Juan Ramos

Shortly after they contacted me to say my flight to MAD was no longer operating, Manila announced a lockdown so we decided to fly to SFO and quarantine ourselves at our home there. Update: CX called me to state there was no way they were going to grant an extension until they operate my MAD flight. I did not want to argue further.

The strange thing I find is that CX, like Hong Kong, usually has a very pragmatic, utilitarian approach to any issue: they will do whatever has the best end business result. This action essentially pushes me to have no reason to stay with them and make CX my primary carrier. There are many alternatives now especially when transiting in HKG is less attractive. I may fly with them when there is no better choice, but I will no longer be partial to them and focus on a carrier that will make it easier to requalify.

percysmith

Agree, and also note some DMs qualify/requalify on significantly more than 1205 Club Points.

OP was 20% short of the DM membership bar in the final month. OP was a marginal case at best - he should have travelled more during 2019 if DM meant so much to him.

He's still a GO to Jan 2021. Whether he wants to pick another airline with a better reward structure is entirely his prerogative. The pandemic is a good opportunity to rethink these things, and CX has no lifetime status to make him stay.

brunos

As a side note: I have friends who have achieved LT Platinium status on AFKL. They actually fly less on AFKL now that they don't have to chase requalification. They worked hard to get LT. But now, they don't hesitate to get the best value on other airlines for their expensive trips, while enjoying the lounge/opup benefits for cheapo Y fares on AFKL.

sxc

Not sure I understand this strategy though. For their expensive trips are they buying J+ tickets in which case status matters less? Otherwise not much point to have earned lifetime status and then fly other airlines.

percysmith

My understanding is once they are LT, they are in a position to shop non-AFKL J premium fares with AFKL economy fares. Both non-AKFL J and AFKL T/Y with status are acceptable substitutes of each other.

brunos

There are different aspects and there is no need to detail each situation here. Also different FFPs have different attractive benefits. AF is not so good for opups (they like to tempt infrequent J pax and those from other FFPs by upgrading them).
Some illustrations, using LifeTime (LT) on BA or AF to avoid being CX specific: AF requires ten continuous years at Plat level. That is somewhat easy to get. BA requires a life time total of 35,000 Tier Points (1,500 needed each year to qualify as OWE) and 100,000 TP for LT GGL. You need a lot of travel in J/F to earn that.
Top FFP members tend to travel in J. Why stick with your LT airline (e.g. AF or BA) if you can have more convenient, cheaper, better product on another airline. Lounge benefit and priority boarding is a major attraction, so that induces to direct cheap Y travel to the own airline. But J?
Actually, one of my colleague ,who is still young enough to travel extensively for business, switched some of his travel from AF to *A to also gain lounge access with *A. I used to have top status on both OW and ST, so I understand the benefits, but I now travel much less and only favor OW airlines, hence CX, to retain OWE each year..

As we all know, a loyalty program is not to reward loyalty but to induce to fly the airline in the future. Striving to achieve LT status is a significant motivation. But once you earn it, the airline loses compared to a situation where LT does not exist. The ideal LT flyer is one who goes the extra mile with the airline (up-buying in premium class and flying only with that airline) for years and years, and qualifies LT when he retires . Then he does extensive leisure travel in Y with the same airline to enjoy the LT benefits. I know that there has been debates at AF that it is too easy to become LT at a young age.

It could be that DM benefits are magnificent, that CX is always the best alternative in terms of price and quality. Then introducing a LT program would not make much of a difference.