For the first time in a long time now (6-9 months?) I ended up back in row 14 on my ORD-DTW hop yesterday. I was kinda disappointed, but heck, I've had a pretty good string so far.

(Though I did notice what appeared to be an in-transit FA moving up to an empty seat in first after the door was shut...I'd been told at the gate that I was like 13th on the wait list and it was a long shot, so I got on the plane first to make sure my bag had a home in the overhead. I'm not upset about it, but found it curious.)

Oddly, on what was otherwise a full flight, the seat next to me was empty, which made the flight quite passable.

I realize it was probably just random chance.... but was it? I wonder if the NW reservation system has some logic in it that tries to keep the seat next to golds/plats open til the last possible moment?