<raised eyebrow>

One way of looking at it I suppose.

Are we talking about the tall blonde gentleman who always seems like "he is late for a very important date?" Maybe I should nickname him the white rabbit and his counterpart should be Alice!!

Oh, go ahead.

I am surprised that a concierge wouldn't know if the passenger was a member of the OP program.

I have found that they always say hello to people by name; they offer to explain how the video system works, etc. My issue is that they seldom greet flights in EWR. I think that the FA's need to stop announcing that they will.

FWIW, the best concierge service I have received were at the following airports: BFS, BRS, DUB and STN. The service at Stansted (now discontinued) was really excellent. I find the best concierge service is to be found at smaller airports. I guess it's easier when you have only one flight and sixteen passengers!

I overslept for a flight from Dublin once because of my crappy alarm clock and was accommodated on the flight the next day. About a week later the BF concierge sent me a clock with a cute note. That was years ago, so I have no idea if they still do things like that, but the personal attention was phenomenal.

I can tell you about two amazing experiences with a BF concierge - one at EWR, the other at GRU.

I was flying CLE-EWR-FRA, and the CLE flight was delayed and arrived at the EWR gate as the FRA flight was taking off. The BF Concierge was waiting for me at the gate, boarded the CLE flight and escorted me to a gate, where she had already booked me on other airlines to get to FRA. I declined, as I would rather fly CO - even though it meant staying a day at EWR (I was able to go see some clients and make the next day's flight). She graciously rebooked me for the next day out of EWR, arranged for me to stay at the hotel Marriott, had my luggage pulled, and then walked with me and waited in baggage claim until my luggage came out.

It was her last flight of the day, and she was heading home after that... but still... it was above and beyond what was expected, and a very memorable experience.

I wrote to CO about her, and when I see her at EWR, she still remembers assisting me with that flight.

At GRU - my bags were incorrectly handled at CLE and not checked through to Buenos Aires. I would have had to exit the secure area in Sao Paulo, collect my luggage, take it to the next airline and check it in there. Unfortunately, I did not have a visa to enter Brazil - so that wasn't an option. The BF concierge who met the flight understood the problem and she personally went and found my luggage and rerouted it to Buenos Aires. It arrived with me.

This is why I fly BF on CO... it is the little things that make all the difference. And in both instances, I sent an email off to CO thanking them for the service and the experience. ^ :-:

I've only had the BF concierge help out once. It was more or less her keeping an eye on my reservation, seeing that I would miss an international BF connection from EWR-MPX. She was waiting for me just outside of the plane and had an electric cart waiting to take me to the PC.

It wasn't really all that necessary, but it was a nice gesture. She was re-assuring (and ended up sending me through FRA to MPX).

The silver lining in all of that was CO's mileage promo from EWR-FRA, snagging me another 3K miles on top of the bonus. Always good



BN

after last week, I know one thing the concierge doesn't do..

Knowing as I do that HNL is BF-lite I shouldn't have expected too much. But after forgetting to ask the MCO agents to check my bags all the way through to KOA (via Aloha), I thought that I could arrange through the concierge to pick up my bags left on the conveyor and properly forward them to AQ. From the response I got, one would have thought that it was one of the most outlandish requests they had ever received, with a stern 'no'.

Hello Just to let you know there is no longer Concierge service on flights to Honolulu.

In simplest terms, our dedicated BusinessFirst Concierge service is designed to give our BusinessFirst customers peace of mind before and after their flight experience. This service is also designed to acquaint our new customers with Continental and our BusinessFirst product (which is why you’ll sometimes see them spending extra time with some customers during the boarding process). Our Concierges are often engaged in various interactions in front and behind the scenes to address their customers’ needs, and most importantly, they have the resources to work through some of the more complicated issues when they arise. So, although you may not directly interact with a Concierge every time you fly BusinessFirst, we do hope you know they are there if you need them.

The BusinessFirst Concierge has arranged for arrival shower in advance - as indicated.

The BusinessFirst Concierge also stands at the baggage claim to help if needed. Once on a flight from GRU-EWR-DCA - the baggage took a long time to come out (even though tagged for priority). The connection was then real tight. The Concierge called from the baggage claim to the gate to let them know I was here and was rushing to the gate. The Concierge rushed over with me - calling ahead to let the gate know we were on the way. We arrived 2 minutes before departure time - but the agent ignored the Concierge and had closed the gate. Plane still at the gate. Bascially the Concierge had no clout.

Having missed the 7am - rebooked on the 9am - which it turns out sat loaded at the gate for 3 hours - departing at noon and getting to DCA at 1:30pm. Oh well, at least the Concierge tried.

Did that gate agent said "I'm not holding up anything for you", or maybe "You will not board MY plane."?
Sounds like EWR GAs have ultimate power...

Seriously, perhaps this is the very moment when customers need Concierge's help, rather than arranging shower at PC, if it work as advertised.
CO should give BF Concierge more power/privillege/authority over GA, IMO.

Well I wish that British Airways had this sort of institution. I have to say to me - being of French background a Concierge meant someone who minded the mail door and delivered the post (She (as they always were she) also minded the business of the entire apartment block.

However, my experience of them to and fro LGW-EWR was of kind solicitous people who actually were there to solve problems and make things happen. One lady came and intorduced herself at LGW outbound, and another moved heaven and earth when we were snowed in at EWR in March. I cannot speak too highly of that lady. She was helpful beyond belief (she was not alone the staff in the PC were oustanding) and I for one will never forget her. Due to the nonsense, we were put on the next flight a night later and I was put into Y as BF was full. We actually were paid BF and the Concierge at the gate to LGW the next night sorted everything out. She came aboard and moved people so that we could sit together - in a word no one - no one could have done more and no more could have been reasonably expected.

I think that the Concierge service is yet another reason that CO has overtaken all other US competition at this point in time. When you have a problem a friendly competetent person is worth their weight in gold.

thanks, scott.

No the Concierge ran to the gate with me. And she tried to get the gate agent to open and let me on - since the flight was still there. The agent knew we were coming - and did not wait until 7am. So here I have the Concierge with me standing at the gate. The Concierge then went behind the counter and the Concierge rebooked me on the next flight at 9am. The Concierge was very helpful and went out of her way - just that the gate agent ignored her. I could see if we were going to be 5 minutes late - but the Concierge keep calling the gate as we ran.

This was a couple of years ago - not recent. But they are very helpful when you need them.