Testimonials

Delayed, Canceled, and Bumped

When the Asiana incident happened at SFO, one could foretell problems. I decided then to give Cranky Concierge a try for the first time. I am ever so glad that I did. Tuesday, July 10, was one of the longer "weeks" of the year. David Hotz did a terrific job in following my flights and looking for alternatives. He's even helped me with trying to get payment for an involuntary deplaning at SFO. Apart from the technical skills in working the problem, he relieved me of a great deal of stress and frustration. I'm an experienced flyer and think I know a lot. Compared to David, I know nothing and certainly cold not have done what he did get keep my trip moving forward. The skill I had to exercise the most was letting David do his job. And he did well. Cranky Concierge is a great service. You probably don't charge enough.

In my travels this week, I did mention Cranky Concierge to some people on both sides of the counter. There was some laughter because of the name. But I told to try the service after they stopped laughing. I'm a convert. I will be sure to use it again especially on trips that involve connections and in the wintertime.*

Jon M Long Beach, CA

A Snowy Michigan

Winter and airplanes don't mix. We were scheduled to fly from Chicago to Sault Ste. Marie, but the flight was cancelled. Fortunately we booked all the flights for the trip through Cranky Concierge, so before either of us had pants on this morning, our flight follower David had rebooked everything. Sounds like an expensive service? We recouped the cost the day they booked the flights, because they found a routing I hadn't considered. And airplane geeks, check out how nerdy their toll-free numbers are.

Robyn S Vancouver, BC

Stranded in Cairo

In February my wife and I were stranded in Cairo in the midst of civilian protest. We were quarantined to the hotel for several days with no internet access to check on flights. After trying several airlines to secure a flight, we contacted the US Embassy and State Department, neither of which was able to arrange transport out of Cairo. A last resort, we tried a company called Cranky Concierge based on a recommendation from a friend via SMS. Cranky Concierge worked around the clock to book and rebook flights for us allowing us to focus on finding safe refuge. Cranky Concierge handled our flight and hotel needs from Cairo thru every connection back to our home in Chicago. Overall we were very impressed by the quality service and personal touch. We are huge advocates of Cranky Concierge and recommend them to anyone who travels.

Carmita and Damon V Chicago, IL

Snowed In at JFK

Run to the phone... don't walk! By the time you have gotten ahold of Cranky, he'll already have alternatives lined up for you. My husband, daughter and I were caught in the storm that paralyzed the Eastern Seaboard just after Christmas 2010. While in the airport to check in for our flights, we found out that we had a 7 and 9 day delay to leave New York... 7 days for myself and 9 for my husband and daughter. Cranky was on it immediately. He had various plans that had us out of the craze of New York and back home within 24 hours. His ideas ranged from obvious to schemes that only the most experienced and discerning would know. We're experienced world travelers, and we never imagined we couldn't get ourselves out of any bind. Since that's not so - and since Cranky can - we'll use him for all of our travel.

Ashley W Los Angeles, CA

Stranded Without a Visa

My husband, 7 month old twin sons and I were traveling to the US through Amsterdam when winter weather struck and we were stranded at Schiphol airport along with hundreds of others. We were faced with the probability of having to spend several nights at the airport with small children given the scramble for flights and we were running low on baby food and diapers. Thanks to the genius and determination of Brett, we were able to secure seats on a direct flight to our destination the very next day while other passengers could not get out for a day or two. We will absolutely use Cranky Concierge for all our future travel needs. As a seasoned traveler, I can attest that there is no other travel agent that can match their customer service.

Karen C Nairobi, Kenya

Almost Missed the Rose Bowl

We were on our way to the Rose Bowl when all the flights were canceled because of fog. We took a chance driving to Minneapolis hoping to catch a flight there. As we were arriving, Delta informed us there was only one seat available on our stand-by flight, and we had three passengers. Brett from Cranky Concierge called 20 minutes before we arrived at the airport and secured the last three tickets leaving Minneapolis that night direct to LAX. The seats had just become available, and without Cranky Concierge staying on top of our situation until we had plane tickets to LA, we would be watching the Rose Bowl at home.

