I was flying recently PIT/DTW/AMS/TXL - DTW/AMS on a 744. The night before, I asked my GA friend to see how full my flights were. She said - WOW! You'll get UG'd almost for sure on DTW/AMS. It's only booked to 400 total, so the flight isn't oversold, but, Y is way over.

Day of flight - I kept checking & checking looking for seat changes. Finally, at the gate in PIT, as I was boarding the plane, I asked the GA to check my
seat assignment. He printed me a new BP and - voila - for DTW/AMS it said STBY Business - but no seat # - YAY! When I landed in DTW my BlackBerry showed 10F - ended up in 11F. When I got to the gate in DTW I had a new BP waiting for me! I tried to change it to upper deck but it was full.

Observations:
Keep an eye on the stand-by upgrade list.
A young girl boarded at the very end - right behind me, and sat next to me. Somehow I just assumed she was in the same situation as me, but, when the FA took our meal choices while we were still on the ground, she didn't ask the young girl next to me what she wanted. Later, I told a different FA that she wasn't asked for her meal choice and this FA asked me if I was Platinum. I said yes. She said that was why I got a choice and she didn't. I politely asked the girl what kind of ticket she was flying on and was told that her mother is a NW pilot and she was flying stand-by. Does that make her non-rev or is it called something else? Not that I care - just curious - but would the proper protocol have been to upgrade other elites, (assuming there were others), then put the college student in Y? I'm guessing most of you will say that any int'l op-ups are completely up to the GA, since there's no official program for it. Anyway, that's why I got a meal choice and she didn't.

The FA serving my section seemed a tad annoyed that I inquired as to the status of the meal choice for my neighbor - she had a middle seat making it tough to talk to the FA in the aisle. Anyway, the FA was kind of 'riding me' - verbally - throughout the whole flight. Also the FA was very noisy clanking dishes together loudly. She slammed the cart hard into the galley right behind my head. She was serving roasted red peppercorn dressing - or something - til my row. Suddenly it was ranch. She said - eh, same thing. It doesn't matter to me, I'm just explaining her attitude. I'm glad I wasn't paying for a WBC ticket. Overall it was very nice. Luv the new DL camel color quilts! Very comfy!

Thanx L O T S to NW!! I'm glad I got to ride up front on a 744 before DL
parks them!!