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CX Marco Polo Changes - Green Card

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  1. #11

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    Never really used the priority boarding even when I at higher tiers. Just thought it made me a wannabe. If I had first or biz upgrade fine. But priority boarding was never anything that interested me.. Quite happy to spend an extra 10 mins in the queue.

    Rob2020 and Skyhook like this.

  2. #12

    Join Date
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    I must confess to having used Priority Boarding when flying Economy Class. However, they should can this option. Keep it for the aged and disabled of course.

    Ultimately it's a no-brainer. They've been muddying some of their brands. Doesn't say a lot for present management that they took so long to react. But lot of strange things happen at CX - e.g. the won't be missed 'coffin' business class seating.


  3. #13

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    Although I will be screwed makes complete scene. Am surprised as a green you were allowed priority boarding in the first place. Unlike I'm too cool for school @shri we would use it on the rare occasion we travelled CX for the overhead baggage space.

    rathunt likes this.

  4. #14

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kinch:
    I don't want to sound like a meanie, but: It really annoys the crap out of me when I'm flying Business Class on CX and have to (a) deal with crowded lounges and (b) regular cluster#$!% at boarding time when sometimes having to queue with/behind 100+ Marco Polo green card holders.

    (b) has been largely resolved in the last 12 months, it seems.. but (a) is still an issue. The sooner these get sorted, the better.

    Comfort on board is only part of what one is paying for in Business and First Class. A good chunk of it is avoiding the 'Hell is Other People' part and trying to make things as smooth as possible. Happy to pay a premium for these things.
    This is fair enough and maybe the lowest level green card holders should not get priority boarding. This is actually one 'perk' they get now that I forgot about. But I'm with Shri, its not really much of a perk. Apart from this, green card holders basically get bugger all. So really my point is why are they kicking out the lowest green status holders, who get almost no perks at all anyway. A guy who flies 9 times a year with Cathay will now be kicked out of the club completely at end of the year and asked to rejoin with a US$100 fee.

    At higher levels there are also new changes coming on April 15th. eg You will now need to fly 30 short haul economy or 10 long haul economy flights a year to go from green to silver, double that for gold, double again for diamond. So changes at all levels, but my point was specifically focusing on the lower end and I'm quite intrigued that they are planning to start kicking people out of the club completely, even the starting point entry level tier that gives bugger all.

    Also these brainiacs have just opened heaps of lounges all over the place to cater to the demand. Now they have 5 lounges at HKIA. The Wing, The Bridge, The Pier, The Cabin, The arrival. Two were opened just last year. Now their marketing geniuses have just emptied out the lounges are they just going to be big white elephants? Are their marketing guys talking to their operational guys at all? Whats the logic in building all these new lounges one year and then stop everyone from accessing them the next?
    shri, Kinch, irisboards and 1 others like this.

  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    Although I will be screwed makes complete scene. Am surprised as a green you were allowed priority boarding in the first place. Unlike I'm too cool for school @shri we would use it on the rare occasion we travelled CX for the overhead baggage space.
    Hah ... I have a fat old bag that I check in. Hand baggage - just my laptop.

    Whats the logic in building all these new lounges one year and then stop everyone from accessing them the next?
    May be the marketing geniuses think that by removing the early boarding privileges from non travelling green card holders - they'll convert them to high frequency travelling customers who will then start flooding the lounges?
    Last edited by shri; 09-03-2016 at 05:58 AM.
    bdw and Kinch like this.

  6. #16

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    Removing the early boarding perk from green card holders is a bloody cheek when they have charged people US$50 to join in the first place!

    I don't know any other airline that charges to gain access to their frequent flyer program (I'm sure there are some, just never come across them). If they are charging then damn right there should be something in return.

    I'm annoyed because I'm going to struggle to maintain silver next year as the flights I take for work are now all classed as short haul (even Mumbai which is 97 sodding miles below the threshold for the next points level). I am already exploring who else I can use which will give me status moving forward.


  7. #17

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    Status match with Air Berlin. Check FlyerTalk forum for more information.

    HK_Katherine likes this.

  8. #18

    Join Date
    Jan 2016
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    615

    Living in Discovery Bay, I get to hear a LOT of pilot gossip in cafes and pubs. Suffice it to say that I've never heard anyone say anything good about CX management. I've even had a Hong Kong Local friend who used to work there in corporate communications complain that CX was going to the dogs because management was 'Turning Chinese'.

    We're talking about geniuses who hedged fuel prices so 'well' that they're locked in at ~2014 prices until ~2020. I'm a bit fuzzy about precise dates, but again this is rather incompetent.


  9. #19

    Join Date
    Jan 2016
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    I very much doubt I'm going to be able to keep Silver either this year. And I do agree with the argument that it's just not nice to make people keep rejoining and paying again the fee for a green card which doesn't provide any benefits. It's just insulting customers.

    Other airlines which charge to join their frequent flier club? Qantas. Japanese pronunciation preferred.

    bdw likes this.

  10. #20

    Join Date
    Dec 2013
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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    Although I will be screwed makes complete scene. Am surprised as a green you were allowed priority boarding in the first place. Unlike I'm too cool for school @shri we would use it on the rare occasion we travelled CX for the overhead baggage space.
    As a Diamond I really hated the fact that Greens got priority boarding. But I agree that making them pay 100 a year for a service that gives them basically nothing is ludicrous. I suspect it;s just the cost of maintaining membership - priority helplines for booking come to mind. It's certainly not the lounge issue - the crowding in the lounge will be fixed by the way they are screwing the gold and diamond members with these changes. This year I will hopefully retain on the basis of a couple of (holiday) business class tickets to Europe this year (in addition to my 100 or so flights to Manila). But it is going to be much tougher next year when my whole membership year is under the new system rather than just half of it.

    There are plenty of other airlines flying out of HK. Cathay may discover that too late.....

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