Agreed.

Great personal touch

+1 Agree.

If the plane was full and there were lots of First Class (P) passengers going to the First Class check in I'd be concerned how they knew my name. It's a nice touch but I'm not that fussed about it.

I don't like the idea of my info being announced to everyone in public.

It might be weird if they addressed me by name as I was walking up or before they saw my ID. If I provide my name and they say something like, "thanks for flying with us again, mr gobluetwo" that's totally fine. I do appreciate it when a few employees I know and see regularly recognize me and call me by name.

I actually like that. It means they have actually looked at the card and I believe they are going out of their way to use your name. They could just say nothing to you at the end of your transaction. At least you're getting a thank you.

the airline probably installed facial recognition software linking the security cameras to the check-in counter computers. as soon as you walked in, it identifies you and pulls up your name, reservation, frequent flyer status, status...

I rather like it.

Make it a point to look at their name tag and do the same


To answer OP's question -- if it's the Annie in SYD, then it doesn't bother me. Otherwise - it depends.

As a 1K I would be delighted just to walk up to the UA international counter at SFO rather than having to wait in line. That is more valuable than name recognition. Funny how I never wait at LH, EK, etc. where I have no status but always at UA. I guess that is another rant for another thread.

I must say I do get annoyed with high end hotels that don't track frequent guests and the clerk asks me if it is my first visit. Umm, no, I stayed here 4 times last year, it would be nice if you would recognize that and keep track of my room preferences. Should not be that difficult with automation and frequent guest programs.

Surprisingly I am also annoyed by the casual tone that many CSRs use on the phone. If you don't know me personally you shouldn't be calling me by my first name. Period. With the exception of people I work with or people whose children are playing with mine.

you beat me to it, Annie is amazing.

I had an amusing/interesting situation at the Lima Hilton. I arrived real early to check in, at about 9.15am. The valet that opened the door of the taxi addressed me by name, unbeknown to me it was the opening day and I was the first and only guest.

I find it surprising. For example, I showed up at SIN for SQ F check-in, and was greeted by name when I got out of the cab. I assumed (hopefully) that I was the only F pax on that flight and therefore they knew it was me. This was not the case, but I think I was the only non-asian pax in F, so perhaps they narrowed it down that way.

I don't mind it, I think it's a nice touch.

2 weeks ago I was flying SQ Suites JFK-FRA, and I arrived at JFK about 2 hours before departure. As I was walking towards the suites counter, I wasn't even halfway there before I heard the bored looking agent light up and say- Mr. XXXXX? I ask her how she knew and she explained that there was a very light load in suites that night and I was the last passenger to check in. I understand how she knew, and I think it was still a nice touch. I don't mind it.

Hah, that's amusing.

I've seen a number of good hotels where they use various techniques to simulate this approach:
- St Regis Mex (and presumably others) - The guy getting my bags quickly read my FF card and then referred to me by my name on there
- In the Park Hyatt Chicago the doorman has a great memory and always radioed up my name to reception who would be waiting in front of the desk with a key by the time I got inside
- The Park Hyatt Tokyo is the most impressive. The driver of the bus who picks you up gets your name and radios it ahead and then if you're a Hyatt Diamond and/ or from a major corporate customer (not sure what caused this), you get a handful of people waiting for you by the entrance giving you business cards and bowing like crazy (a la Lost in Translation).

When people who I don't recognise greet me by name it's usually because I met them on a particularly enthusiastic night out. I don't think I've been in that state whilst on board/ in the lounges, so I should be relatively safe in airports.