Originally Posted by
mnredfox
Wow been probably 5+ years since I got a pickup but got it today in SEA for just over an hour connection when inbound was a few min early. Went from S gates to B gates and drop off was in the SC.
Still would love to understand the “random” algorithm on what medallions and what tight connections meet the criteria. The driver confirmed it’s mostly DM and 360s, but I can only imagine it’s because I started flying Delta recently after spending too much time with UA.
Or could it be that they felt so bad I have to fly a 738???
Also makes me wonder what if the DM/PM gets a transfer in SEA but isn’t a SC member. Is there a different transfer location?
Couple of thoughts - I have had seven Porsche transfers at SEA dating back to 2018, with the most recent being this past Sunday (and another a month before that). I have also had one at LAX in that time, so eight total.
I have spoken to each of the drivers about the selection process, and while they were somewhat vague about some of the details, they all told essentially the same story. It's important right out of the gate to understand that what they are doing is a "surprise and deilght" service - not a "make my tight connection" service. If they staffed enough drivers and cars to get everyone to their close connections, the apron at every hub would look like Los Angeles at rush hour.
What each driver has told me is that they start each morning with a meeting where they look over the list of customers who have paid for the premium transfer service (it has an official name, but I can't remember it right now). Those paid customers - celebrities, sports stars, etc are why the Porsches exist. Once they have assignments for each of those, they review a list of all of the Medallions who are connecting that day, and look for ones that fall into gaps in the paid service. How they filter beyond that is unclear, but I would guess that 360/DM/MM all enter into it in some way. None of the drivers have ever gone into that much detail. I never got the feeling that the *length* of the connection was a specific criteria.
I have been a DM since 2016 and hit MM in early 2023. six of my rides came before I hit MM, and two after.
A couple of years ago I had a tight connection at LAX due to a delayed departure from PDX. They were still using bus gates at the time, and naturally my inbound flight parked at one. I wasn't worried though. I was only 20 minutes from departure, but there was a Porsche sitting at the bottom of the stairs. I could see my outbound plane at the gate so we should easily make it in the 5 minutes to door-close. But when I made it off of the plane, the driver was holding an iPad with someone else's name on it. By the time I made it into the terminal and to my gate, the door was closed, the gate agent was gone, and the plane was pushing back.
On the SkyClub membership thing, I have always either had a membership or access via DM or credit card, so I am not sure. My guess is that they just comp you a visit. They have dropped me there on 4 of my SEA rides and have never had me check in - the driver always said that they would "take care of it".