OK.

I may not disagree with any of the comments here, but we are starting to get a list.

We except that a conceirge will :-

Protect you a seat on a later flight should you inbound flight be delayed.

Where possible the concierge will escort you through the lines to your connecting flight if you are delayed.

Will meet you from your flight and give you any relevent information about your connection, gate change, delay etc.

Will meet family members and escort them through the terminal, especially when they don't travel much.

Anymore?.

I know there is.....

I don't want to see them gone, and maybe by constructing a list so we know what we can expect and ask will ensure that they are used more efficently and therefore protected.

I guess we know that upgrading is not something they can do and I am sure some pax expect it, however, if they had the foresight to look at the loads and realize that the flight is going to be oversold, then looked down the manifest to see the number of SE's and E's on the flight and then upgraded them in advance (OP UG) two things would happen.
1. the gate agent would only have to assign Y seats to those without BC's, he would not in the rush to get bthe flight out upgrade non status to the front. This would make everyone happier.

2. Pay heaps in customer service.

Now, I know some conceirges will do this, unofficially becuase they understand the business, they will also do it fairly by the rules giving no favours to the SE's they know.

I agree its a great asset but I want to understand what they are really therefore.

The Concierge service has never sought me out and I have rarely sought them out. When I have, it has been real hit and miss. Some of the them are great and help with little things like helping you through security or immigration when you are late, blocking out a seat next to you, arranging for a boarding pass, dealing with other AC problems. However, sometime they are not available, not able to assist or, in a couple of cases, too lazy or clued out to help.it and miss.

With all due respect to the concierges, when sh*t really does hit the fan and you need to be able to reach them urgently, they are very rarely available. I can count on one hand the number of times somebody has actually answered the concierge desk number versus being asked to leave a voicemail.

Sure, its wonderful if you have their private lines and other little perks, but that isn't a true service for all SuperElites then. If they spend their entire time serving their favoured customers only, obviously the rest of us less needy SuperElites are being ignored.

Two of my biggest problems this year involved being denied access to the SuperElite checkin line at YYZ T1 because I was ticketed on a LH-coded AC-metal flight and a tight 17-minute Intl-Domestic connection at YOW. Both times, I called the Concierge desk and only got a voicemail system. In the first case, I got a call back 20 minutes later by which time I had almost reached the front of the economy class line anyway. In the second case, a "regular" AC employee did a stellar job helping me make the flight.

I'm sure that the concierges are wonderful when you can find them, but if you aren't a member of their mutual admiration club like most of the posters defending them seem to be, then their utility really isn't much more than a glorified ego stroker as Ferrari so eloquently put it.

And you ticketed a 17 min connection expecting to make it? Am I missing something or are you just saying your flight came in late leaving you only 17 mins. If it was the former, then your TA deserved to be fired for booking you or that (or if it was booked yourself, you have no complaints missing your flight)

I was ticketed on a legal connection, but the inbound was delayed. I called the concierge desk as soon as we landed, but the voicemail said they were closed for the weekend and would return my call Monday morning.

No need for hostility Empress, I'm not a rookie traveler! I don't schedule 17-min domestic connections, let alone international ones.

Go re-read your post and your wording made it as if the 17 mins was ticketed:

I was ticketed on a LH-coded AC-metal flight and a tight 17-minute Intl-Domestic connection at YOW.

Concierges have been cut back, and they are very busy. When you can get them they are a great help.
But they can't block the seat beside you upgrade you or "break" any of AC rules without getting in trouble. Maybe its time to give them a bit more power to help us.
Or take this concierge perk and move it into something more helpful, better upgrades, shorter check in lines, priority customs/security clearance, seat blocking exit row booking. Its time for AC to give us something for being SE's.

LH doesn't codeshare on any intl flights into YOW. Those were different incidents, two monts apart!

[This message has been edited by B747-437B (edited Mar 13, 2004).]

For most of the road warriors on the boards, we run into "Concierges" everywhere. In some 5 star hotels the Concierge is a god, in others they take up space behind a little desk and scowl at anybody who intrudes on their space.

In any event I call on them when I need room changes, dinner reservation or event tickets/information. There wasn't an introduction to being a road warrior guide that I read to decide what the limits where, just trial and error and some common sense.

I know the ones who will come through, and I know the ones who were made Concierges because the P*ssed off too many poeople at the front desk.

When I call upon an Air Canada concierge, I ask them to look after airline related stuff like, flight changes, different connections, seating, meeting/greeting VIP's on flights (like my wife) etc. Again applying the common sense rule. For the most part they have never et me down, and they are consistently the most customer service oriented people I see at Air Canada.

If an AC Concierge pulls off a real coup to save the day, then I am grateful that it happened. What I expect is that they try, because sometimes, what I want just isn't possible. If they succeeed because they know the system a little better, or they draw on a connection that another AC employee does not have, I would call that a "Hidden Benefit" and enjoy it.

