free sign up?

[ace_silver10]

Anyway to get a free signup to this program without an affiliated credit card?

 

[JohnK]

It is free to join Asia Miles.

 

[wandering_fred]

It is somewhat of an "urban myth" that you can request waiver of the $50 MPC fee if you have an upcoming medium/long haul booking in J/F. Some success has been reported. Also if you have a history of CX J flights in the last couple of years (and still have the BPs) you might get a status match - though perhaps not at your current level.

Nothing ventured - nothing gained.

Happy wandering

Fred

 

[samh004]

Supposedly if you fly the 30k miles crediting to AsiaMiles, they'll give you MPC Silver for free. Depends if you want to take the risk of having to start from 0 or not at time of payment if they don't.

 

[Steelite]

quick q - i am flying one way business from syd to london with cathay - is it worth signing up for MPC? i was thinking of just credting my points to qantas (no status either) i will be flying a few times next yr in economy frrom syd to london

 

[JohnK]

quick q - i am flying one way business from syd to london with cathay - is it worth signing up for MPC? i was thinking of just credting my points to qantas (no status either) i will be flying a few times next yr in economy frrom syd to london

I believe attaining status on MPC is difficult.

 

[wandering_fred]

I believe attaining status on MPC is difficult.

Once you have Silver status (30k) it really becomes no more difficult than most mileage based programs. Gold requires an annual 60K (after reaching silver). And business class counts at 125% of base. Remember CX provides lounge access (no guests) for Silver members. Diamond is a rather more difficult exercise but the unpublished benefits seem to make it worthwhile for those who do fly alot.

I'll re-qualify CX silver next week. The issue is that the (PLT and higher) status bonuses for AA make the flight redemption costs rather more flyer friendly. But there will come a time when CX 30K is possible and AA 50K is not. And the CX program allows reasonably priced upgrades from Y+ to J with both CX and BA.

QF (and to an extent BA) makes it very easy for those flying in business and first to obtain status. AA and CX seem to balance this (slightly) with those flying a lot of miles.

Happy wandering through the maze of FF programs

Fred

 

[samh004]

quick q - i am flying one way business from syd to london with cathay - is it worth signing up for MPC? i was thinking of just credting my points to qantas (no status either) i will be flying a few times next yr in economy frrom syd to london

Putting that one-way earn to Asia Miles/MPC will earn you 13,219 miles (including bonuses), calculated here. On the other hand if you credit towards Qantas you'll earn 13,216 points and 140SC, calculated here.

With CX you'll need 30k miles to attain/retain Silver, which gives you lounge access only when flying CX (possibly DragonAir too). Gold requires 60k miles and gets you lounge access when you fly any OneWorld airline.

On the other hand, QF requires 300SC to attain Silver and 250 to retain it, there's no lounge access included but you get one lounge pass to be used at a Qantas Club when flying Qantas. It's also worth noting you'd get 50% bonus on QF flights. Gold requires 700SC to attain and 600SC to retain and gives the same as Gold with CX, the bonus on QF raises to 75%.

In your case, I'd say you stand a higher chance of getting to CX Silver than QF Gold, which would give you lounge access when flying CX. Importantly you should remember that when you take the economy flights with CX, not all of them earn at the 100% rate, lots are 25% and those would make hitting Silver a lot harder, some don't earn at all. The difference in earn on QF would be from 140SC in business to 35SC in discount economy, but depends if the fare even earns too.

 

[Steelite]

Thanks for the advice guys!