Concierge Up and Downs
 

Lets start with the good

Called the Concierge in YOW to put in an upgrade request for me as I would be in the air when the window opened. No issues, done and done.

The not so good

Was on 1109 yesterday, oversold by +2. Called the concierge before arriving at the airport on the status of 655. They said it was 0, but not oversold. But would not allow me to standby. I did give them my number and info and insisted if it did not go out full to let me know I would jump on that train. Asked the MLL agent before I left the lounge for 1109 and she said 655 went out with 2 empty seats. So AC had to pay 200$x2 because a concierge couldnt be bothered I guess.

This would be the first ''neutral'' situation I have run into, as usualy they are top notch. Anyone else had a less then impressive encounter with the mighty concierge. I do not intend to start a bashing session, I am just wondering how rare an occurance this really was.

I thought if flying Tango Plus, free same day standby for earlier flight is allowed only with Rapidair flights. Otherwise, a fee is applicable for same day change if seat is available for sale on that flight. Has it changed?

Chance the concierge got caught up in another complex task. You never know.

T+ does offer free same-day standby for Rapidair even if connecting further on, BUT.... only the itinerary is a domestic/transborder. If the itinerary is true international, then NO free same-day standby even for Rapidair flights.

Not sure OP's itinerary as s/he rang YOW concierge in the good case.

I made the comment because AC1109 routing is YHZ-YUL-YWG and AC655 is YYT-YHZ-YUL. The common segment is YHZ-YUL. So it's not a Rapidair flight. S/he could probably have requested a same day change, subject to the applicable fee if seat was available for sale on the AC655, and then request to be put on the upgrade waitlist.

As OP was also talking about upgrade window, I assume that s/he's on a Tango Plus fare.

duplicate - deleted.

I suppose, as with everything, YMMV, but this has not been the case as I've witnessed it...I've never been turned down for free same-day standby, even when completing a rapidair leg on an international itinerary.

2 Seperate PNRS (yhz-yul and my upgrade)

What I am saying is I could have helped AC save 200$ and not piss of pax for overbooking by simply putting me on an earlier flight. I win, AC wins, and the pax that gets denied boarding wins.

I have already been put on standby for non rapidair flights on T+ tickets before if the situation.... ''warrants it''.

I often purpously book E90 flights as they tend to go mechanical and are most often overbooked. I sometimes get away with more of a flexible flights or 200$ (Even a 400$) credit from AC :)

Was just saying this is a time where a concierge would have done that but didn't and it ended up costing AC money.

AC management philosophy is that AC wins when everyone has been confused and inconvenienced to the maximum extent possible. Dont you know that by now? Case in point: flying empty seats throughout the day and scrambling pax later on instead of clearing the backlog by allowing earlier no charge standby.

True, however the concierges usualy do not follow this trend, and if there is a valid reason for putting pax thru earlier, they will do it.

YOW concierges are amongst the best in the system. I'm not sure what happened in your case.

As much as I use the YOW concierges, yes they are great, BUT, edmonton/calgary are hard to beat!

I was dealing with the YHZ concierge, it has to be put thru at the station you are leaving from so the YOW concierge could not do a thing. :(

I find it is YMMV with concierges but mostly on the positive side.

YYC is the best. YEG is great too. YYZ there's too many of them to get to know them on a personal basis. FRA there's one which is rude. YHZ I've had good experiences. YUL is OK.

Ok! So it wasn't just me who thought that! I felt like she didn't even care that I existed. (it was a "she", right?) :)