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How do I make / making AA Concierge Key / ConciergeKey / CK? (master thread

Old Jul 25, 2017, 10:25 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: JDiver
How Can I Achieve ConciergeKeySM / "CK" Program
(Concierge Key is by invitation only)

NOTE: For issues relating to services provision for CK members, changes in offerings and all other issues pertaining to current Concierge Key / CK / KEY members, please see AA Concierge Key / ConciergeKey / CK members (master thread) thread

"The ConciergeKey Program is an exclusive program that American Airlines has for our very top customers. This is by invitation only and a very exclusive club." (Billy Sanez for AA) You can not apply for CK; you must be nominated and invited. According to member Gino Troian, reviews and decisions ~July, December.

ConciergeKey Services are provided to a select group of VIPs to facilitate travel on AA. The program is offered on an invitation basis only and is targeted at customers who control travel policy for large organizations. Customers who generate a high amount of revenue for AA may also be invited into this program (possibly those who spend upwards of US$60k a year on travel with AA).

Possible ways to gain CK, remembering that as the criteria are not published this is somewhat speculative, based on having several CKs posting here and some members knowing several CKs (in no particular order):
  • Arranger of travel with corporate travel contract with AA
  • Influencer of travel with Fortune 1,000
  • True VIP with significant recognition within an industry or profession
  • Air Pass with $60,000 or more prepaid travel
  • VFF EXP with high EQD ($75k?) and many high fare flights p.a. on AA
  • Nominated by "sales" at AA (may dovetail with immediately above)
  • Be sent a targeted "challenge" by AA instead of an invitation (see below)
According to Emily McNutt of The Points Guy, July 19, 2017 (link), AA has selected some high achievers to send a "challenge" type of CK invitation (offer closed 21 Jul 2017).

The offer required the invitee to earn 16,000 Elite Qualifying Dollars (EQDs) on AA marketed or operated flights within the next 90 days in order to get Concierge Key status; successful completion receive Concierge Key through January 2019.

"According to one FlyerTalk user who was targeted, they have 65,000 EQDs (54,000 on AA-operated flights) and 223,000 Elite Qualifying Miles (EQMs)." We don't know if AA will make this offer in the future.

SERVICES: Services provided include airport escorts, Cadillac apron or golf cart transfers, pre-boarding (seems variable, more likely during OSO?); assistance with flight changes, seat changes, and upgrade requests via their own dedicated telephone line. In addition, there is the ability to communicate directly with ConciergeKey associates via a dedicated email address. ConciergeKeySM representatives will also monitor day of travel of ConciergeKey members and will proactively reroute or rebook travel when necessary. ConciergeKey status allows check-in at First Class counters, as well as access to elite lines through security at certain airports. Miles and copay upgrades with copay waived. CK are First in upgrade and reaccommodation Priority, over EP.

ConciergeKey members receive AAdvantage Executive Platinum status, membership to the Admirals Club, international miles upgrades with copayment waived, as well as two additional System-Wide Upgrades (SWU's) as part of CK membership. (From our FlyerGuide AA Wiki page)


CK members have access to Flagship Check-in on any flight. It has been said unofficially CK will have Flagship Lounge access when flying.

As of 1 Jan 2017, Concierge Key members have upgrade requests prioritized over all other tiers: CK members have an upgrade window of (up to) 120 hours (Executive Platinum member's will retain the 100 hour upgrade window). CK members are pre-boarded ahead of other passengers.

Regarding Concierge Key tier benefits coming in 2017, please see: New Concierge Key Benefits for 2017: New CK Elite Status Tier

Boarding Area's AAdvantageGeek's blog shows the card and documents here.

Previous threads:
ConciergeKey AA Premium Service (ARCHIVED)
ARCHIVED: AA Concierge Key / ConciergeKey / CK (2014 consolidated)

Updated 25 Jul 2017 by JDiver
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How do I make / making AA Concierge Key / ConciergeKey / CK? (master thread

Old Jun 6, 2018, 3:33 pm
  #181  
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: DFW
Programs: AA EXP, LT Gold
Posts: 3,143
Originally Posted by robertablake
I ended up last year at $55k EQD and my rolling EQD is bouncing between $55k and $61k. I am still EXP.
You likely do not miss many upgrades.
JoeWoodstock and enpremiere like this.
econometrics is offline  
Old Jun 6, 2018, 3:36 pm
  #182  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: CLT
Programs: AA EXP, 2 Million Miler
Posts: 815
Originally Posted by econometrics
You likely do not miss many upgrades.
I am 100% this year when flying by myself. 50% with my wife on the same reservation..

Last edited by robertablake; Jun 6, 2018 at 4:39 pm
robertablake is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2018, 9:30 am
  #183  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 246
Originally Posted by robertablake
I ended up last year at $55k EQD and my rolling EQD is bouncing between $55k and $61k. I am still EXP.
This is exactly why I don't bother trying for CK, you should be a shoe in for CK given your spend but I don't understand why you are not?
zeke320 is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2018, 10:34 am
  #184  
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: San Jose, CA
Programs: CX Diamond, AA CK (quit 2018), Starwood Platinum, National EXC Elite
Posts: 283
Originally Posted by zeke320
This is exactly why I don't bother trying for CK, you should be a shoe in for CK given your spend but I don't understand why you are not?
All paid J / F ? I qualified last year with less than this (moved much biz to CX) but all my AA spend was AA metal, and J / F paid fares. Also, didn't use any SWU's, which I wouldn't be surprised that AA take into consideration too.
prw555 is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2018, 10:44 am
  #185  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: CLT
Programs: AA EXP, 2 Million Miler
Posts: 815
Originally Posted by zeke320
This is exactly why I don't bother trying for CK, you should be a shoe in for CK given your spend but I don't understand why you are not?
I wonder if it's because I'm CLT based, thus a captive audience?
robertablake is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2018, 11:30 am
  #186  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: FIND ME ON TWITTER FOR THE LATEST
Posts: 27,730
Originally Posted by zeke320
...you should be a shoe in for CK given your spend but I don't understand why you are not?
Because it has absolutely nothing to do with overall spend?

