A few months ago I used Delta miles to fly from DCA to LGA. I was offered a routing of DCA-DTW-LGA on the outbound. I chose to return the next day on an evening Delta Shuttle.
I was able to do OLCI the night before the trip. On the outbound flights I was not allowed to chose elite seating in coach. I had been assigned seats in the back of the bus. My boarding pass did not display my elite status or the words: "Breezeway Boarding".
When I showed up at DCA for my flight I inquired of the gate agent why my Medallion number said, "not provided" and why I could not choose elite seating. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders.
Soon she was replaced by another gate agent and I again made the same inquiry. She did a few key strokes and printed a new boarding pass for me which she glanced at and tore up. Then another new boarding pass met the same fate.
She asked me if I would like to fly in first class? I said, "yes". She hand wrote a first class seat assignment on the boarding pass I had printed at home.
At DTW I was not so lucky. I made the same inquiry. The gate agent told me they still had first class seats but that I was too far down the list to make the cut off. I am Platinum on both Delta and Northwest.
Still no elite status or "breezeway boarding" on my boarding pass. I boarded with elites and was not turned back.
I am not sure if this is Delta/Northwest's policy that I lose any benefits of my elite status on award flights. This has been going on for years.
When I fly AA on award tickets I get to choose elite seating and get elite boarding - always.