...the first thing I recommend doing is calling the Elite line ASAP.

I was at GSO yesterday to board my flight to DTW which was delayed and then cancelled. The delay would have missed the connection with the last DTW-MKE flight (and NW unwisely eliminated the late DTW-MKE flight some time ago).

Having been alerted to the delay by automated calls to my cell phone from NW, I called and was able to snag the last seat on a Beaver Jet from GSO to MEM and an exit row seat on the last MEM to MKE. Yes, I lost my upgrades, but I got home last night, about 45 minutes later than originally planned.

When I did get up to the counter to get my boarding pass, the agent mentioned that I would have to wait until this morning to leave GSO and I told her no, that I rebooked and all she needed to do was print out boarding passes. She seemed a little miffed at that (for reasons I don't know) but such is life.