Originally Posted by robertablake
I wonder if it's because I'm CLT based, thus a captive audience?
Nope.

Originally Posted by prw555
...Also, didn't use any SWU's, which I wouldn't be surprised that AA take into consideration too.
They definitely don't.
dciolli likes this.
JonNYC is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2018, 2:50 pm
  #187  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 89
I'm sure you all realize that if your company has a contract with AA there may be CK's involved.
And the person at your corporation who controls the contract may also determine who gets allocated the CK's for your company. This could be based on title/role, amount of travel, and sometimes who screams the loudest. I worked at a company that was allocated X number of CK's per year. Some of the exec's never realized that they were not earning the CK's from miles flown or $ spent. They were being awarded by their own company.
Just wasn't sure from reading this thread that this was understood as a possible confusing factor in figuring out who gets CK and who does not.
AA_ORDlady is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2018, 3:19 pm
  #188  
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Programs: AA Gold
Posts: 89
To clarify---most of the folks in my company who were awarded CK, were NOT influencers of travel, nor did they have any impact on the choice of AA as a preferred airline.
In fact, most of them were unaware that we had a corporate contract with AA.
AA_ORDlady is offline  
Old Jun 7, 2018, 7:51 pm
  #189  
 
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: CLT
Programs: AA EXP, 2 Million Miler
Posts: 815
Originally Posted by AA_ORDlady
To clarify---most of the folks in my company who were awarded CK, were NOT influencers of travel, nor did they have any impact on the choice of AA as a preferred airline.
In fact, most of them were unaware that we had a corporate contract with AA.
That corporate assignment of CK status would not apply at all in my situation.
robertablake is offline  
Old Jun 9, 2018, 12:01 am
  #190  
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: USA & UK -- AA EXP 3.5MM, Hyatt Diamond, SPG Plat, Avis President's Club
Posts: 6,411
A few years ago, a hot-selling business book theorized that companies should NOT cater to frequent purchasers. Instead, cater to folks who "influence" purchases. CK was an unofficial level for many years prior. But it's an eerie coincidence that a management strategy book says to chase Influencers not Purchasers, and then CK becomes a prominent strategy for AA.

Thus ... maybe the easiest way to CK is to write a management advice book which tells businesses to chase people who fit your exact profile.
robertablake likes this.
CloudCoder is offline  
Old Jun 29, 2018, 7:20 am
  #191  
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: The Republic of Texas
Programs: AA EXP / CK June 2018 (4MM - 15 years running) HH Lifetime Diamond
Posts: 195
Last Night got the CK email.

Been EXP since 1999 each year. Company now pays for J over water. I don't expect to keep it-cant say future spend will not be enough- but maybe.

This year- sitting at $28 K YTD, and 130K miles. 3x paid J to Tokyo, and 2X paid J to UK. Smattering of Domestic- in Y.

Last year full year- $50K spend, and probably 7 over water J.

Just want to offer a my numbers- which may or may not help guide.

Must say i am pretty thrilled to have it- and of course I get it- and my future tickets booked- 0. and the only thing I think i need to do in July- is DFW-HOU!!! hahha.
CoyoteExecPlatinum is offline  
Old Jun 29, 2018, 8:16 am
  #192  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Aspen, CO
Posts: 792
Originally Posted by CoyoteExecPlatinum
Last Night got the CK email.
congratulations! well deserved after all those years spending big $ with AA.

looks like AA is wrapping up their midyear invites within the next couple of weeks.. crossing my fingers for an invitation!
dciolli likes this.
Gino Troian is offline  
Old Jul 1, 2018, 5:24 am
  #193  
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Agoura Hills, CA USA
Posts: 2,659
I also got the CK email on June 29.. Had 30K spend and 101 EQM.. Fly paid business to LAX, SFO, and LHR .. 2 Systemwides already in account. Concierge Key rep yesterday incredible , helpful, so far impressed.....
RTW4 is offline  
Old Jul 1, 2018, 9:26 am
  #194  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 17
Originally Posted by RTW4
I also got the CK email on June 29.. Had 30K spend and 101 EQM.. Fly paid business to LAX, SFO, and LHR .. 2 Systemwides already in account. Concierge Key rep yesterday incredible , helpful, so far impressed.....
Congrats!

I wish there was more clarity on qualifications (like we all do). I'm at $31K EQD and 146K EQMs this year. Maybe I needed to spend the $31K, but fly fewer miles (so my cost per mile is higher) OR they are working their way through the invites and mine will arrive soon!
jAAmes is offline  
Old Sep 25, 2018, 4:53 pm
  #195  
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: American
Posts: 1
how do I qualify for concierge key?

How do I qualify for concierge key?
mjmarshpa is offline  

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