HaleiwaFlyer

Tell that to the above two CK flyers that their delays aren't bothersome, when the delays/cancellations required IRROPS handling....

Again, we shall see where Isom leads AA at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025 for both the CK program and operational reliability of AA. I just hope he can navigate the multiple upcoming headwinds and steer AA in the right direction.

As mentioned before, we can rediscuss this in April 2025, and see where the CK program is at that juncture in time, after everyone had their full year of CK experiences of the good and bad; and for long timers, what has improved and what has been cost cut compared to prior.

stant

dude, YOU posted the actual numbers. When I pointed out that the numbers you posted wouldnt show a meaningful difference in experience between the big three for frequent fliers now you want to use the anecdotal experience of two individual members?

I agree with an awful lot of what you say in this forum, be me thinks you are making a bit of a mountain out of a
mole hill here...

SkyTeam777

Did your tags arrive? Mine still have not, ugh.

Marioparty

Yes. Mine arrived last week.

Did you call them?

jskyler

Here is my issue with delays - on average they are actually more like 30 minutes. I originate in a non-hub city and a 30 minute delay results in a misconnect at the hub almost 100% of the time thanks to the way they do connections. If my delay is an hour, I'm done for the day even with CK IROPS help. So, my only option is to leave on an earlier flight and hang out in the Club so that a delay doesn't kill my day. But even that is not fool proof as a recent trip to London proved.... flight delay of 2 hours meant I couldn't get on any London flight due to the need to depart later in the afternoon at origin. Next flight was the next day and I missed a full day of meetings.

Meanwhile I should have taken the direct Delta flight instead of AA but I was trying to keep CK. As I've mentioned earlier, experiences like these have made me a free agent now. And I must say, while Delta has a much older fleet which I had forgotten about, service is SO much better. Flight Attendants actually like they jobs and smile all the time! Even the food options are better....

stant

I WOULD be proactive in calling them. AFIK they are made in batches. And when I got my first one they were careful to point out that if you lost them, they couldnt be replaced, presumably because they dont just up and make one. so if you wait too long there might come a time when it's too late.

stant

for what it's worth, the averages dont agree with your experience, though they allow for outliers like what you describe. NO schedule is going to work out for everyone, though I'd say if you are regularly misconnecting because of a 30 minute delay (or even 2 hrs international) you are cutting things way too tight. And this is coming to someone who has had close to 100 trips to london from a non hub airport, and I only missed getting to my destination on time once - and that was back in the day when I held no status at all.

HaleiwaFlyer

Thats the funny part of statistics isn't it....You can interpret it the way you see fit, be it a positive or negative with the same exact numbers.

At the end, my summary is Delta has the best ops currently, and if CK members require reliable operations, then perhaps it's worth taking a look at Delta if it works for them at their airport.

In my field, I can quote people less than 1% risk of something bad occurring in the United States, but when it does happen to an individual, it meant it occurred 100% to that person, and that 1% quoted earlier means nothing to them anymore. Some of our human behaviors are not shaped by the best statistics out there, rather our own anecdotal evidence shape our decision making more than the overall statistics.

So one person's mole hill, is another person's mountain, and vice versa.

jskyler

Oh, I am a definite outlier stats wise. Last year I kept track of all my AA flights and 80%+ were either delayed (some significantly - as in a 6pm arrival was a 2am arrival) or canceled. All of the connections were the ones offered by AA.... I don't disagree that some were very tight, but they come up with the schedule and not me. Having to build in a >2 hour buffer to make sure that I make the connection is a clear indication of unreliable performance. And, as I said earlier, is why I decided to go free agent despite getting CK again this year. Why spend unnecessary hours working around AA disruptions vs. taking a direct flight with no hassle and, I should point out, also cheaper in many cases!

astebel

As many of you know, I started this banter discussing my experiences last week with 2 days back to back with delays, gate changes and almost a missed connection without any calls from CK. Altho I did call in to get myself protected, usually they would have called me. Anyway - I also wrote here the response of the CK desk saying there were too many delays and not enough personnel to monitor all the keys. She sent my email to CS and I actually got a call from them today. Got the apology but I told her about the email response, she was surprised and said they should not be disclosing what I was told. When I mentioned my loyalty to AA, she did remark, I have been a member longer than she has been alive. I just said that many of us have been experiencing issues and we would like AA to get back to the program it was years ago as many are leaving to go to other airlines. It was a nice conversation and I got some miles out of it which is never the point but appreciated. I guess if we continue to give them constructive critiques hopefully something will change....maybe???

stant

numbers dont have feelings, nor does they have a meeting to miss. Yes delta has the best opps by the metrics we are discussing. That was never in question. The question I brought up is if the margin that delta is better by will materially impact the average frequent traveler. And I stand by my position. Delta is better by a margin that virtually everyone's experience flying (in terms of missed connections or delayed arrivals) is going to be more or less the same. And no, it's not one person's mole hill and one person's mountain. it is 99 people's mole hill and one person's mountain. Its no good to try to paint pictures based on the experiences of that one person, because 99 people will disagree with you.

HaleiwaFlyer

We will just have to agree to disagree on this matter.

yellowcalliper

Has anyone noticed how inconsistent the Concierge Key service is at MIA? They almost always announce Concierge Key one second before Group 1 and sometimes they just completely forget. Today, I had a five hour mechanical delay. No call or e-mail from anyone at Concierge Key.

davecraze

Not only inconsistent, or forgotten, in MIA but I have also been lied to, to my face. I was standing right beside of the GA calling the groups since way before she started. She first called up two passengers in wheelchairs and then went straight to group 1. I asked her what about Concierge Key and she said I called it and no one came up. A complete lie. Just did not even care - was like "why are you bothering me with this nonsense" sort of attitude.

astebel

Hence my beginning the discussion of my issues at DFW with delays, gate changes and IRROPS when I was very close to missing a connection. No calls. No carts. No offer to protect until I called in myself to do it. It is like that all over. Apparently, from what I was told when I brought up these concerns was there are so many delays, and so many keys and not enough people to monitor all of us. We have to understand, if we want to stay CK and stay with AA, this is how it is. When we get services, that is great, but I don't think anyone can expect it as we did many years ago. I am looking into other options that I will have to purchase but I don't want to go through what I went through last week again. Or do what I did and write in with your concerns. Not ranting but just the experience and constructive critiques.. They need to hear from many of us or nothing will change.