WorldPerks Elite customers will be exempt from the Coach Choice charge. Elite customers will have access to Coach Choice seats up to 24 hours prior to departure at no cost. These seats will be available via Northwest Self-service Check-in Kiosks or nwa.com.

This is more of a trade off than an improvement.

Yes, it won't cost Elites anything to get a Coach Choice seat. But now they'll compete with every other passenger who wants a Coach Choice seat at the same time: the 24-hour window. The only difference is Elites won't pay, and the others will.

The ability to select these seats at time of booking, or even the original Coach Choice option of 36 hours in advance, is gone. Considering how much noise Northwest is making about this change (emails, slipping details to FT moderators early, etc.), this may fall into the "be careful what you wish for" category.

(P.S. And the test may be over, since the e-mail -- which I also got early this morning -- states that, when it comes to Coach Choice, Northwest is committed to maintaining this new option.)