I had a recent CO-operated series of flights where I'd been rerouted due to weather. I tried to check in on-line, got boarding passes printed but they said gate check-in required and as one leg was still economy I wanted to ask for upgrade standby at the airport. So at the baggage check-in/ticket counter for elites I tried to get boarding passes and ask for an upgrade. About 20 minutes of typing, clicking and dumbfounded looks on the rep's face ensued during which the rep completely ignored me and did not explain what was going on , followed by her checking with another rep. The rep had a strong accent and poor grammar and though I kept repeating and asking what was going on, I got no reply. I was afraid she did not understand the issues I was asking about and was going to mess up the upgrades on 3/4 legs that had been computer upgraded. Finally when I asked if she needed to check with a supervisor she insisted that a supervisor would not help, that she was trying to find my reservation which had been made on nwa.com and that it was normal to have this sort of thing go on (makes you wonder what the point of on-line check-in is).

Finally boarding passes were given to me. At the gate I checked again about upgrade standby for the economy leg, and the grumpy agent there told me F had checked in full. I thanked her for checking. Then when I was boarding, she directed me (with a bit of a satisfied smile) aside to have a hand-search of carry-on luggage, wanding etc. (Perhaps that was just coincidence).

[This message has been edited by ermdjdsj (edited Dec 11, 2003).]