It's never something I expect but always something I appreciate but I'm not sure it's rare. I've been averaging around 5-6 times a year, mostly on the East Coast and usually in the 3rd and 4th quarters which gives me false hope of impending GS-ness.

(Outside of IAD/EWR it breaks down to a handful of times in IAH and DEN; never in LAX, SFO, or ORD... Though LAX and SFO are typically O/D instead of connections, and I only fly places where DEN makes sense as a connection rarely).

While it has saved my but on some very close connections (memorably one each in IAH and IAD in 2025) it's also happened where I have enough time that the premium services agent has ask if there's a specific club I'd prefer to be dropped off at.

There is a way for certain agents (at any airport, not just the hub) to lodge a request for the service but even then it is far from guaranteed (of the two times an agent has told me that they've submitted a request there was a car waiting for me once -- but on the downline connection, not the one I was worried about, so not sure if it was coincidental, submitted incorrectly, or what). It is not a SSR in the PNR as I would have guessed (I would have thought it would have been a SSR MAAS or similar).