Your car is here to take you to the plane.
There are normal flyers, fancy flyers, frequent flyers, and somewhere down at the pointiest end of the plane usually sits a combination of the latter two: fancy frequent flyers. These are the people, the titans of industry who have attained the generally un attainable, the statuses some airlines even publicly deny exist at all. British Airways has launched new benefits for it’s invitation only frequent flyers and frequent flyers with tight connections, with the new Concorde Services team.
For a start, they’ve got a new name. But the new special services offerings are more than glossy name tags. As we previously reported, the team will include an increased “connections” support for all travelers, especially Gold an Silver elite flyers with the airline. This team will be in place to extend special services, or now “Concorde Services” esque treatment, including being picked up from a tight arriving aircraft in a special services car and driven to the next flight. Cabin crew will be notified in the air, allowing them to instruct passengers exactly what to do upon disembarking.
We already know the rumored benefits of Premier membership, the standard stuff like skipping security lines and having a personal greeter in eight gateways around the world, and then there’s the nifty stuff such as delaying a flight so that a member can make the plane, a guaranteed seat- even if the plane is completely full and personal, and direct phone numbers to the airline for each and every 1,000 or less members. Members, by the way, must be voted in by the board of British Airways, Even top superstar-celebrities are far from shoe ins to the program. But here are things we now know for sure about the new Concorde Services program…
For Premier Club members, British Airways invite only top tier, a new and refined service has launched, guaranteeing a more VIP feel to departures for the airlines top customers- at least in theory. The “Concorde Team” service is a 360° tailoring including but not limited to: greeting upon arrival at Heathrow terminal 5, dedicated seating area in First Wing for check in, where a team member conducts check in on behalf of the customer- whilst porters whisk away luggage, allowing bag free enjoyment of the Concorde lounge. The idea is that the member is able to sit down and stay productive while all the check in paperwork formalities are done. But the real VIP stuff comes into focus with the now guaranteed Jaguar car ride to the plane, shall the flight depart from a Satellite terminal, such as 5B or 5C.
Related: The Singapore Changi Ultra VIP arrival experience.
On arrival things are no different. Aside from nifty car rides and personal welcomes to Britain’s capital, the Concorde Team will quite literally do the heavy arrivals lifting. A team member will personally wait for and grab all luggage off the baggage carousel, delivering bags directly to the Premier for a speedy and most importantly “hands free” departure. Even rich people need to let someone know they’ve arrived safely.
This is not insider scoop, this is public relations click-bait babble. Please don’t publish things unless you’ve done them yourself.
Um no. It’s information from an internal document, all of which I’m quite sure you didn’t already know about. Unless you’re a premier or work for BA. I I’ll write whatever I want, thanks though. Immensely useful comment…
And by the way, I actually have done them.
The departure experience sounds similar to my Qatar Business experience in Jakarta. Due to a bad uber driver and a horrific 3 hour journey we arrived at the check in desk 45 minutes before departure. Fully expecting to be turned away, they made a phone call then 3 people jumped into action: 1 sorted the bags, 1 sorted the boarding passes, 1 escorted us into the premium lounge (a short cut). Another person waved at us on the far side of the lounge who walked us to the front passport control. Another person was waiting to escort us to the front of the security check queue and the gate. The whole plane was waiting for us (35 minutes before departure) and crew were ready to hand us champagne as we were in a complete daze. Amazing. Plane took off on time with our bags. I was stunned.
Andy, awesome story. Don’t think nearly anything in life gives that kinda rush! Those kind of things make you forever appreciate an airline, and I for one- love Qatar. Cheers.
#flyabba they offer this because they actually know that their regular business, premium let alone cattle services are so awful they are beginning to lose noticeable numbers of customers. Can’t have the fancy frequents experiencing what those who’ve only paid thousands for their tickets stupidly thinking BA are still a quality provider
Special Services has always existed at BA (like, for at least 23 years) so far as I know. I used to have their phone number for a couple of my bosses. Yes you could get Concorde takeoff delayed… for some very few people. It takes serious spend and very regular travel though, to be recognised. And why not? Any sane business looks after its best customers.
Yes special services has always existed. There’s no questioning that in this article. Only pointing out that it’s changing in both name and remit. Best.