GoBears

Whoa! Are you saying that the mythical EXP Challenge actually exists? Just what did you say to her to get her to come up with this? What department did she work in? (Maybe run-of-the-mill AAdvantage agents don't know about EXP challenges or aren't authorized.) Did you get a letter confirming? Who did that come from?

Wow. An EXP Challenge! Wait 'til WSJ and Conde Nast hear about that!

c_stanley

sonora

This seems to me like an effort to keep business that might otherwise be going to light jets.

bdemaria

Ordflyer 6... was contacted by AA - not the other way around - precisely b/c his/her business had dropped off, so perhaps such challange is by invitation only.

There are numerous threads reporting AA reaching out to customers whose travel has dropped off but I don't recall anyone else negotiating an EXP challenge - way to go ordflyer6....

MACH81

Sounds a lot like BA's Premier status. Get X Corp spend X Mi on BA and get Premier status.

Jakebeth

Bottom line, whether new or not, is that the overall decision to cater to these clients is very shrewd. If you could calculate it, the ROI of such programs would be astronomical. Very little extra effort in order to maintain extremely large amounts of revenue. Remember, it generally takes multiples of the base to attract, rather than maintain, clients.

MJonTravel

I am very happy to hear about this. Not that I'll be a participant. But hey...truth is that I've still got a tiny little vested pension benefit at AA, and anything they do to increase revenue and take care of AA's best customers makes it more likely that I'll collect it from the pension fund as opposed to collecting it from the PBGC.

The Premium Services staff people that I know are pretty darn good at what they do. I'd be interested in hearing more details of how this is going to work if they become available.

Jakebeth

Hey astro - is there any corporate/structural connection between the AAngels and "premium services"?

The one thing that seems to distinguish many of the AAngels is that they're acutely client focused, as though they grew up working for Nordstrom instead of...

jrhone

At stations with AC's the staff are cross utilized, other stations they are designated personnel who work with station management.

jrhone

1/ From what I am reading the service is designed to provide more of a day of departure service to VIP's. The information provided to us is that the number of VIP's has been greatly reduced , the list appears to have been reduced by 50% . Given the small number of VIP's and the fact that they dont all fly everyday I dont think there will be that much of an impact.

2/ Just the names of the offices that the calls will be routed to.

Jakebeth

Thanks jrhone. I hope I didn't offend you with that comment about training - it didn't come out right.

Contrary to the broad-brush condemnation of airline employees that's so common, my personal experience, particularly since I began flying regularly about two years ago, is that the vast majority of AA employees I deal with are terrific. And I consider that a feat given the difficult choice of staying in a job and industry that are so economically difficult these days.

Unfortunately, I think the average consumer--while justified in outrage at individual incidents of bad service--tends to overgeneralize about how terrible things and people are. Though, of course, there are companies within which a crappy culture resides, regardless of how hard individuals try to overcome it.

MJonTravel

Unless it's changed since 2/12/04 (hey...that will make it easier for any AA spies to figure out who I am ), Admirals Club is part of the Premium Services organization which resides in the sales group. The AAngels work for Premium Services. While many of them are former gate and counter agents, there is no rule that says they have to be. They technically fall under the sales group, and frankly, I think it shows.... in a positive way.

I'm not familiar with any domestic station that has a premium services rep that does not also have an Admirals Club. Not saying there aren't any, just that I don't know of any. Outside of the US, all of the cities I used to visit during my younger days doing station audits for AA had a "premium" or "special" services person(s) who handled VIPs. I think they may have actually worked for station management though, and not sales. I'm talking about 1 or 2 flight per day cities like BRU, ARN (gone now), BHX, etc. Obviously, the London's, Frankfurt's, etc had Club staff. However, the non US stations work under the International organization whose VP sits in London. They weren't necessarily organized the same way as domestic US.

Others with more current knowledge than I will chime in if I've gotten something out of order due to my 3 year absence from AA.

jrhone

No worries, I must have missed that

McFlyPHL

I just finished one of these - I'm not sure if the points required are variable or not. I made EXP on points as a ~$30k/yr flier, then dropped to about $5k on discount fares. AA Corporate has a group that called to ask why, and how they could get my business back or if they'd ticked me off.

Asked them for a flight from PHL-NYC/BOS/anywhere on the east coast that's not MIA so I could connect and stay on AA. They then offered the 25k in 90 days for EXP. Just so happened I had a trip to HKG planned that ate up ~22k of those.

... it's good to be "king" again!

JDiver

OK, McFlyPHL, will you now add that to your spreadsheet?

Congrats!

BTW, all, I had an MD-80 flight DFW-SMF last night where the fairly senior (I suspect) FA providing meal service etc. was absolutely top notch! Addressed everyone by name taking drink and meal selections FEBO, and did so several times during and at the end of the flight (when thanking pax for flying AA.) Humorous, personable, warm, welcoming, positive, returning several times to see if people wanted more nuts, a refill, etc. Yes, a bit OT here, but OTOH, that is premium service!