Thanks, MJW, as always! It was not clear whether they had been told incorrectly by NWA that they do not upgrade automatically!

Most airlines, I've been told, have software that "kicks in" automatically. When I asked NWA in late '95 about this, they said they do it whenever they are eventually able to shut down the "regular system" and do a "run." They alluded to the fact that it was "about once a week or so!" I'd mentioned to NWA at the time that you could miss a critical (passing over the threshold) 500m flight credit not getting posted to your account just prior to a longer trip like JFK-NRT and possibly miss out on all Elite benefits for that entire trip, from checkin to amenities to bonus miles. It did in fact happen twice to us. It is good to hear NWA is working on these matters and that a better policy is developing! Thank you again.