But only SEs have phone access. Which makes for a huge difference.

Exactly. Little effort, goodwill... goes a long way.

Don't expect this system wide though.

Especially the new concierges at YYZ. They're not good at thinking outside the box. They'll print your BP for you with a row 99 (maybe that's all you could find when booking last second) and they just give it to you without looking or thinking oh Mr./Ms. sram! Let's see if I can get you a better seat...

I have a shower reservation in MUC on Sunday thanks to the concierge.

I have found that the one remaining differentiation for SE are the concierge service people in the various major airports around the world. Just in the past year alone they have taken me through a packed arrival gallery in Brisbane to make sure I didn't miss a connection, took me across YYZ tarmac in a 7series to catch a flight to Santiago that I was late for and held a shower in YYZ for me when I texted a need from the long taxiing we were doing. Find calling/texting them always gets a response and they always seem to try and help - a LOT.

Okay so the LH lounge doesn't take shower reservations.

However, I was met with a sign, and escorted up the escalator, across the hall, and into the lounge.

Not at all necessary, but it seems to happen any time I send an email to a European concierge ahead of time with a question like "How do I do X when I arrive?"

The whole point of the email is to not take up their time when there's a flight landing, but it seems to result in it anyway.

Was it Sandra? She’s the best!

What are you doing in MUC?

Would you expect him to know?

Well, I don’t know how much time he has, but day trip to Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Eibsee would be my vote.

Question is, are you still dirty?

Seems silly to send a concierge to say Hi when what you actually wanted was a shower lol

Well, I guess it's nice of them.

My experience with the concierges at MUC (and other smaller outstations) is that they have very little to do for much of the day, so they are super proactive in engaging with SE customers (which I welcome). See my experience here.

I guess I should have put a smiley after all.

:D

Oh, I gathered that wasn't a serious question but my recommendations are genuine. :D

It was a "she", but I don't recall the name.

I got off 846 and got on 847. 2 hours. Shower and a beer.

I agree. I've had this in ZRH, CPH, and now MUC.

But it's always "Is there anywhere airside I can buy a SIM card?", "Where do I go for a shower?", etc.

Basically, I know I have minimal time, and just want directions to follow so I'm not blindly stumbling around.

But then they seem to take that as me needing an escort :p

Maybe they enjoy it, but between the inbound arriving and the outbound departing, I have to assume there are better things for them to do than walk me to a lounge.

I certainly can't complain, but there have been enough times where I've been on the phone with the central concierge because I need in-person service at an outstation, and "that concierge is currently assisting another passenger". I'm sure I could have said "I don't need an escort", but I'm equally sure that if she had just said "Would you like me to walk you to the lounge?", my response would have been "No".

Mind you, I was unable to read a clock at this point (shower agent had to tell me it was 10:00) due to...fatigue? So maybe the escort was needed :D

Lol. Of course.

(bolding mine)

Maybe, maybe not. From talking to concierges at MUC and AMS, I got the sense that they sometimes only have 2-3 SEs on these flights. So it seems conceivable / advisable that they'd want to provide the highest level of personalized service they can possibly deliver. These same conversations also gave me the impression that these concierges take a lot of pride in their work. They feel empowered and genuinely want to represent the Air Canada brand abroad in a way that makes them proud to work for the company. Sadly, it's a quality I rarely observe in many other parts of the company.

There were at least 40 passengers on my flight eligible for concierge service. It's not just SEs.