I've flown NW on a couple trips recently and the automated upgrade worked great. No email like from CO, even though my address was in there, but even on the last segment, two hours before the flight, where it looked like I would need to standby for upgrade, I was automatically upgraded by the time I checked in. I think it is a small price to have to check on it. I think CO and NW have really made great strides in integrating their FF status recognition.