Out of LEX to DTW last week on the RJ85. As you know this machine has 16 FC seats. No upgrade, no email notification. OK, I assume, maybe it's full of high-fare Plats. But... on departure 14 of those 16 seats were empty.

I took this up politely with the DTW gate agent before my next flight. She asserted that there was no problem and dismissed my comments. She gave the clear impression that she didn't want to deal with this. Seeing this, I moved on..straight to the back of the A320 for FLL. At least this one was full, although by now I was suspicious of the EUA system.

But I have just gotten back from another trip where things didn't go as usual. It gets me wondering...recently on NWA I have had either last-minute u/g's or, lately, none.

In the last three weeks:
On NW, 2-6 (those 2 last week when I asked at the gate. Again no email notification of u/g. Ms. Shark, NWA SE on a lower fare purchased before mine, received confirmed u/g long before and she found this outrageous).
On CO, 11-11 with no battlefield promos (!)

Mistakes can happen, but this is becoming consistent and it's a real drag to wonder all the time; is the EUA working? Is priority being observed? I've come to expect efficiency and dependability from NWA. If we fly this much on NWA, then it seems reasonable for us to expect that the EUA system will be applied as discussed on the board with this hierarchy of criteria being applied: 1. Status. 2. Fare class. 3. Date of purchase.

This clearly isn't happening at the moment. Worse, it suggests I should preferentially fly CO whose heavily-criticized EUA works better for me than NWA's.

I hope this doesn't continue. I always believed that sharks shouldn't have blue-and-gold tails....