canadiancow

I feel weird about this.

I assume (based on talking with concierges and other Super Elites) that most concierge interactions are along the lines of:

SE: Can I request an upgrade? // Can I change my flight? // Can I change my seat?
Concierge: Why of course! (And that may have a cost in dollars or upgrade credits)
SE: Thanks!

Whereas if I can do something online, I do it online. Which means if I'm talking to a concierge, I'm asking for something complicated (or at the very least, something that cannot be handled elsewhere).

But I'm a FTer, so:
1. I know what's possible
2. Therefore, I know how to save money

As a result, my concierge interactions typically fall into one of two categories:
1. Everyone would agree that what I'm asking for is fair, reasonable, and within the fare rules (i.e. SDC on a full J YYZ-SFO to YYZ-YVR-SFO where both the flights I want have positive space, because I ran into a friend downtown who's on a specific YYZ-YVR, and I'd like to continue our conversation all the way to YVR)
2. I'd accept the argument that I'm taking advantage of a loophole, but at the same time, I hit the AQD requirement, and the fare I'm on technically entitles me to what I'm requesting
2a. Example 1: I book SFO-YYZ in Y and YYZ-YOW in J, using IKK. As a SE, I ask to be added to the onload list, knowing my onload priority for SFO-YYZ (regardless of whose version of the truth you believe is irrelevant for this, so please do not sidetrack this thread) is pretty damn high. So I can book Y on a route AC does not want to give away J for points, but still sit in J. Even though I've taken advantage of this on numerous occasions, I do not think it is in AC's best interest, and I do not think it is in my best interest, which is why I say I'd accept arguments that I'm taking advantage of a loophole.
2b. Example 2: An amazing FTer books me a trip with their Aeroplan miles, in J (thinking back to this, I'm amazed this was possible without IKK). I want to stand by for an earlier flight. They can't get my status to show up. I tell them I want my Super Elite standby priority. They ensure the flight's onload list is processed manually, to ensure an E75K in full Y does not clear standby before me.

Anyway, I just had one of the "I'm not sure this is what they intended when they made the rules" instances. I had to repeat my intentions twice to the concierge. I think she just didn't quite believe I meant what I said. And I blame myself for that. I said "economy class" instead of "Y class". When I talk like a regular person, I tend to get treated like a regular person. But as soon as I made it clear I had a specific intention, and was willing to accept the potential ramifications, she made it happen.

Awesome. Thanks.

But when rebooking a Super Elite on a (full) J fare onto a flight in Y, when row 14 (preferred) is empty (ABCDEF), it's a little annoying to find out I'm in 27B. 27C is empty. 27DEF are empty. So I'm literally in the worst available seat in the row. And there's an entire empty preferred row.

But I see this, and I've fixed it. And the reason for my call was addressed. And on one hand, I wonder if she never considered the seat because I'm on a J fare. But on the other hand, I was booked into a rear-middle seat where the window was occupied, when there were a bunch of non-middles (including preferred window and aisle seats) open.

And after writing all this, what I really want to say is this is not the fault of the concierge. She was great. But when a Super Elite is rebooked, the system should place them in the BEST seat. 14 ABCDEF were open. It placed me in 27B. I like aisle, but if I'd ended up in 14A, my opinion would be "lol their IT forgot my preference" instead of rolling my eyes again.

So thanks, concierge.

And screw off, AC IT.

canadiancow

I do love the SFO concierge team.

tass

Last week, SFO concierge said hi and wished me a pleasant flight as I boarded for YYZ. Was a nice little touch.

All my interactions with concierges have been great. Normally, they reach out to me if there's a problem as I interact with other staff for eups, upgrades, changes, etc. for "normal" travel.

run&fly

Just a quick post to thank Sebastian at YYZ. Helped us to get home after our 35-hr long journey from NZ-AU. I very rarely use the concierge service but this time I really appreciated it...

R&F

yyznomad

I know you posted this a couple months ago, but this also happens on a regular Y cabin booking on the website.

shareski

Flying from YVR to YQR via YYC Flight from YYC to YQR was delayed 3 hours for a total of 5:30 layover. Called the Concierge about getting on a WS flight. She was already on it. Arriving home 30 minutes earlier than original.

Well done.

WoodlandCreature

Thank you to Carolyn at SYD. She's always helpful and pro-active.

lcohen999

SYD is one of the best Concierge stations by far

dinotoon

wow! I had no idea they would do this for a delay. That's a good piece of information

canopus27

I flew home from Boston last night.

I'd had a full day of meetings, so was booked on the last flight of the day (8:20pm) - later than I'd ideally like, but the previous flight (6:25pm) was too early for me to reliably get to.

Shortly after 5pm, I got a call from Iola; my flight was going to be delayed by over an hour, so she had proactively reserved a seat for me on the earlier flight ... and she wanted to know if I could get there in time.

I said I'd try, scrambled, got lucky with traffic, and was just entering the tunnel to Logan when Cindy phoned ... the inbound flight had just arrived, would I still make it? I said I still had to drop my car at Hertz, and warned her that I did have a bag to check. "It will be tight" she said "but we're holding the seat for you".

As soon as I got on the rental car bus I phoned them back to report my status ("he's on the bus now" I could hear being relayed) and was told to rush straight to the counter when I got there.

I did that, and Iola handed me my boarding pass (complete with a weight/balance upgrade ), Cindy rushed my check bag downstairs, and I made it to the boarding gate just as they were calling zone 5.

Looking back now, I see that my original flight ended up being delayed by almost two hours, and didn't get into YYZ until almost midnight ... but thanks to the amazingly proactive (and completely unprompted) help from Cindy & Iola, I was home & in bed by then.

Thanks to them both; it was an outstanding example of the concierge service providing very real value to an SE.

yyznomad

BOS has AC concierges?!

I'm so FOTSG.

canadiancow

Yeah, they were added shortly after my sabotage incident.

Stranger

Last time we flew out of BOS, first uber driver cancelled on us with no warning 9probably after looking at traffic on the freeway). Until we figured out what had happened and ordered another uber, and given the trafficsituation, we were running a bit late. I called the concierge (unfortunately the gobal number, no longer a local one) to get the BOS concierge involved.

We never saw a concierge but upon arrival they had our boarding passes and lggage tags ready. We had no problem making it.

canadiancow

The BOS local number was never published. They switched to the central number at the same time they added concierges to a bunch of stations, like BOS and SFO.

That's not to say you can't get a local number (caller ID, incoming SMS, etc.), but they never published it for any of the new stations.

canopus27

I think the theory/plan is that AC will have concierge at every station they fly J to. No idea if they were able to deliver on that plan ... but for sure there are (good) concierge at BOS.