ryanbriar

It is definitely a DYKWIA move and would get looks, but would I think improve the experience and there are ways to pop up to the side of the gate to flag down the agent without walking over people.


The gate crowding situation is definitely becoming worse given flight delays. I’ve been hanging back and waiting if the gate area is large. If crowded, l’ll swing by the desk to let them know I’m in the area and where they want me to go. The pilot on my flight last night overhead me talking with the agent about where to stand and offered to walk me down to the plane alongside him. Ended up being moot as he was still running through paperwork when boarding started, but was nice gesture / pretty cool.

davecraze

+1000 if that is the only way to get to the scan machine for boarding.

If there is an area right by the GA calling the groups I will stand right there even if nowhere near boarding. On other occasions, there is a roped off area right in front of the gate but way to the side of where everyone is lining up and I will stand there until boarding starts. When they call CK, I raise my hand to get the GA attention and then just casually open the rope and go myself or just go right under it. A GA seeing me stand there can usually figure out what's going on before even they call CK because everyone else will just funnel to the side to line up where the signs are and I am just standing there by myself waiting. I try to keep it interesting.

davecraze

[QUOTE=32LatT10;36334197]Ten years ago I would have been of the opinion that calling names is fine, as a UA GS in a previous life I had this happen often. These days people are crazy with a hair trigger, especially on social media where they are accountable to no one for their actions. People "take to Twitter" (or Reddit) to post the most trivial of slights including identifying photos of people (like cutting someone in line or the perception of it) and air their grievances into an echo chamber. Maybe I'm paranoid (and I don't even have that uncommon of a name) but I think giving information that could potentially allow for doxxing of someone or their family, employer, etc. may not be the best idea in this day in age. I personally am a fan of paging "Concierge Key members" perhaps with a side of "If you don't know what it is, you're not it. "[/QUOTE

the very few times I have actually been called by name, they thankfully called me by my first initial and last name, not full name, else you may get a whole bunch of randos looking you up on LinkedIn etc

Marioparty

While domestically I have had a similar drop off in customer service, my experience traveling as a CK in Asia (on AA metal) has been outstanding. Both in PVG and NRT I had a rep walk me through immigration/customs and saved me a ton of time. A few times I thought they were leading me the wrong way only to find out it was a shortcut through the process. I saved at least an hour of time at each airport because of CK status.

I ended up giving away all of my employee recognition coupons on this trip. I wish I had more to give. The service was outstanding!

ryanbriar

Good to know. I have a connection at HND on Sunday and it would be great if this happens.

alexloo11

If you're CK and flying with JAL or even AA, service in Japan is top notch. I have never had one time where i didn't get a terminal transfer (if needed) or the agent walk me through customs at another terminal, and they always will be there waiting for you, the moment you step off the plane, to take you to the lounge or transfer.

LIH

For those debating about membership fees and just how AA may choose to more broadly invest in the CK program, I would just note that a lot of the decisions made around these things are really relative-to-competition ones. AA doesn't necessarily care if I'm happy, they just care if I'm happy enough to prefer an AA route to a UA route (I'm ORD-based so those are really my two options). I have been Global Services on UA for over a decade and have carried GS and CK status now for 3 consecutive cycles. I can tell you that CK > GS in just about every possible way beyond miles redemption advantages (which mean almost nothing to me).

All that to say, I wouldn't expect any tectonic shifts in these types of programs unless a competitor starts eating their lunch. Generally, the trend for all of these loyalty programs has been dilution at least for the 20 years I've been flying a bunch, not sure if that trend ever truly reverses.

only1percent

CK, GS and S360 share the basic problem of serving two fundamentally different constituencies: people who buy F/J and don’t need upgrades, and people who buy Y and highly value super priority for upgrades. To a lesser extent this also impacts the highest non-invitation tiers (EP, 1K, Diamond).

