Grumble grumble grumble. I had a bad (read interesting, right?!) experience last week with AS - I had confirmed upgrades using my NW certs on 2 flights, but due to a plane going mechanical, missing the connection, cancelation of the return (AS messed it up due to the reroute) and overbooking, I was SOL, even though I was flying full fare Y, with confirmed seats in 1A on both flights.

I wrote them a clear and concise note (no flames ), but did send them my ripped up AS certs since I doubt I will ever try to use them again.

The point is, when I was faced with the cancelation (their error - they were good enough to admit it) and the potential of not getting home that night, I pulled out the NW elite card and the AS person told me that 'that won't help at all'. Fine, AS is not Skyteam, but I was clutching at straws and so tried it. In the end, they got me home by bringing in the supervisor to book me on the overbooked flight back, and so I don't completely despise them...