Talking nostalgia on this thread, I remember flying Northwest Orient a few times in the early 1980's from LAX to the UK and Germany. I seem to remember the main connection when I flew to London in 1981 was LAX-MSP-GTW and then the following year to Frankfurt I took the same flight which actually flew on from Gatwick and was LAX-MSP-GTW-FRA. (If I recall correctly, I think it was all the same flight number from LAX) Then with the NW/KL partnership I remember some non-hub NW transatlantic routes such as IAD-AMS transfer from NW metal to KL metal, and the end of some NW-operated routes such as BOS-FRA. I remember into the 90's when flying coast-to-coast that I used to always try to catch the LAX-MSP or the LAX-DTW flights that operated DC10s on these two domestic segments (for international connections)-- that domestic seating with the classic WBC style seats made me feel I was in a REAL first class cabin when I used the old World Perks Perferred upgrade certificates or paid a fee based on mileage for an upgrade under the old World Perks program. It is certainly nice now that domestic upgrades are unlimited and free, but first class seating for domestic travel cannot compare to the old days when it was possible to book classic WBC-style seats for domestic continental U.S. travel. As a non-smoker, the only downside with last minute airport upgrades I remember in the 80's was often being assigned to the smoking section in first class, as there was always a chace that the last unoccupied seat or two was in that section. Thinking back, before WBC became the name for business class on NW international routes, do I remember correctly that for a period Northwest called it Executive Class? If I recall, that may have been a period in the early 90's when they operated three class service on some transpacific routes but only had Executive Class and Economy on the transatlantic routes.