Brian F Appleton, WI

Winter Weather, Canceled Flights

I consider myself a savvy traveler, but on a recent trip I found myself pressed for time to wrap things up at work in advance of a quick holiday trip with my wife. I just didn't have time to watch the weather and airline websites for issues like I normally do. Enter Cranky Concierge. Cranky watched our flights and when a major midwest storm led to the cancellation of our flight, I received an email from Cranky almost immediately with the details of our rebooking. The new itinerary arranged by the airline simply wouldn't work, so Cranky immediately went to bat for us, arranging a new flight on a different airline that enabled us to make our cruise with time to spare. No doubt, I will be a repeat customer.

Marshall J DC Metro Area

Happy in Minnesota

My fiancée and I recently completed our first trip with Cranky Concierge and have decided that we will be return customers every time we fly. During our trip we had Andrew assist us on our way down to Alabama and on the return we worked with Mr. Cranky himself. Andrew and Brett both did everything they could to make our trip go smoothly and we really enjoyed the tips for things to do at the airport during our layovers. It was really nice knowing about gate changes and other flight information valuable minutes before the rest of the passengers so that we could get moving before the flood of people.

Michael A Rochester, MN

Emergency in Eureka

Cranky has always been our go-to guy for advice on how to travel. Never has that been more true than when my stepfather died unexpectedly while I was out of town in Eureka, California. Obviously I was online, searching through various sites looking for a reasonable way to get out of Eureka to the east coast, and then back to Los Angeles. This was complicated by the fact that I didn't know how long I'd have to be out there. Frustrated with the lack of clarity I felt about the situation, I called Cranky. He immediately suggested that instead of booking both flights I just concentrate on getting to Washington D.C. one-way. He also pointed out that if I could fly to Baltimore, I could save $300 and arrive at the same time.

This turned out to be exactly the right thing to do. I didn't have to worry about when I was coming back, or change fees, or finding one airline that both flew out of Eureka and could get me back from D.C. to Los Angeles. When the time came to fly back I was able to book another one-way flight, and the total I spent on both flights was actually lower than the cost of the flights I'd been looking at before talking to Cranky. In addition I was able to book the return flight out of Reagan National airport, which was more convenient. That wasn't even an option in the plans I had been looking at before.

In short, Cranky knew exactly the right thing to do, and helped me make a difficult situation much easier, and saved me about a hundred dollars besides. Cranky, I owe you dinner.

Geoff C Marina del Rey, CA

Race Against Time

My husband, baby and I needed to fly across country for a family emergency. We talked to Cranky at 2:00 pm, and were on a plane leaving Burbank by 4:15 pm. Not only was Cranky able to quickly book flights for all of us, but they found us an awesome fare, great flight times, and we were even able to sit together in the bulkhead row. I was so busy trying to pack and prepare our baby for the trip that I'm glad I had Cranky to help. I never would've been able to book flights as quickly or as cheaply as Cranky did. They're truly miracle-workers!

Karen K Encino, CA

Vacation Delayed

Cranky is a lifesaver. On a recent trip to Vail to celebrate the Fourth, United let us down in a big way. We got to the airport to find a wall of delayed flights and a huge queue for ultimately unhelpful, uninformed customer service representatives. Faced with the prospect of missing our connection to Denver and throwing our entire weekend into disarray, we called Cranky.

Unlike United reps, he gave us loads of useful information: the full download on what was causing the delays, which flights gave us the best chance for clearing the standby list, and what our back-up options were in case all else failed. While we cleared the standby list for one flight, another United issue (a cracked windshield!) delayed us again and caused us to miss the final flight to Denver. Not to be defeated, Cranky (while eating dinner with his wife!) found us an alternative flight into Colorado Springs (which, again, United customer service failed to think about) and even helped us book a new rental car reservation.

All we can say is that it was great knowing you had someone on your side when things went to pot. Thanks to Cranky the weekend was saved and much stress averted. We'll be coming back!

Chris B San Francisco, CA

Updated and Relaxed

While we consider ourselves travel geeks with an arsenal of apps on our iPhones, Cranky Concierge really helped us during a recent trip to Denver, better than any of our apps. We found the updates on the equipment to be unexpectedly helpful as you kept us updated on where our aircraft was throughout the day and how long it was becoming delayed. CC gave us earlier and more accurate information than any of our apps and especially the airline. While other passengers were fuming at the gate, we were enjoying a relaxed dinner. Thank you, Cranky!

Marty Y & Stacy A Dallas, TX