I'd disagree with you on this point, particularily in reference to asia flights. On 5 of my 6 transpacs this year, I've called NW and gotten flights and upgrades no problems, at over 30 days out. I'll take this to HoKeY any day. I don't fly transatlantic, but I've heard these flights are tighter when it comes to upgrades. As far as using miles for free flights, never had a problem, and NW was able to route me on KLM, whereas CO had no availability on themselves or KLM and wanted to route me via NW, this even when I was checking over 3 months out. Neither program is perfect, but in my experiences for trying to use miles, I'd give the edge to NW.