Ditto from my end. How is this possible? Not that I would begrudge anyone an "easy ride" into PE status - it's just that earning mine for this year was for me, a "no frills" experience since I earned my 75,000 EQM's the hard way - flying the older 757 NW domestic fleet back and forth between SEA & MSP. No "cushy" International travel for me!

BTW - Trappy... if your company hires over worked, burnt out IT professionals who like to drink heavily... I'm your man!!!

Oh, regarding your OP - for everyone else on FT who apparently know the WBC scene much, much better than me... aren't there still "OP UP's" (Operational Upgrades) given on NW and KLM flights that are overbooked in coach? I have asked some of the SEA WC staff about this as I've had my eye on taking a SEA-LHR flight to your part of the world, Trappy. Sue and Russ from the SEA WC seem to think that most GA's on International Flights require PE's to pay for their once free OP-UP's into WBC (to free up coach seats for the oversold situations) with $$$ or miles. Have OP-UP's gone the way of the Doh Doh bird too?

Cheers (from "Across the Pond")!

-A