Last edit by: WoodlandCreature
Who is eligible for Air Canada’s Concierge service?
- Super Elite, 24/7, via phone or email.
- Those booked into Signature Class, "at the airport".
- More details here: https://www.aircanada.com/ca/en/aco/...-services.html
In which cities are Concierge services available?
- For a no-longer up-to-date list, check the link above.
How do I contact a Concierge?
- Remotely:
- For SE: From the app, click your virtual Aeroplan Card and Customer Support. Email and phone numbers for Super Elite are shown.
- There are per-airport email aliases as well, unpublished, but following an obvious pattern if you interact with them.
- For Others: You don't.
- For SE: From the app, click your virtual Aeroplan Card and Customer Support. Email and phone numbers for Super Elite are shown.
- At the airport:
- They are wearing black AC uniforms.
- The following Canadian airports are known to have accessible, landside, offices, all relatively nearby the check in desks: YVR, YYC, YYZ, YOW, YUL
- Others: Good luck. Priority check in agent, or MLL agents, may be able to trigger one to materialize.
What exactly can/does the AC concierge do?
#137
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: YYC
Posts: 23,807
#138
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2009
Location: FRA / YEG
Programs: AC Super Elite, Radisson Platinum, Accor Platinum
Posts: 11,874
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.
#139
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: YLW
Programs: AC- SE100 1MM, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum, National Executive, Nexus/GE
Posts: 4,318
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.
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 ^
#141
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: MLL / AC Cafe
Programs: It's hard to get status when the website won't let me book flights.
Posts: 5,706
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.
#142
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,353
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.
#143
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC E50K (*G) WS Gold | SPG/Fairmont Plat Hilton/Hyatt Diamond Marriott Silver | National Exec Elite
Posts: 19,284
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
#144
Join Date: Feb 2003
Programs: AC SE 2MM, too many others
Posts: 1,408
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.
#145
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: yyz/ord
Programs: AC E50 UA1k 2MM AA EXP Royal Ambassador SPG Platinum
Posts: 1,516
#146
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: yyz/ord
Programs: AC E50 UA1k 2MM AA EXP Royal Ambassador SPG Platinum
Posts: 1,516
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.
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.
#147
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: SFO
Programs: AC SE MM, BA Gold, SQ Silver, Bonvoy Tit LTG, Hyatt Glob, HH Diamond
Posts: 44,353
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
#148
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: either in Salishaan, or at an isolated colliery in the Canadian northland
Programs: AC P75: previously, quintuple secret pterodactyl wings, every year
Posts: 203
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!)
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!)
#149
Join Date: Nov 2013
Posts: 492
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.
#150
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Never home.
Posts: 2,971
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.