Concierge and Red Coats make an over-ride and are interview positions. Never heard of a Head Gate Agent unless you are thinking of the agent that is controlling your flight.

Concierge take care of BF customers only. Red Coats are pseudo supervisors in charge of a certain area and take care of customers that the agents can't "handle".

In my experience, the conceirges usually make appearances on the aircraft ex-IAH and ex-LGW.

What is an "interview position"?

Uselss concierges
 

I've flown on 8 paid BizFirst segments this year. Although I've seen the Concierge on each segment, only once have I been approached by him/her as a welcome. The remaining 7 segments, the Concierge ignored me the entire time.

On one segment (EWR-AMS), I asked the EWR Concierge that I needed a shower upon arrival in AMS so I could go directly to the office. The response I got was "Check with the gray jacket concierge upon landing at AMS". Guess what - when I landed at AMS, the gray jacket concierge said "The EWR concierge never told me about this, I'll have to go back and get you another ticket".

At this point, I just got fed up and didn't want to wait around for another 30 minutes, so I left and went on my own to the AMS Sheraton and paid on my own dime for a shower in the gym.

The Concierge is utterly useless and a complete waste of human resources. CO if you're looking to cut headcount - this is the first place to go.

Interview positions are those that require an interview and then selection to the job; President's Club door keepers, Red Coats, Concierge and other areas. They also earn extra per hour over the ASA's (airport sales agent: ticket counter and gate agents) base pay.

sfogate,

What are some examples of non-interview positions?

All potential airport employees are interviewed and those selected become Airport Sales Agents (ASA's). ASA's are ticket counter, baggage service office and gate agents. We receive a base hourly wage and select our areas of work based upon a "bid". Our bids (another word for work schedule) determines the days, hours and work areas that we will be working. Some stations combine areas of work (two days gates, two days ticket counter one day baggage service) and other stations create a solo work area.

Bidding is done by seniority. The longer you have worked for the Company the better your chance of getting the hours and work area you want.

So I consider the gates, ticket counter and baggage service office as non-interview jobs. Any ASA is eligible to work in these areas, whereas you must apply, interview and be selected to become a President's Club agent, Red Coat and Concierge.

thus, you need to serve in the company for a while to be a REd Coat, etc.?


sfogate, I'm in the P-club in SFO right now, are you at the gates or around here?

That matches my experience as well. Of eight BF segments in the past two years or so:

IAH-LGW x2: Concierge at gate and on board, greeted most/all passengers and made arrivals lounge arrangements for us. On our most recent trip, he reminded us about the terminal change and the use of the Emirates lounge for our return.

LGW-IAH x2: Saw the concierge on board only; didn't need assistance with anything.

EWR-MXP (Milan): Saw the concierge on board only, asked for arrivals lounge arrangements (which I knew were at a hotel off-site) and she told us "see the gray coat upon disembarking." No gray coat upon arriving.

MXP-EWR, EWR-FCO (Rome), FCO-EWR: No concierge spotted.

We've also been greeted by concierges at IAH on the IAH-EWR segments of international BF tickets. They gave directions to the Presidents' Club, connecting gate info, etc. - a nice touch I guess, but not much value to most.

The Concierge is not there to kiss your butt, ......
 

but to help when you really need it!

On one of my BF flights to GIG, I was greeted by the Concierge and asked if I needed help with anything, which puzzled me at the time as to who she was and why I was approached.

On a subsequesnt flight back from GIG, the plane was delayed in GRU due to equipement problems, while I was in the process of getting seriously ill with a respiratory infection. After an hour or so in the plane with a possible couple more hours of delay, I asked the Concierge if it were possible to get off the plane and take the same flights back to IAH-SAN the next day, if there was a room available at the GRU Marriott hotel, where I could rest all night and day in bed, while enjoying chicken soup, etc. I am very pleased to tell, that she arranged the hotel room and the next day flights in detail without much more input from me. In addition, she insisted on getting an assistent to see me to the street entrance in a wheelchair for the Hotel shuttle pickup, and completed ticketing/seating for the next day's flight, etc. She did all this with determination and courteous reassuring smiles!

So I appreciate their presence, even if I am not greeted by name or do not have any problems to get additional personal attention. I do not expect extra chit chat, when they have more important matters to handle or solve for other passengers, or feel I didn't get my money's worth, if I do not see or hear from them before the flight.

Three cheers for the Continental Concierge service!
:-::-::-:

Continental has a different take on its BusinessFirst Concierge Services.

Concierges add a personal touch to Continental's BusinessFirst service, long before departure. These specially-trained representatives provide individual on-the-ground assistance that complements our award-winning inflight service.

Continental's concierges are selected based on their exceptional "people" skills and ability to work well with a variety of personalities, cultures and preferences. Because of their leadership, the program is almost entirely self-directed.

Besides helping customers with pre-boarding, concierges greet connecting BusinessFirst customers at the gate and assist them through Customs. In short, concierges ensure that each BusinessFirst customer receives personalized, VIP treatment not offered by most other airlines.

Concierge service is available on all international routes offering BusinessFirst service, including Houston, New York/Newark and Cleveland.

It appears that I am not the only one critical of this program. I recall that, in the 90's, the service delivered as promised. Today, I think the program is in a state of severe disrepair. With the exception of small airports such as BRS, DUB or BFS (STN was excellent too), the program doesn't work. It only rarely works as advertised.

I have found pre-boarding to be fine; however, with the exception of BFS, DUB, BRS, STN, once at each of LGW, FRA and CDG, I have never had a Concierge greet the plane. It's been years since I have seen any grey costs at baggage claim before EWR customs.

I'd encourage Continental to either fix the the program or end it. I think that CO should give serious consideration to simply ending it. AA doesn't offer a concierge service and things work out fine--better in fact, because one has to plan ahead. I'd hate to be a traveler who depends on the CO Concierge Service for help--that could be really frustrating when no one shows up to greet the flight.

Below is my opinion of the concierge in an email I shared with CoInsider a month ago. I never heard anything back, so I'm not sure if he's just too busy or lost for a response:


What is the role of the international concierge? It seems like a waste of $ to me. I was talking to the one at my gate in EWR [Insert Concierge's Name Here] asking if she could give an update about why the flight was late, as we were already 10+ minutes beyond the boarding time. In mid-sentence, she saw some other employee passing by and went running out [from behind the desk] to talk to him for 5+ minutes. What's going on with that??? Unbelievable!!!

I had a positive experience with a concierge arranging a shower in Stockholm after an EWR flight there. I mentioned it to her when I boarded in EWR. She said she would have it arranged for me when I arrived and that the Stockholm concierge would meet me and give me the information. That did happen, and the shower made my day. It was seamless.

A 10 minute delay may not be serious enough to warrent a Concierges time!
 

Mike_P,
I would hardly consider it a Concierge's time, when a GA could give you an answer just as well, if there were any information of significance. Just perhaps, the Concierge was presented with a more serious and urgent problem to deal with!

It has seemed to me, that they are more concerned with making certain Flights, reservations, and connections are in order for the passenger, if thepassenger has a concern.

^^^

I think it's less the situation of CO not needing these 'concierges,' and more about providing them all the proper training.

Consistency is THE key to repeat business. Under-promise and over-deliver. I've flown BF dozens of times over the past 4 years and only three times have I been greeted or even acknowledged by the grey coat. Granted, I haven't needed their help, but if CO wants to compete with premium airline services like BA and VS, they're going to need to step it up a little.

From what I've seen, most of the concierges are older, a bit slow and are most likely CO employees that have been moved from other parts of ops. Sort of CO's way of putting out their once-best to pasture.



BN