Working for both NW and AA, the PNR was called a Passenger Name Record, another name for it is the Record Locator, or as most of you will call it a "Confirmation Number". Personally I always tell my passengers - Reservations Code.

IT ONLY has information about the reservation it was created for. It does not have any information in it except what was put in it by your travel agent and any airline personnel that may have helped you out by checking you in. It does not have a complete record of all your personal information.

With AA your personal information is kept in what is called a Star File associated with your Frequent Flier number and also in a special tracking system just for AAdvantage, NW keeps it in another similar file, but is just really called a Frequent Flyer profile.

These are in no way related to a PNR, except that it is possible to PULL the information from your Frequent Flyer profile and automatically update or create a reservation. This is why many telephone agents will simply ask for an advantage number instead of a name when making a new reservation.