Watson, you raise an interesting point vis-a-vis the upgrade question. Northwest has been consistently moving their focus towards a LOAD based revenue model rather than a YIELD based revenue model ever since about mid-2000. In laymans terms, it simply means that they would rather fill a plane with lots of cheap-to-mid range fares than cherrypick the high revenue flyers (like yourself). Their First Class exists primarily for the purpose of enticing those regular, low revenue fliers to pick Northwest over the competition by offering them liberal upgrade possibilities. There are not many bells-and-whistles in domestic First, but the product is a step above the coach offering.

Quite frankly, I think NWA is the only one of the big-6 who have their revenue side of the house under control. They are making excellent progress in fleet renewal (read cost savings) that will give them a positive CASM-RASM spread before too long. Northwest is the blue-collar major, promising little and seeking to overdeliver.