MGW2000

My dad is a member of CK and he's only a PLT. Getting CK also depends on other things then mileage; my dad is an executive at a company which gives hundreds of millions of $ to AA.

Matt

brp

In other words "I didn't get invited, so let me diminish the product for those who have earned it." Kudos to those who get invited. About 90% of my EXP-level travel is personal, and I would never want to fly enough for business to earn this privilege, so my respect (and sympathy ) goes out to those who do!

Cheers.

ContinentalFan

Jealous? I think it makes sense for any airline to target its most profitable customers. AA realizes it has to keep this sort of customer happy.

wolf539

Hundreds of millions? With AMR rev in 2006 around 22.5 billion I guess someone responsible for a few hundred million of that deserves something for their effort!

JDiver

Personally, I think it's a great idea! AA needs to go the extra distance to please and retain their most valuable customers.

And perhaps, just perhaps, they mean it when they appoint a new guru for the new position of Managing Director - Customer Experience. (Given what we have seen in recent years, I am not entirely sanguine about this, but it could happen, and it could certainly be a differentiating factor with frequent fliers.)

travelrules

I dont know if this has been discussed earlier, but Premium Services has been replaced with a new program called "Conceirge Key". This program is by invitation only, and invitations are only sent from AA's CEO, Executive, and senior level sales reps. The program is geared to "VIPS" e.g movie stars, CEO's of FORTUNE 500 companies which generate a high level of revenue to the airline, diplomats, ex presidents etc.

Basically the Conceirge Key agents are the Exec plat agents based in Raleigh.

What happens when one calls the number is that your request is taken then sent off to the Conceirge which they have located (I know that at JFK, LAX, DFW etc they have them) or if it is not a major AA destination then to the Admirals Club Manager or the airport manager.

They take care of "meet & greets", upgrade requests, or anything else that you can think of. The difference is that "Conceirge Key" accounts they will make the rules suit them as opposed to vice versa. A conceirge key has the highest upgrade or anything priority.

If anyone has any questions, plse shoot.

videomaker

Yes, a search for words like "concierge" and "key" would have found multiple posts, including <recurving link redacted>this one[/URL].

brooklyndodger

I'm so confused with AA. I've been EXP for 7+ years with 4 million miles. Most of my travel is biz class overseas. Over 200K miles this year. I rarely receive any special treatment, meet and greets, etc. The service isn't bad and I get excellent attention when I have a problem, but I'm wondering what kind of water you need to walk on to get the CK? I have a colleague who I travel with who is basically the same as I (from a different company) and he received the initial offer. We suspect his agent was approached and might have put him in for this.
I don't particularly care, except for airports like LHR where being met and ferried away is awesome.

ESpen36

Welcome to FT!

As the saying goes, if you have to ask about ConciergeKey, you don't qualify.

The program is specifically designed to retain the loyalty of people who drive a LARGE amount of revenue to AA by influencing the purchasing decisions of MANY other travelers. So EVPs, SVPs, VPs, CEOs, and Travel Managers of major corporations.

Theoretically, CK also replaced the old "VIP Connection" program for diplomats, celebrities, etc, at least in that these VIPs use the same infrastructure as the standard CK members. So while diplomats/celebs might not drive big-time revenue to AA or affect the purchasing decisions of many others, they do need special treatment because no airline wants to have Tom Hanks or Jimmy Carter complaining about on-board service in the media!

sukn

I'm afraid we may never know exactly what qualifies one for CK unless someone within AA decides to inform us or if AA actually publishes the guidelines.

I have a friend who is a partner in a small law firm. They probably have revenues of 30-35 mil annually so hardly fortune 500 company. He (EXP) flies coach domestically, to the Caribbean and Latin America and J to Europe. Yet he was invited to join CK (though no doubt he is a high revenue passenger). My friend actually doesn't see any real benefit to CK and considers it "more of a hassle to be greeted and make small talk".

There was one instance when he was in LA and business ended a day early for him. He had a confirmed upgrade on his original departure date but CK couldn't confirm the new upgrade if he chose to fly a day early. This was LAX-ORD so it's not like there is a dearth of flights. He chose to hang out with me in LA for the day instead.

The next example is a bit OT but we decided to try and test the CK service to see if it extended to friends or families. I was waitlisted for an eVIP upgrade (from my own account) out of Europe. Had my friend call CK to see if they would clear me. Not entirely surprisingly, the answer came back "no". Hey, can't blame a guy for trying.

jrhone

I would just like to clarify a few things about the CK program.

The CK program is designed primarily to to "differentiate the airport experience " for select passengers. It is geared toward day of departure activities that many of its select passengers stated they would like to see and would influence their choice of carrier.

From what I have seen many of these customers are not Elite Tier passengers therefore wouldnt have access to EP/PL/AG desks or lounges.

The toll free number given to these passengers is also for that purpose, a central number to call when they need assistance instead of regular customer service. The card also enables them to use Elite Security Lanes and the First Class check in counters whenever they are flying.

I must admit I do question the upgrade priority mentioned in a previous post as I have not seen anything to indicate that in any stand by list that I have seen.

Finally, the CK desk is set up to help CK members with thier travel needs,not frends of CK members.

HNL

Not accurate. I've seen a CK #2 on the UG list behind an EP. The CK Rep asked the CK member about his check-in time.

wrose99

. . . while the flyertalk member, already sitting in his first class seat thanks to the 4-hour trick, quietly chuckled at both of them

Ditch the telephone resubmit, AA! It does nothing to assist a passenger who has previously requested an upgrade; all it does is allow us to jump the queue, thereby corrupting the allocation of upgrades.

brp

One could also argue that the airport list, prioritized (within tier) based on check-in time, rather than time of original request, also corrupts the upgrade allocation system.

Cheers.

trinity_in_texas

We already do this.