We have all seen results of customer service that is the result of policy, like the half hearted "Thank you for shopping at xxxxx" that we hear from weary and indifferent retail sales people. I sure there is a SOP that outlines the mininimum that an AC Concierge should do, but I for one would loath the thought of pushing the standardization envelope to the point where everybody stops at the least common denominator. We are dealing with people, who have good days and bad like the rest of us, so instead of legislating a smile, lets recognize the true jewels for who they are.

If the concierges disappeared, the SE program would be significantly weakened.

DF

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....airline economics: The only industry where the value of a perishable goes up as the best before date approaches....

OK, let me re-post my recent experience, simply to use as a specific example of whether:

a) it was appropriate for me to ask a concierge about this
b) whether the concierge has the power to help with this
c) whether the concierge should have done this for me

Booked LHR-YYZ-YVR, on a H fare, return segment. No stopover in YYZ. Plans changed and I wanted to take the direct flight back LHR-YVR which left LHR one hour later than my original flight. Direct flight was wide open (9s in all classes, including C, and I think 4 pax ticketed in J).
Told at check-in I could make the change, for $200+taxes. In this circumstance I felt that there could be some flexibilty, and that although this was the rule, maybe the change fee could be waived in this situation.
Asked to speak to concierge, who was paged and arrived.
She was not particularly friendly, and clearly not interested in helping with this at all. Was told that I had to pay $200 + tax, even if I went standby, and that she had to protect Air Canadas revenue. (Always good to tell an SE this!). When I asked about helping out an SE, she said that she was doing this by letting me take the later flight if I would pay (i.e. doing exactly what my ticket allowed me).
While I thought we were still talking, she walked away and I had to call her back to get her card and I mentioned that i was not happy with how I had been treated. She called back over her shoulder that this was my prerogative and off she went. She did however find time to carefully note my PNR that I had asked and been refused, to make sure no other agent would do it for me.
When I boarded my flight to YYZ another concierge was there, who did the useless hand shake and asked me if everything was okay. I said "No, not really" - waiting for something to happen and the reply was "Oh yes, I heard about that, have a good flight". And off I went...

Now, in reply to my own questions I would have thought the answer to (a), (b) and (c) should be yes. Clearly it was not, and I was treated like crap for asking. So, again, I don't know what I can ask them to do for me, as I do not want to run the risk of asking something that merits this kind of response. What do others think?

FatBoyYVR - sorry, but I think that the concierge acted just fine in the situation.

They are not there to make exceptions for you when the rules clearly dictate the course of action to be followed. As you yourself point out, your ticket allowed you to pay $200 and make the change - why did you need to get the concierge even involved? The ticketing desk could have handled it just as easily.

They are there to take care of the "outside the box" situations that every road warrior finds themselves in when traveling. Stuff like stuck in traffic and needing to check-in, delayed flights and tight connections, meeting family members who travel infrequently, etc... They are not intended to be a means for SuperElites to live above the rules. Occasionally they may go out of their way to deliver a waiver of the rules, but if one starts to expect that as the rule rather than the exception, we are more likely to see the exceptions disappear rather than the rules change.

Er, because you can switch to a nonstop flight on the day of departure if it's open and especially when he has no bags to check? That flight in question was wide open and even if he goes on standby, he would have made it. So he wasn't asking for an exception. Perhaps you want to tell me what exceptions was he asking for.

No one here has suggested they are a way for SEs to live above the rules except you. If you want to get technical, if you're stuck in traffic and miss the cut off time for check in, then that's purely your problem; so wouldn't that be a clearer case of living above the rule (asking an exception to be made because you're late) than asking to go on a nonstop flight (which was clearly doable regardless of status) as FatBoyYVR has asked for? Clearly contradicting yourself.

My experience with LHR, is they are very strict on rules.

You say.. c) whether the concierge should have done this for me

Well she was willing to do this, BUT according to AC rules set out for such a change. She was not willing to risk her job or punishment for going against AC rules.

I have had a couple of incidents that were upsetting with AC in LHR, so nothing really surprises me anymore in regards to LHR and AC.

I would not expect this to happen on every flight or in every situation. Here, I would have thought with a totally wide open flight it would have been simple and a gesture of goodwill or something. Hey, they would even have had to give me many less miles and almost certinaly been able to use my seat on the full YYZ-YVR connection. Others in this thread have either alluded to or specifically stated cases where concierges have waived change fees, or as Empress points out help SEs to (technically) break rules (if you want to call it that), so clearly it can and does happen. What is also becoming worryingly clear is that whether this happens or not seems to depend on whether you know them personally and thank them continually on this board. In my case, I would call my request assisting with travel plans, and it is the only request I have ever made. I am organised enough to always give myself enough time to get to the airport, check-in and get myself through security.