I was not upgraded this morning on NW197 from MSP to SJC and I have some evidence that would indicate that the Battlefield Upgrade priority as indicated in the wiki is incorrect. (http://www.flyertalk.com/wiki/index.php/Flying_NW)

I just purchased the ticket 4 days ago and it was P0, F0 when I purchased the ticket as the EUA window for Platinum had already come and gone. My ticket was fare class M and I did OLCI yesterday morning about 9:20 AM and responded "Yes" to the question of wanting to be upgraded and was told it was full and I would be put on the waitlist. When I got the the WC in MSP I checked the and the agent told me that there were 16 Platinums in front of me on the waitlist! When I got to the gate I checked again. The GA told me that she had just upgraded one Platinum and that it was now checked in full.

I watched who got the upgrade and then talked to him to compare notes. He was travelling on a Q fare (lower than me) and had checked in that morning at the airport (way after me) but had purchased the ticket a couple of weeks ago (way before me). He brought up one other criteria that I had not seen discussed which is #years as Platinum. He said he has been Platinum for 4 years while this is my 3rd year as a Platinum (although I have been some level elite for 10 years now). We also compared EQM mileage (he was just over 75k and I am at 120k) and from talking to him I would guess that I have been a higher revenue generator as it sounded like he was all domestic while I have done 5 international trips so far this year (2 WBC).

If the Wiki was correct, I would have received the BU. I would also have won out by several other criteria that I have heard discussed. The only items that would have given him the edge over me were time of ticket purchase and time as Platinum.

I know this has been discussed a lot over time but I found it interesting that my data point was not consistent with the generally accepted algorithm.