Well this should spark some debate... ;) :p

Perhaps you mean that SE status has outlived its usefulness? :D

(I suppose I can see where you are coming from...)

Absolutely not.

The concierge program is one of the few benefits that distinguished AC's top status from the benefits other airlines offer.

While concierges may not be as empowered as they used to be, I still find their service invaluable the times per year I need them.

Fully agree, they are the best and although I personally do not use them nearly as much as some, when I do call, I know they will be there ready to help.

They are good people ^

A jealous E50k comment?

I think so!

This would negatively impact AC in my opinion. From my experience with the concierge's they are always quite busy. The things they are working on / requests that the SE's have would not go away, they would simply transfer to other AC Agents (Gate Agents, Checkin Agents, Lounge Agents, etc).

The Concierge benefit for SE's is of course great! But it's actually a smart business move by AC as well. By providing a dedicated person for the travellers with the most unique needs or requests removes those needs and requests from clogging up the other Agents and keeping things moving quickly at the airport for the rest of the customer base.

They also get improvements in speed of service and contact time with the Clients by having the concierge. Often a request that an SE has can be handled in half the time (or less) by the concierge vs what it takes regular agent to handle. This is simply because they are focusing the most unique and complicated requests with concierge and they get faster and faster at completing them.

While I do not know the origin of the concierge, from my experience in these types of things I would guess it grew out of both a need and a client request. I would imagine that before the concierge existed what would happen is that the most frequent travellers would still have their requests and needs, and when the regular staff couldn't help or didn't know how to help they would say "well go see Bob, he knows how to help you" and then over time the FF's would just start going to Bob directly because they knew he could help. The Concierge program was probably introduced to formalize this process, give control over it, and give guidance to it. Also to then sell it as a benefit as SE.

Reverting back to a non-concierge program would inevitably result in all the same requests going to the first agent a FF sees in the airport tying up agents in a busy and tightly timed environment.

My thoughts exactly.

I'm not entirely sure if I would change my spend, but I can tell you that the ability to talk to someone with access to the airport system makes certain products much more enticing to me. "I'm booked on the 1700, I can be at the airport at 1530, is there space for me on the 1600?" Making that call at 1515, after the flight is closed and reservations can no longer make the change, shows you how useful it can be, and is why I don't mind paying for the Latitude FP over the Flex. The concierge access makes it much more likely that I'm going to make last minute changes to my ticket, because I can.

The only reason i'm pushing for SE100K is to get this helpful feature. So pulling it would be the wrong direction for AC to earn more revenue

What exactly can/does the AC concierge do?
 

It is the only part of the SE package that really makes a difference under the current terms of the program. Though if you are still one of the people with a ninja travel agent, you don't need them so much.

you new SE's don't understand what a Concierge could do in the past. AC has just thrown a dog a bone.
Interesting what a GS can do at UA, it better than the AC Concierge of 5+ years ago.
But that would make you a jealous SE poster.

talk with your employer get a COMP to 1k and you will quickly have GS, you will never look back. PS your company does have comps.

How would I get GS? I don't fly for work, and I don't spend anywhere near what people in the UA GS thread post.

I was about 99% sure I could get 1k comped, and I was very tempted to do it, but UA really pissed me off. I can keep 80% of my flights on AC metal with no difficulty, so I'm quite happy with SE.

Now, if you want to tell me how I can get GS with my spend, I may reconsider :p

From the point of view of someone nobody's ever heard of (outside of the quiet little world of coal mine design, perhaps), the concierge service has been an absolute livesaver, even though (especially though/) **they've** probably never heard of me, either.

All I know of it, really, is that when IRROPS strike, the YVR and YEG concierges swing into action, utterly in the background from my point of view, and fix things. A smiling person in a black blazer meets me at my incoming gate amidst an Edmonton blizzard, hands me a new set of boarding-pases, and sometimes even offers me a cart-ride to the gate of the replacement flight. That level of **reliable** proactive service is far more likely to keep me travelling on AC metal, than any number of 'free' swigs of Scotch-in-coffee whilst aloft.

Latest 'thank you' go to two concierges in Vancouver: one whose name I didn't get, but who got me out of a last-minute jam with finding wrapping-paper for an anniversary gift (ayuh, trivial thing, innit? but at the time it was urgent!) and another one, Karen, who embarked on an exercise of tracking me down to offer me new boarding-passes after a flight cancellation (of which I was quite unaware as I had politely switched-off my phone whilst in the MLL).

The appreciation that sticks in my mind is this: one needn't be a politician, a movie-star, a VIP of some eldritch sort; one simply needs to need their services, and there they are.

Bravo Zulu, concierges!

(My apologies for not having a signed photograph for your wall of pictures, but I can always promise you a nicely-wrapped lump of bright shiny coal if you want one for your children's holiday-gifts!)

Do you think it would be an unreasonable request to ask the concierges to ensure the plane has extra pillows for a long haul flight in J? I once was on a flight and there were no extra pillows left as J was full. This is for my long neck that goes over the seat in lie flat bed mode.

I'd say equipment catering/grooming/cabin standards is responsible for is a bit above what concierges are there for. Y always has spare pillows in overhead bins somewhere, maybe ask for that or a spare J duvet/Y blankets for padding.