Real estate investment influence and course sales bro Pace Morby, followed by hundreds of thousands on social media, lays out how well-treated he is by American Airlines as a ConciergeKey member.
- “They’ll pick you up at our house, you don’t have to check-in, they just take your bags. They drive the golf cart to the front gate.” You don’t get free rides to the airport. You do have to check in. Sometimes you’ll get a golf cart when connecting at certain hubs.
- He claims they pick him up at the plane and drive him to his next plane when connecting. That part is possible, sometimes, on short connections – but never guaranteed.
- “I have a full-time employee at American Airlines that’s dedicated just to me. They’ll text me.” You get texts, sometimes and when traveling from certain cities, but from whomever is working at premium services.
The benefits of ConciergeKey are published publicly. What this guy says is not how it works. It is not how any of this works.
Concierge Key is the status that American Airlines gives to its top spending customers and top corporate travel influencers. It became legendary when George Clooney was portrayed as a Concierge Key member on a quest to earn 10 million miles in Up In The Air. The benefits of this status include top priority for upgrades (and no cash copay when spending miles for upgrades); airport escorts and even occasional vehicle transfers on the tarmac; access to Flagship business class lounges (and, historically, regular invites to First Class Dining); and a next flight guarantee to ensure they get to their destination.
I was a ConciergeKey member. Here’s the welcome kit I received as proof.
ConciergeKey was amazing. Benefits I took advantage of,
- Emails to reservations for things I needed. I received text messages and was met at gets when dealing with delays.
- No cash co-pays on mileage upgrades.
- Met at gates with a golf cart when I had long connections. (I never received a tarmac transfer, currently a GMC from one gate to another on tight connections at hubs.)
- Use of business class Flagship lounges when flying domestically, even on arrival, as well as Flagship check-in. At New York JFK this means access to the Soho lounge on domestic trips, and Chelsea on international.
- Guaranteed next flight, they actually booked me onto a sold out flight to get me where I was going when my flight was cancelled.
Chelsea Lounge, New York JFK
There have been two primary ways to earn ConciergeKey status: spending a lot of money on airline tickets, and being an important customer who influences a lot of travel (for instance, an executive with a big corporate customer). Corporate contracts may come with a certain number of ConciergeKey memberships.
You cannot qualify for ConciergeKey with a specific amount of flying or a published amount of spending. Over $50,000 has historically been enough – at least buying a $50,000 ‘AAirpass’ of prepaid travel would come with the status. Spending alone isn’t the only driver. Margins matter more. For instance spending $50,000 and flying 300,000 miles isn’t likely to earn ConciergeKey, while there are members spending $45,000 to fly no more than 100,000 miles who will make it.
American has run ‘challenges’ for Concierge Key membership. A targeted fast track has included four spend levels for American Airlines flights that had to be met during a 90 day period. Different members received different amounts, $10,000; $12,000; $14,000 EQDs; $16,000. (Those are annual run rates between $40,000 and $64,000.)
Concierge Key is also given out to decision-makers of big corporate contracts. There are also more than one tier of Concierge Key. There are a handful of members (perhaps a dozen) that are tagged ‘Do Not Miss’ because of their commercial importance to the airline.
Clooney’s character in “Up In the Air: was on a quest to earn 1 million miles, not 10 million, but that was 15 years ago.
@Tom – in the book Up in the Air it was 1 million miles.. Clooney in the movie was working towards 10 million.
You’re right Gary, this guy is full of it. But, the onboard product REALLY lags for the most part. It’s a crapshoot whether you’ll get a FA with a good attitude or one who is absolutely apathetic. I can’t comment on the food being I always decline it. The domestic FC seat is not very comfortable, but, that’s a well documented gripe. I appreciate being able to have some space to work or read without needing a chiropractor visit afterwards from sitting in steerage. But hey, at least you got a cooler luggage tag than I get as an EP.
I would love to be CK and see if my personal wheelchair gets to the gate quicker and if they hold up deplaning when I have an unexpected tight connection (I would never intentionally book a tight connection).
How about Janet Airlines elite status. They send 007 as your personal assistant and guard. If the gate agent is rude, they get tied up and renditioned to Gitmo.
There is rarely anything good said about American Airlines. Corporate must be privy to this information. I don’t know why this gets to me but it does. I want AA leadership to get real with this airline.
Had a good friend of mine with CK status around 6 years ago and was able to pull a favor for me using his CK contact. I was waitlisted for a mileage upgrade and C space became available so I called in to make sure they got the upgrade processed. The agent said he couldn’t do anything because it was under airport control (which I knew was false) but my friend was able to text his contact and processed my upgrade in under 2 minutes. Lesson: if you aren’t CK, be friends with one.
I had CK from 2018-2020 (rolled to 2021 due to the pandemic) and found no issue with it. There are lots of perks and the customer facing folks were always, in my experience, very pleasant and helpful to deal with. On most flights, notably long haul intercontinental and transcontinental US, the lead flight attendant would acknowledge, subtly, and offer up any help and would usually thank me for my business. I’ve since settled back into EP and it’s just fine. Not quite CK but enough for me and for my travel needs.
Perhaps “influencers” get a higher CK status than regular members?
Put being picked up at your house seems unlikely.
It seems “loyalty” may have a new definition – being an influencer!
A good loyalty program should have unpublished perks. For example, Amex Centurion’s biggest unpublished perk is that the card doesn’t actually have an initiation fee or an annual fee. But it’s important for mystique and publicity that the card is perceived to have fees.
You do NOT get FFD with CK. They USED to give 4 then decreased to 2 passes a year. They all expired during COVID when the lounges were closed and refused to reinstate any after they reopened.
They should do a better job at taking care of every passengers! My niece flew from Geneva to Santa Fe and ended up diverted to Chicago mid travel with only the minimum compensation for the 24 hours delay.
Hope her return to Switzerland goes better. I would give America Airlines a C- at best.
Influencers getting status over actual travelers is the DEI of airline travel.
@Tom.
Clooney’s character was going for 10 million miles. He hits it on a flight from O’Hare to Omaha and they announce it is 10 million miles.
The best part of having CK status a decade ago was the 8 (yes, eight) SWU passes (think international) comped every year. Beyond that, getting automatically booked in F on the next oversold domestic or transatlantic flight, especially during IROPs, was the best benefit by far. And the private check in desk at JFK, LAX and at LHR, complete with a made-to-order English breakfast at the Flagship lounge in Terminal 3 before boarding the AM flight back to the U.S. on most Friday mornings.
Which came first: Concierge Key, 360, or Global Service? …and if known, what year?
@M Casey – that’s a good question, I recall that Global Services was introduced ~ 2003. It replaced United’s old VIP program, and was considered something of a downgrade and mass market expansion of the offering at the time.
American Airlines ConciergeKey started in May 2007, replacing/formalizing the premium services program that came before it.
I don’t happen to know when Delta 360 started.
Typo “was met at gets when dealing with delays.” Should be “gates”.
His own personal dedicated AA employee? Hahahahaha
> The benefits of this status include top priority for upgrades
Is this still true after the new agreement with the pilots?
CK – Crazy Kooks who think they own the plane and know everything. Most CKs are Aholes full of entitlement. AA has over promised and when they don’t get their way throw a tantrum like a toddler.