Two times in the last month I've had escorts walk me on the plane. Never happened before. Is there some new CK service push afoot?

Chance
 

I don't think so. One CK airport employee told me that it just depends on how busy they are. Funny story - I complained about never,ever seeing CK at my home airport (DFW) and a woman met me on my next flight home, but she was a little "whiney" and she said she was sorry she was late since she had just escorted "Ms. Eva Longoria". I said, "I'll bet she doesn't spend as much with AA as I do!". Other CK - such as Boston (Terri) are wonderful. I used to see her all the time and she always boards me before anyone else. Last time with a hug. Very sweet and great service.

Couldn't agree more

Actually, Starwood had a "quiet" Ambassador program until last week when they defined it (100 nights per year) - this was a great move for them as they created a new goal for some people and everyone in the program knows where they stand.

The unintended consequence of a CK program is when you take the status away from someone and no one knows why you lose the loyalty that you try to build..

This is the LAX "Flagship Checkin" and is available not just to CK, but also those flying in F on a 3-class trans-con or int'l. (Link to AA's Flagship Checkin page.)

Your descriptions of the CK services make me sad I'll not see it.

Defining the criteria is orthogonal to making it a fourth tier. These are completely separate issues. If AA adds a new tier above EXP, it will piss off everyone whose status just got demoted (e.g, everyone not in it). Why do that? There's no benefit to AA nor to passengers. Clearly spelling out the criteria is a different matter. I can see arguments both ways: defining it gives people something to shoot for, but also commits AA to granting the benefits. Since CK seems to be more about personal service than hard FF benefits, it may be quite difficult for AA to scale it up to more people. By keeping the criteria secret, AA can limit it to the top x number in each market, or whatever they want; they can adjust the criteria from year to year based on their own analysis and projections.

They let you, and only you, get off the plane during an unscheduled stop? Wow! I thought there must be FAA or some other rule prohibiting it. And by the "reverse" you mean they let you on a plane that was making a technical stop?

(During a weather incident in DFW, AA put me on UA to DCA, via ORD, but the inbound plane was so late we were all going to miss our connections; further, UA announced that the crew was going illegal so rather than fly to ORD, the plane was going to DEN to change crew. I called EXP and was told that UA had a flight from DEN that I could make and would get me to DCA same day, but UA wouldn't let me (or anyone) off in DEN, just crew. Similarly on CX LAX-HKG, technical stop in TPE for more fuel, several passengers ticketed LAX-HKG-TPE wanted to get off in TPE but couldn't.

Once again it seems that those spending " a lot of money" on AA feel like they're not getting anything for it and therefore want CK to be another level of Aadvantage. Why?

Most PAX that spend serious cash on AA do so by buying F & J seats and are rewarded by having to spend half the time in the air that deep discount Y passengers do to attain EXP (and therefore get that high upgrade priority). There's a BIG difference between flying 50k and 100k let alone the poor guys that do 100 segments.

For the few that spend so much by purchasing full fare Y, well, they already have priority over regular EXPs in the upgrade list don't they?

Lastly, big spending gets the benefit of CK...so you have enhanced ground service as well.

So, once again, why should AA give high spenders another perk at the expense of thousands of other PAX? Are those perks not enough? It's like some people just want more and more and more.....

UA seem to have adopted a more $$$ orientated model for their FF program and they seem to be losing quite a few members to AAdvantage (granted that's an observation based on a very small population, FT, but that's all I have to go on). It wouldn't really seem to make much sense for AA to follow suit.

Boston has the best CK. Lori, (Concierge Key and AC AAngel), I think is the most fantastic AA employee, overall, that I have met in 15+ years flying AA.

Because the FFPs have become dual purpose businesses - create stickiness with profitable customers and earn money from selling miles to other companies.

The internet has helped the airlines understand they can drive low yield business with out the costs of loyalty rewards.

AA's generosity to low-yield frequent fliers will be a thing of the past.

I expect in the next couple years I will be able to "extend my Lifetime Platinum status through next year for $149" or some offer to that effect.

Might be because she remembers you? My wife and I are both CK and have flown out of Boston half a dozen times. We never saw a CK agent there. Indeed, the only airports that CK has shown up for us are ORD, DFW, and RDU.

CK is very good about calling to let us know about flight delays.

I guess it depends on the passenger and the airport. I have received some nice attention in DFW (Paul is great) but never in Chicago and never in LA.

People who flew over 125k EQP last year get to choose from several rewards. AA"s done this in the past, and seems like a good way to reward those who have been good to AA.

F & J (and full-fare Y) all earn 1.5 EQP/mile, not 2, so you get to spend 75% of the time in the air that cheap-ticket EXPs do, not 50%.

They, too, make EXP at only 75% of the BIS miles as those on cheap tickets.

I'm not sure what gets you CK. Reports in this thread have been mixed, with some CK members saying they spend less on AA then their spouse, who didn't get CK. Other reports say that directing the travel of others, or buying AAirpass, has better success than just spend.

In my opinion, for the survival of the company a defined 4th tier is needed AND the CK program has to become an integral part of the AAdvantage program which is now not.

The problem is that once an elite flyer gets to the point where they can no longer get to the next level, in many cases, they "abandon ship" and start to get even a limited elite status with a competitive airline - I do it myself all of the time.

This has cost AA MILLIONS and they still refuse to address it.

I think that they should do a few things:

First, Put AAdvantage, Business Extra and CK under one umbrella and run coordinated, non competing programs

Then, take a very careful look at the enhanced program SPG just announced which directly addressed this issue - what they did was to give greater benefits to people who used their services more WITHOUT denigrating their time-true levels.

They also put an ATTAINABLE incentives to reach lifetime levels- not like the current AA challenges which will take a mere mortal 15-20 years to reach.

I see some comments where people think that their suite upgrade chances will be lessened but shouldn't someone who is loyal to a company and spends a lot money with them entitled to someone who spends less???

Anyway

Sorry, I still say CK, a 4th tier, and benefits for those who fly over 100k are separate issues: AA can, has, and does offer rewards and incentives to those who keep flying after reaching EXP status. This is independent of CK and certainly a 4th tier is not needed in order to do this (as proof, AA has been doing it).

I agree AA needs to offer incentives to keep flying when people attain top-tier, but a 4th tier isn't the only way to do this.

Or they could just go the UA route and change the title and drop the bonus miles to 50%. That was enough to have me flee UA this year after 1 million BIS miles with them.

Personally, I don't care what they do or what they call it - however, they best do something fast especially in this environment where a lot of customers are going to hedge their bets and go to another carrier once they hit their maximum personal threshold!!

The AAdvantage program is supposed to incentivise travel and in order for an incentive to be successful it has to be attainable - even though I am an explat and it doesn't effect me, the gap between Plat and Explat is just too great and pulling these DMOQ games makes the program a sham for everyone.

Am I out of line to think they shouldn't be name-dropping clients for any reason? It just sounds unprofessional/unethical.

I know I'm not out of line to think that that if you and Eva paid the same amount for CK service, you should have gotten the same service ... to include showing up on time. If she was tied up serving a prior client, someone should have jumped in to make sure you were covered. You paid for that.