Not only is it an Elite-heavy flight, as suggested, but it also feeds many international departures from Detroit to Europe. NW tends to hold off giving away all of the FC seats to free upgrades, when there is the possibility of selling a Business Class ticket to Europe with the added benefit of a FC seat on the domestic connection. But in the end, any remaining FC seats will be doled out at the gate, or maybe the day before. BF upgrades are becoming more and more frequent on NW, even for Plats (like me) who had gotten used to having almost all or their upgrades confirm 5 days before departure.

I have 4 flights next week, and so far only 1 has been confirmed in FC. It happens to be the one that I thought would be the toughest to get: PDX-MSP on an A320 at 2 PM. Of the other 3 flights, only 1 of them is booked more than 50% full in coach! The other 2 flights are virtually empty both in front and in back. So go figure....it seems NW is starting to get VERY stingy with advance upgrades these days!! Maybe they are trying to show us how things are going to be once DL takes over?????