I got status on NWA a couple of weeks ago by faxing a letter to the # in gleff's orginal post. it was a match to my UA, but didn't have the requisite materials. I sent a copy of my membership card and a print-out of every flight I took in the last year (which showed elite bonuses separately so NWA could verify that I have had status for awhile w/ UA). And it worked, I had status within a few days.

For what its worth, I also have also flown NWA a lot over the years. Everyone I know was getting a silver challenge (which is hard, since as someone pointed out, you have to go with the really expensive tickets), so I got lucky.

Still need to fly 25K miles to keep the status though! Oh well, better something than nothing.