lixiaojuventus

I am currently a Star Alliance captive (*G status with UA) living in the US. Next year my job will take me to Hong Kong. I am wondering if I can survive within Star Alliance network. I think the biggest gap in the network would be flights from HKG to mainland China, but other than that, my impression is that there should be sufficient *A flights for me to choose. Am I right? Or should I switch to CX for the best flight schedule?

Moreover, if I end up flying with CX, which OW program should I credit my flights to? (I heard that it is not easy to attain Gold status/OW Sapphire with Marco Polo Club). I find JL's Global Club membership (which guarantees OW Sapphire status) attractive. Is it actually a good choice?

Thanks in advance!

kaka

TravelLawyer

I prefer CX over other airlines so I would definitely seek out OW status. However, if you will be traveling a lot from HKG on CX, being OW Emerald with another airline does not necessarily equate to the same benefits as top tier Marco Polo, particularly with upgrades.

ChrisLi

What will be the main travel you will be doing when you mention HK - China is the biggest gap?

KA / CX is convenient for China and cannot be matched by mainland carrier, but then it's only a short ride to China so I am not particular worry about the service (I start to skip plane food these days unless I am flying Business).

As KK mention you have TG / SQ for the South East Asia and NH / BR for North Asia so you should be OK. I won't count on CA for China / AI for India though. Agreed you may want to look at JGC to cover up for OW Sapphire and can share more if needed. If you can't hit CX Diamond I would believe JGC OW Sapphire is a very attractive alternative

MSPeconomist

lixiaojuventus

Thanks! I agree with you that *A has many good carriers based around Hong Kong, so I will give it a try when I move there. If it does not work well after a year, I will take a more serious look into the JAL Global Club (JGC) option

garykung

You are both right and wrong. In the past, the biggest gap in the network was HKG-TPE. But this gap has been closed when BR joins *A. Also, even CA may not have as many HKG-Mainland flights as CX, there is an alternative - ZH @ SZX. You should be fine with *A for now.

Beside - a major difference from the U.S. market - many flights do not actually earn anything. So unless your company pays high to full fares, be expected that you may lose your status.

And don't forget the UA PQD waiver as well.

If you can meet the AA's EQD requirement, AA would be the best. Other than that, BA would be the second choice.

lixiaojuventus

Thanks for the input! I agree that top-tier Marco Polo status holders should receive much better treatment than Emerald members from other programs. However, in the foreseeable future my travel will probably only put me slightly below CX Gold status, so this point should not be a concern for me at the moment

sxc

lixiaojuventus

Thanks for the reply! BR has indeed been a valuable addition to the *A network, and I like BR very much. However, it is a pity that many BR fares do not earn full EQM in UA's program.

I also recognize that ZH is a very good option. Is it difficult to get to SZX from Hong Kong?

Yes, I also recognize that many flights on Asian carriers (SQ, BR, TG, ...) do not earn full PQM on UA. However, NH comes to rescue here, as most NH fares earn 100% PQM on UA. Given that I will travel to the US several times a year, I am confident that I can maintain *G with UA. And yes, the PQD waiver is very handy to me!

Your comment re AA and BA is very interesting. I agree that the AA option is quite interesting and useful, as I do need to travel to the US. However, why is BA's program superior to JL's? I thought JL's quasi-lifetime Sapphire status is quite nice to have. Any downside to the JL's program?

lixiaojuventus

Oh, thanks for this info! I am not aware of it at all. I will definitely check it out, but could you please briefly explain what is special for HK residents about this challenge?

sxc

So the HK status match may have expired as it was an offer during 2017 to try and attract people whose status with CX may have expired. But if you contact them with your circumstances, they might still have a special offer for you. [email protected] with subject "Status Match".

For the standard AA platinum challenge, you can find out more details here, or in the AA Flyertalk forum pages: https://thepointsguy.com/guide/airli...es-challenges/

CrazyJ82

BA is unlikely to be a good option here unless OP travels to London/Europe a few times a year. There's a 2-segment minimum on BA metal/codeshare for bronze/ruby and 4-segment for the sapphire and emerald tiers. If you can hit that (two round-trips to LHR each year or one round trip to anywhere else in Europe connecting through LHR) it's a decent program for earning status especially if you generally fly any class higher than economy.

For living in HKG OP also should think about redeemable miles. It might be worth doing the CC game for asia miles even if flying *A for status.

lixiaojuventus

Thanks for the reply! My main travel will be to the US and to mainland China. However, I think I can renew my *G status solely based on my travel to the US only.

I agree with you that the trip from HKG to mainland China is relatively short, so probably I can take these trips with a Marco Polo Green card (and also put ZH into the mix, as suggested by garykung), and put my other longer trips on *A carriers.

Yes, indeed I wouldn't hit CX Diamond in the foreseeable future, so I will probably jump ship to JGC OW Sapphire if I don't like what *A offers me in HKG.

lixiaojuventus

Thanks for this valuable info! I will definitely check it out With that said, it is funny that AA would try to steal status pax from its OW partner CX! I guess they don't get along very well? In fact, I find it strange that most Cathay economy class fares earn ZERO points in AA's program, which is even worse than how SQ flights earn UA miles!