i haven't posted in quite a while because it's been an extremely momentous summer for me. but i needed to take this opportunity to say how much i appreciated someone at AC's willingness to go the extra mile.

like many of you, i fly almost every 2nd week on AC and the experiences vary considerable. often they are difficult, sometimes frustrating. but a lot of that is the nature of business travel these days i think. most attendants and agents are competent, friendly and helpful, (especially the ground crew at EWR) though every now and then you will meet someone rude or unhelpful.

but then out of the blue, someone does something to reconfirm my faith in the company. if that person, a concierge at person's terminal 1, is reading this, i want to say once more ' a heartfelt thanks'.

our only child, a daughter moved to ireland last saturday. it was a very emotional experience since she had been part of our lives for almost 24 years. there was a lot of sadness. i'm an elite with tons of UG certs i never use since i'm almost always flying non-upgradeable fares or on the city passes (where UG's are somewhat automatic). this year i've logged about 55,000 miles so far.

i phoned AC to ask if i could UG my daughter and was obvioulsy told no way. it's against the rules. but i thought i'd ask at the check-in counter anyway. my wife and i went with her to the counter at the airport to check her in with my elite card and i asked the agent nicely if there was any chance of doing anything. i had all kinds of certs with me. we (including i must admit, steely eyed me) were all pretty emotional. she hesitated and then said go ask the concierge. she directed me to an unmarked door up the hall. so i marched over , not expecting anything, and explained the situation to the concierge there. she was very sympathetic but said this was highly irregular. i said i know, but i'm not asking for any special favors, just to see if there was anything she could do. i just wanted my daughter to be able to get some sleep and make her trip a little less painful. she said let me see.

in the meantime there was an SE standing there talking on the phone. i heard him saying to someone to please drive over and bring some UG certs. when he hung up i asked him what was up. he said he was flying to paris and forgot his certs at home but his wife lived over an hour away and would never get there on time. i was already kind of melancholic and thought, why should all of us feel bad, so i gave him one of my SSWs. (as i said, i have a lot of certs i rarely get to use). he seemed a bit shocked but also relieved. when the concierge came back he told her and she smiled and said 'looks like your troubles are over'.

she then pulled me over to her computer and said choose which seat you want for your daughter! i was quite surprised! she wouldn't even let me give her an UG cert though i had all kinds including SSW's. as it turned out, the back of the plane was stuffed to capacity and so my duaghter would have had a very trying voyage. up front, she was treated kindly and slept almost the whole way. when she got to dublin, she was in a lot better frame of mind.

so to this anonymus concierge i want to say again how much i appreciated her kindness and humanity. even though i am not an SE, she treated me with dignity and went way beyond the call of duty. she renewed my commitment to this airline.

and for the SE whose name i did not get, 'hope you had a great trip to Paris and on to Lyon.'

thanks
M