Originally Posted by themicah
As a NW or CO silver you'll probably have a very good shot at upgrades on ROC-DTW. At most flight times I'd guess you'll be upgraded more often than not--even as a silver.
My experience (living near ROC) is that the ROC-DTW flights are usually a fairly easy upgrade as CO Gold, but I certainly don't always get upgraded at peak times. The Friday 5:10pm flight ROC-DTW is particularly difficult. Off-peak, there are often empty seats in F.
Once the ARJs depart the scene by the end of 2006, ROC will presumably see a lot more CRJs which will definitely reduce the attractiveness of NW. It'll probably remain the best deal for those flying west from ROC, but the difference will be less. (For example, today all five ROC-DTW flights have F; there are 2 ARJs and 3 DC-9 flights. If the ARJs get replaced one-for-one with CRJs, then a) there will be fewer flights with F, so upgrades will be harder, and b) aargh! CRJs. Although actually looking at a few random days in March 2007, it looks like the schedule drops to 3 DC-9 and 1 CRJ, so there is also a planned frequency reduction, for what that's worth this far out.)
Still, I'd pick NW for this commute too if I was starting from no status on any Skyteam airline. I personally am stuck with CO status and it's too difficult and annoying to switch, and my thinking from the previous paragraph makes me want to wait and see how the post-ARJ, post-labor troubles NW looks.