Didn't travel much in August except for a quick YQB-YUL-LGA return. Used concierge service at YUL for protection on cnx to YQB when all hell broke loose at YUL on a Sunday evening. Thanks Sheila !

However, had friends, family and business associates travelling in the past few days and I asked for some concierge assistance.

Concierges in YUL managed to help girlfriend make CDG-YUL cnx to YQB 2 hours/flights early :) ^ :D :cool: ^

MAN-YYZ-YQB 25AUG : help with seat selection making travel booked in Y easier for guys more used to travel in J.....

YYZ-MAN Sunday 29AUG: severe weather thru YYZ area; delays for outbound a/c to YQB caused delays for next outbound YQB to YYZ; my 2 VIP pax met at YYZ upon arrival of AC515 and whisked off to infield terminal for AC6550 to MAN with 2 minutes to spare and some walkie-talkie calls ahead to advise of their imminent arrival; my guys got home for Monday's bank holiday in the UK, with many compliments for AC :)

Thank you Anne, Dominic, Philomena, Nathalie and any other unnamed concierges who acted in the above situations ! :)

AC must keep this service alive ! :-:

Another example of excellent service from a concierge yesterday arriving at YUL from CDG; flight landed 30 minutes early at about 1200 (thanks to favourable winds, not to the zoo at CDG T1 :mad: ) so I thought I could make an earlier cnx home to YQB (I was booked on the 1600 flight).

After clearing CBSA primary I headed over to the carrousel where I've often found a concierge waiting for pax arriving from FRA and CDG; no one around so I called their office; no answer.

I then called the main SE line and asked if I could be moved up to the 1400 or 1500 flights; agent told me there were 3 seats open at 1400, but what was my fare code ?; I said "H"; he wanted the full fare decription so I read it off the ticket "HLWFRE"; I was then told I'd have to pay the $200 change fee if I wanted to get home earlier....."forget it" I say, I'll go to the MLL instead.

Came out to the cnx baggage counter and saw concierge Dyane, asked her if I could do the switch. She pulled me out of the line to the next available desk and everything was taken car of instantly.

I got home a full 2 hours early which was much appreciated with the 7 AM wake-up in CDG ! That's really good service as far as I'm concerned ! :)

Which raises a question: Why can the SE line not provide the same level of flexibility to a traveling SE? Yeah, yeah, I know: "fare rules". But why not simply change the fare rules to allow SE's to standby for free? Perhaps this is deserving of a separate thread, but isn't it time that fare rules were actually tailored to the pax's level of AP membership? The Concierges appear to be providing a significant portion of their services through a license to bend/break the rules... which is great. Would it not be even better if rules were "pre-bent" to a point based on whether you are a SE, E, P etc? OK, end of musings, I am done hijacking this thread. ;)

I think its better to let the concierges do it on a one to one basis so things don't get cast in concrete. The SE desk represents the revenue side of things and the customer service is represented by the concierges.

Actually, I've always wondered, flying in upgraded C, do Es have access to the concierge?

I am an elite who was upgraded to C on a flight from FRA to YYZ in March 2003.The concierge was going down the line for boarding and noted our boarding cards in Exec. He pulled us out and moved us to the front.Handled a minor problem where LH had lifted my wrong flight coupon.
He told me to enjoy the seats.They were the 58JK seats on the bubble of the 747. ^

From http://www.aircanada.ca/services/business/if105a.html :

Now, what exactly is meant by "travelling in Executive First on an International flight" and whether an E flying in C on a confirmed upgrade makes the cut, well, that is an Empress (or reasonable facsimili) question, of course.

Naw, he looks better in person :D

I was told that upgraded Int. E Class is not even allowed into the lounge!! Cocierge may not be far behind.

There's no official answer simply because I've never seen/heard a concierge turn down helping anyone simply because they're not SE.

That's not true...E's are allowed in the lounge flying in any fare bucket.

What do you mean???? Your suggestion would be "customer service" :D

He might be referring to someone like a P using an H fare upgrade oversea's on an H fare (not trying to put any words in your mouth AC777 :) )

A few years ago, as an Elite, long before I made SE, I had a concierge pull a serious upgrade out of the sky for me. We were sitting next to one and other in the MLL. She noticed my elite luggage tags and thanked me for my loyalty as an elite AC flyer. We chatted for about 15 minutes while watching reality TV.

I was booked on a restricted economy fare and I was returning home on a transcon red-eye. She and I got talking about local college football, state politics and reality tv for almost 20 minutes and I asked if there was any chance of an upgrade. When she said "there's always a chance" I handed her a domestic u/g cert, the only certs I had, and my boarding pass. She disappeared for 15 minutes and retuned with a boarding pass for 1A in biz class on a 1-2-2 configured 767-300 international config aircraft. What a great way to do a red-eye!!!

I can't tell you how much that upgrade, into an almost empty Executive Class cabin, meant to me. I have flown AC and *A almost exclusively since then.

Empress is right, the AC concierge's won't turn anyone needing help down; although, we SE's get preferential service.

An AC concierge fan;

mpc1
coming to an airport near you soon...

The SE concierge obviously understood that a little goes a long way.
The concierge service, along with a couple of small (but important to me) things that AC has done for me, is the reason why I stick with AC. There have been lapses in "gratitude acknowledgement", but overall they have come through for me when it really counted.