The one time needed help from a concierge he was rude, offensive, arrogant, and just downright hostile. So far as I can tell they are there to make you wish you'd spent your money somewhere else.

She was very friendly, oh and helpful.

The purpose of the bf concierge in ewr is to stand around and chit chat near the ticket counter outside security. In iah they will get you on the next avail flight in coach even though you paid for first. In cle they actually do their job properly.

I think this is one area where they could cut back on staff by eliminating the job and would still have a great product..IMHO@:-)

I think CO is wasting some $$$ with this..@:-)

Some flights I never even saw the BF concierge, on some others s/he made rounds in the cabin, addressing passengers by name, offering thanks for the business. A couple times the concierge brokered some seat switching to allow families to sit closer together, as in an IAH EZE flight. The CDG concierge arranged access to an arrivals lounge with showers, and on another occasion helped with seating an PC access. The HKG concierge helped get a seating mess resolved.
My guess is that they do several things behind the scenes that don't get noticed unless something goes wrong. It's kind of like nurses in hospitals - if they are doing a good job, bad things don't happen - but who notices what doesn't happen?

I think they're similar to the appendix. Some believe it has a minor role in grand scheme of things; others contend that it's a vestigial organ with no current value. Whatever its role, the appendix can be removed without any impact on one's personal comfort.

If you can find them! If the flight is late arriving, they're often working on the departure.

never been helpful (and seldom approached) on the dozens of biz flights that I have taken

I disagree. A concierge I dealt with in NRT (Michiko) was simply outstanding. I was connecting through to PEK on NW....she walked me through security/customs and up to the GOOD worldclub while I waited for my connection.....handled all the details with getting me checked in and seated at the club, set me up with a shower and put my carryon in storage. She even came back (4 hours later) to take me to my gate when the NW flight departed.

While all that was awesome...two weeks later when I was coming back through NRT to get home she saw me and greeted me with with a warm smile. She remembered my name, ALL the cities I was visiting (Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Macau, Tokyo), and seemed genuinely interested that I had a pleasant trip in Asia.

Also, about two weeks after I got home I received a thank you card in the mail from her.

I was very, very impressed.^^^

I haven't had any reason to ask for anything from a EWR or IAH based concierge but I'd say in about 8 of my last 10 flights leaving the US in the past few years they did come around and introduce themselves at least.

On the other side of the ocean the lady working LHR (I forget her name) is awesome. I met her at check-in and she came around making bag tags for everyone flying BF while we were in line. This was the first time I've been offered these-- and I've been back and forth a lot in the past few years.

I've also had great experiences with the DUB based crews.

FLying to Paris last week from Ewr, the conceirge introduced himself, asked if there was anything he could do, and offered to arrange showers on arrival in Paris.

I have certainly found a concierge here and there that's useful, particularly at smaller airports like BRS, OSL or BFS; however, overall, I don't see any value add to the program. The concierge service isn't close to what it was in the 1990s. It should be discontinued.

Strangely, this is one area where CO has not trimmed the fat leading me to believe that they serve in other capacities behind the scenes that we the pax have no idea about.

While I have never found the service of any use other than to request a shower upon arrival (sometimes works and sometimes does not), I imagine that they do something to justify their jobs(or I hope that they do).

Overseas they are generally good to excellent and seemingly want to be as helpful as possible as evidenced by personal experience and others post on this thread.

Dan

I have noticed this too, in fact they hunt me down and give me a PC pass for EWR, and I already have access....
Maybe they don't realize I know BF and ST+ have access already so just making aware. Or maybe I just totally have the wrong idea and the map and phone number mean something totally different and I don't take a hint. @:-)

Anyway, it is nice and they offer to help on anything else at the same time. I guess I would prefer them be proactive and have pass in hand instead of waiting on you to ask anyway, as it is seen here many people have no clue what they offer.