If I ran loyalty strategy I would create a “buy F/J variant of EP and CK which delivers discounts on F and J and gives access to the non-upgrade tier benefits at some straightforward level of spend (say $25k and $50k).

stant

are there really a lot of CK sitting in th eback of the plane hoping for an upgrade (other than during irrops?)

HaleiwaFlyer

AA had such a program, called AAirpass, which granted CK and potentially discounted refundable F/J tickets for a flat rate per distance. AA decided to sunset the program after 40+ years?

UA still has such a program, PassPlus, can get GS for 70k.

HaleiwaFlyer

+1. Perhaps Delta is bucking the trend abit, and the CEO is wanting to be the top luxury brand out of the US3.

Delta was going for this luxury branding pre COVID, and seems like they are back to that plan again; which I applaud Delta for doing.

This is a plus for DL 360s, as they have access to Delta One lounges now; similar to CK's access to FLL; and going against AA/UA; DL is actually giving more benefits to their invite only tier, but on par with competitors. Delta's loyalty program fiasco actually made their million miler program much better.

In essence DL is catching up to the old prestige of AA's offering, and already on a trajectory to surpass AA on the premium market in the next 3-5 years as more Delta One lounges open.

Markets always have inefficiencies for certain target demographics, and that is why you are seeing the rise and success of Private Suites through LAX and ATL.

ryanbriar

Awesome; looking forward to it between the new AA JFK-HND service and domestic JAL segments.

on the D360 front — I’m on DL tonight and didn’t realize that 360s are not part of pre-boarding and board after first class to the extent they’re not in F. Also, the D1 lounge is a nice feature, but requires being in domestic F or D1 versus holding any ticket to access the FLs, SoHo (Chelsea if on a qualifying flight) or the CCR.

32LatT10

That was a GA mistake...appears they used the old method. 360s didn't used to be able to pre-board, but the new protocol as of May 1 is to announce and board 360s after pre-boards (wheelchairs, special assistance, but NOT car seats/strollers) and before Zone 1 (First Class). See https://news.delta.com/sites/default...april-2024.pdf

Between the pre-board and D1 lounge access, DL has added a few tangible benefits to 360. One area that remains severely lacking compared to CK is the airport assistance that you all have been discussing as of late, and that is why I have been following this thread with interest.

ryanbriar

Interesting experience at JFK this morning (positive for the premium services team, negative for the gate agents).

Spoke with one of the premium services agents at Chelsea and she said there would be a rep at the gate for the HND flight, and she’d call down to let them know that we’d be coming down from Chelsea. I asked if we wanted to hang here, could we go to the gate during boating and get escorted down the jet bridge (figured worth the ask). She said absolutely no issue board when we want / flag down the rep as Chelsea is better than sitting on the plane. We decided to head down at the 55 minute mark as a windowless room sans any premium champagne is not a recipe for success (might as well look out on the ramp and listen to ATC).

Things got a little chippy at the gate. I asked one the agents working the flight where we should go. Because they had just started with group 1, she said to squeeze through the group 4+ barrier. The agent manning the scanner said we’re only doing group 1 and I said yep and I’m CK / was told to do this by your colleague, to which I was told no, go to the back to the line. The CK rep then got into it with the agent saying that she watched me get instructed to do this and apologized to me by name (only CK on the flight) for the bickering. I said all good on my end. The two of them were still arguing as we walked down the jet bridge. It would have been nice to get a text from the agent to communicate directly with her about the game plan, but worked out fine.

As an aside — it was very nice to have Chelsea access, but we were in the dead zone of likely zero outbound qualifying flights so service was limited and premium champagne consisted of two LPGS bottles found in the back room (apparently the bottles from the offsite warehouse can only be picked up by a manager and typically happens mid-day). I’d be fine if this was the evening where red wine / drinks were an option, but not at 10 am!

stant

just FYI - FWIW the premium services agents do NOT outrank gate agents nor can they tell them what to do for you. (much to my surprise) so if you run into a gate agent that really has a chip on their shoulder, its safest not to think that the ck rep is going to have your back or can fix things if you have to push back against something with the GA...