logic, you are saying Cathay should choose customers that are valuable to the company, and decide who to offer help to. Therefore, Cathay should not offer Silver and Green tiers, instead they should only offer Gold and Diamond status. They should only help Gold and Diamond members and have no responsibilities in helping silver and green members.

I would like to advise that the reason why many companies offer silver and green tiers is to target different audiences and gain revenue from them. They have a duty to assist passengers. If companies don’t help us, who is protecting our rights?

What did I expect? Did I demand unreasonably for an upgrade to Gold when I am at 575?

tentseller While I’m reading this thread I noted that quite a few people were upgraded from 575 or 585 club points. I see no reason why I should not ask for an upgrade. Does it mean if I ask for such request, it is demanding, unreasonable?

In this case, this thread should not happen. What you are suggesting here is NO ONE should ask for a grace period, an upgrade or tier retention if they are missing club points. People should ask for it ONLY after they collect 600 /300club points. Is this reasonable? Can’t we just ask them? Did I ever say it is an entitlement? Imagine you were me, how will you feel if someone says they are able to upgrade or retain tier even though they did not have enough club points but you can’t?

I never said that 290 club points is enough for silver. Nor do I suggested that the SL threshold should move down to 290. My father’s SL status is automatically renewed even he did not collect 300 club points. In this case, why my mother’s and mine cannot do the same? That’s the reason why I wrote a post, suggesting that not everyone can get upgrade and retain tiers if they don’t have enough club points! I never said these offers should be an entitlement. Did I do anything wrong for just sharing my experience and being criticised?

ernestnywang

I suppose you can ask to have your tier reversed, just like what I did. See my posts above.

tentseller

NeoZ

There is a big difference between 575 and 485 when the goal is 600.

You got a grace period, full-stop, and you still failed the exam.

There are many other airlines, you don't have to use that one who's status qualification does not meet your wishes.

sparkj

You should take our reference points but should not expect that it will happen for sure to you. The rules are that upgrades are at 300/600, so CX would not have done anything wrong by not offering it to you as well.

If you really wanted it, you should have been prepared and flown enough to meet the next tier as insurance, but once hitting 550-575, held off on crediting (take off your MPC on those flights) so you can use those points more efficiently on your next membership year.
Then, you can benefit from the potential early upgrade / renewal, and keep calling to try to make that happen earlier.
However, in case you don't get it (which you shouldn't take for granted), you call in last minute to credit to get to your desired tier.

If you messed it up, you still had the extension. And if you still couldn't make it, just live with it and be better prepared next year.
In the points game I've learnt that you can't always be 100% efficient or always get the best deal, you just have to live with it or you'll be pissed at yourself all the time.

woutr

It actually worked out well for me, so I’m not really complaining. Was able to use the business lounges on my last trip.

suziemay

Right now this is probably a non-data point but thought I’d share! Had a CX connecting to KA flight on January 11&12, flights marketed through AA. KA flight points credited almost immediately to get me to 495 Club Points on January 13. CX flight took a bit longer, but 85 points credited around January 16/17 (I wasn’t paying close attention!) to bring me to 580 Club Points. Due for renewal end of February. So far no automatic renewal to GO for me. Been GO for the last 3 years. I have the return flight to go in a week that’s due to earn me 105 Club Points, and another trip booked later this year that’s due to earn 210 total Club Points.

Will report back to let everyone know what ends up happening!

mnt10

Another data point: I've just been upgraded SL->GO at 560pts six months early. No currently booked future flights but I have picked up nearly 900pts in less than a year (from zero as GR) so I wonder if that had any bearing.

Not sure that being GO will make much practical difference but hopefully it'll increase my op-up chances (I'm mostly flying CX E/R-class).

ernestnywang

Agree that the post-2016 MPO made GO not so much better than SL anymore (as seat guarantee in BHKMLV was taken away). The closure of The Arrival at HKG made the gap even smaller. I'm still happy that I made GO again this year though, after being SL for 4 years.

suziemay

February 15, still sitting at 580 club points with no auto renewal to GO. Wondering if it’s time to throw in the towel and submit my KUL-HKG KA flight for 20 points or hold on for a bit more. I had removed my Marco Polo FF from my recent flights (20 points for KUL-HKG, 85 points for HKG-JFK) in the hopes that I could apply the 105 Club Points for next year’s renewal

sxc

If it doesn’t auto renew at 580 you can always submit it after and ask for consideration to get back to GO because of the late credit.

suziemay

If I do it this, I may risk them saying no and remain at Silver, right?