jackal

Well, keeping this on topic for this thread, it should be noted that Alaska seems content not to place those employees in the lounge for the purpose of assisting with rebooking and other IRROPS questions.

jsguyrus

This has been discussed so much before and I agree this needs to change. I don't need to come to the Lounge (which I pay for every year) with a problem, simply to be told I need to leave and walk across the terminal to customer service for a fix.

Fredd

We moved our business from UA to AS a couple of years ago and haven't looked back. This is the only area I can think of offhand in which UA offers a service that AS does not. It would certainly be a plus to have "concierge" service available in the lounge, although so far we haven't needed it.

jackal

I think that's the key point of argument that opponents of staffing the AL with a unionized ticketing agent lean on. AS does run a pretty reliable operation, and so budgeting $200K/year to staff four shifts of an agent in the lounge when that agent is unnecessary most of the time may not make financial sense (though I think the agent would see some induced work [and reduce a little work for some GAs] for things like seat assignments, upgrade requests, same-day flight changes, etc.).

However, AS likes to claim they're innovative (even if their IT is well behind other airlines' in many areas), and so there are lots of things they could do:

• Not staff an agent in the lounge, but have a position for them to work and bring them in when there are IRROPS
• Staff an agent in the lounge but have them handle other duties in their downtime, such as fielding phone calls or supporting the ops people or helping GAs at busy gates process things like upgrade/standby requests at their respective windows, etc.
• Don't staff an agent at all in the AL but have a video kiosk connecting the AL to the CS desk elsewhere in the terminal
• Have a special hotline phone (or even maybe a dedicated phone number for AL members) that goes to callcenter agents that have access to the airport system and can do all of the actions that airport agents can do (currently, AS phone agents are not empowered to do many things that can only be handled at the airport)

The last idea especially could be quite a nice value-added benefit for AL members (the ability to call in even when outside the airport and do things like request standby, change seats when flights are under airport control, etc.) and could help drive additional sign-ups as well as (if AS chooses) differentiate the paid AL membership product from guest access via PP, etc. (though as a PP member, I would appreciate access to that line, even if only via a hotline phone in the club itself).

Lots of potential options. Having been the victim of a lounge concierge's request that I not only leave the lounge but actually leave the entire secure side of the airport and go to the ticketing counter to resolve my issue with a canceled flight (since the airside CS desk was closed), I do believe this is a relatively large hole in the AL product's offering.

tbau

But I thought they were unionized?

Eastbay1K

Yup. When I first encountered this situation 20+ years ago, I thought it was a joke. At least SEA has a CS desk with an elite lane. Try that at SFO, having to go to a gate full of unhappy people (back when there was a BR). At least the lounge can spit out BPs now. IIRC, they weren't allowed to do so when I first started flying AS.

tusphotog

It's interesting--a lot of the old timers at PDX and SEA make as many changes as they can, but they are saying they're not allowed to do as much as before. It's harder to list for close in QX flights now in the lounge, whereas five years ago, I could easily list for anything 15-30 minutes from departure. Now I need to go to the gate.

A few weeks ago, I had a delayed flight in PDX (thanks QX ) that resulted in me catching an AC flight. One call from the BR to the ticket counter and I was on the AC flight.

I have to admit, when I've had trips on American get messed up, the lounge agents, especially in Charlotte, are awesome with their rebooking abilities.

beckoa

Did AS BR concierges once have greater access then? Or is this the way it's always been? As long as I can recall they haven't had access to change things.

BOB W

30+ years flying AS and until recently being a BR/AL member, I have never seen the BR/AL staff being able to make any changes. They can reprint boarding passes and that is it.

dayone

My experience is that the availability of CS assistance varies by Lounge and person.

At PDX, I have been reaccommodated after IRROPS, and the last two rebookings were rather complicated, including one where I also was upgraded to F when no upgrades were available. At SEA, it's mostly a no-go, although once I was moved to an earlier flight.

ryandc99

I have had agents once help with re doing seating assignments, but it was a very long complicated process, much more so than just doing it myself.

That is when I realized they were not real agents.

PV_Premier

this assumes you could actually get into the lounge to use the phone

gtslow

Thanks for making me aware of this, I was actually on the fence about buying Board Room membership but now I think that I'm going to skip it.

beckoa

Nothing new with C, right?

jackal

With unionized GAs? Nope, not AFAICT.