IS it true you have to pay to join Marco Polo Club?

I am relocating to Asia and looking to assign my loyalty to a regional airline. CX is a good possibility But it seems I have to pay a fee to become a member of the CX FFP/

Am i misunderstanding something?

 

Yes and no for FFP. There are two parts in CX's FFP. Asia Miles, the program for you to earn and redeem miles is FREE to join. But for elite status, you have to join the Macro Polo Club which costs USD50. But there are reports on FlyerTalk that CX will just send you the elite membership cards without you joining MPC once you hit MPC Silver if most of your flying are on CX. But of course YMMV.

Where in Asia are you relocating to? Unless you are based in HK or regularly fly on CX, there might be better options out there.

 

Thanks!

BKK But I will fly regularly to NYC and also to India and China, which are all CX do-able...

 

he wants to sell you into using JAL perhaps. but there's reasonable coverage of CX on those routes. from your FFP programs i wouldn't be at all surprised. you can either do TG/CA with your * Senator status or CX on oneworld.

going to china, unless you're going to PVG/PEK, you're most probably warrented a transit anyway so CA or CX makes no difference in that sense. but if the flights screw up(daily occurance in china), you're better off being in HK than china. also transitting in china is not fun at all.

btw, i also know a few people who got MPC for free by either flying the 1st 30K miles without MPC Green (that only gets you J class checkin in some ports) and clock it with only asiamiles(so they can keep track). From you status patterns i think you'd make it up the ranks pretty quickily

 

Nope I never mentioned JAL. *A is not a bad choice for OP.

 

if he wants to transit in china that is. if he wanted to stay at *A he wouldnt have asked and stayed with LH.

 

He can always change programs. E.g. it usually makes more sense for people to switch to AA when they move from HKG to DFW...not all the times though.

It really depends on OP's travel pattern, cabin he flies in, who's paying for his tickets, what he values most from FFP, etc

 

I Like CX best of all airlines in the world and so would like to fly them for product anyway... I am already Gold on loads of *A through to 2013 as also on Ek to 2012. But I also absolutely detest TG.

I thought I could use CX to NYC (always J, 2-3 times a year); and to India (5-6 times a year, always Y) and to PVG ( 3 times a year Y -- I dont mind the longer routing) Thriowing in perhaps 1 annual trip of more than 9 hours (company rules) in J to Europe/Africa on a OW carrier, this would elite me on CX pretty quick. But I find the top elite qualification on CX pretty difficult.. 210,000 miles a year right? Thats awesome Best maybe fly CX and get a BA card? This would mean doing perhaps the one Europe trip on Ba with a Y leg intra Europe thrown in to meet the min 4 flights rule the tier points would easily get me Gold on BA.

 

I am one of these guys. I sent my OZ Diamond card to MPC, and they matched me to CX Silver.

 

Looks like MPC will fit you quite well and they are really generous on op-ups for their elites according to reports on FlyerTalk.

As OY-JFS mention, you can contact MPC and have them match your status. This way you might be able to avoid the USD50 fee. They certainly don't have problems doing these with *A carriers given how they tried stealing elite members from their ow partners too. It might help to make a few CX bookings before contacting them too. Good Luck.

 

Sadly my boss got matched to Cathay and they still made him pay the joining fee although it was free if you set up a corporate plan for a specific number of employees. I too also tried to status match them and they woudn't comp the MPC fee but would give the status. Maybe things have chanced since I did and you'll have more luck.

 

It sounds something new that a COMP has a FEE involved ....Never heard CX Comp is paid for ....

you do it via the usual theclub@cathaypacific.com with current statement and card copies sent over?

 

Nonono... once you are CX Diamond you only need 120,000 miles in 12 months to maintain. before that you need to get Silver (30,000 miles in 12 months) and then gold (60,000 miles within 12 months after attaining Silver). Acquiring Diamond then becomes 120,000 miles in 12 months after attaining Gold.

if you want to get diamond within a year then yes, you need to fly 210,000 miles in year#1. but in reality you could split that over 3 years.

Regarding fees, apparently the trick is not to comp status but simply clock miles to Asiamiles so CX has active record when you're new to them. you probably dont have much to lose if you're flying in J/F wrt to status (maybe op-ups, but OWEmerald isnt so high up the list anyway). For lounge access and baggage, i think flashing your BA Gold card would do the trick. IF you really want the status for opup, you can always change your FFP before you board the flight at the lounge or the gate.

 

My friend just called to asked why his account says MPC SL when he login He flew exclusively on CX and reached 30K club miles last month but never signed up for MPC. I told him to made a couple of dummy bookings few days ago and he was going to call CX and ask for MPC SL...I guess now he doesn't have to

 

told ya once you clock 30K club miles u'd be given SL. having the basic asiamiles membership just make it easier

 

That's what I have been telling my friend all the time. What's interesting is he made a couple more dummy bookings and got comp SL on the same day. Not sure if it's a coincidence.

Any I have no idea why Simon and his boss has to pay for MPC membership fee I thought his boss flies on CX all the time

 

His match wasn`t really a match as it was getting status straight off the bat with no proven record so I guess they wanted to hit us up for it and give us Silver at the same time.

 

And because you didn't do your research, he has wasted USD50?

 

Not really. They comped him Silver upfront. No way for him to get Silver benefits without having a MPC account to apply the new status too. I hope that makes sense.

 

No it doesn't. I know people who got the status match without paying for MPC and who just got MPC SL without joining MPC. When did they comp him MPC SL? Was he no body at any program back then?

 

The I guess this speed bump make sense

 

Correct. No status with any airline. Kind of different to someone status matching.

 

You dont need status. Being asiamiles member would help tho.

 

no flying history of any kind?

 

Correct.