Because to do that, you need either the WP # linked to the reservation (which we were trying to add) or the CC# used or the e-ticket# (which we did not have at the time). Hence the call to NW to bring up the reservation with the name and flight #.

Frankly, I am a bit surprised by the tone of some of these responses. It seems to imply that I am saying NW is at fault or I am blaming them or I said that I won't fly them unless they fix this. I never said this is the case and acknowledge the mess up was probably on our end. It was in accordance to the NW agent's advice that we were just writing a letter and wanted some advice on the best route to take based on information known during the call and after.

The person in question is now retired and we are just trying to save him some retirement money by making sure he gets all the miles we thought he should get. If you all of a sudden see 7,000 miles gone from your account, you will at least call to see what is going on and try to get them back if you believe you acted in good faith. That is all that we are doing but from the tone here, you would think that I said that we have a right to these miles and will sue if we don't get them