Well. Woof. Checking in from MSP.
We're still not sure what exactly they were thinking, but since our guess is as good as any, keeping the F cabin wide open *possibly* had to do with ORD being closed on and off 3 out of 4 days. Friends scheduled to fly back to DAY today from COS through ORD were rebooked for tomorrow. Lex thought NW might have been keeping the F cabin open in hopes that UA and AA actual F flyers might get rerouted onto our flight.
Whatever. When we checked in, F was still wide open, and Lex was told that there were 9 of us who'd get our upgrades at the gate. Which we did.
The plane was full when it went out, and we do think a bunch of people ended up on our flight who'd been scheduled on other airlines. UA had at least 2 flights really delayed (gates next to ours, so we could hear the announcements).
But all that was prelude, as it turned out. The APU on our plane (late in, and a substitute, as the original scheduled flight from ORD had been cancelled) "died" - to quote our pilot - as they were taxiing to the gate at COS. We were scheduled out at 2:30p, actually left at more like 5p, which meant that most people on the flight missed their connections.
Which is where NW really did a great job. Several minutes were wasted getting us to the gate (new ground employees and snow obscuring the markings meant we all had to reseat while the tug positioned us correctly for the jetway). But then, ground agents came aboard and gave us the list of connections which were still good (very short) and told the rest of us to go to the counter for arrangements.
And at the counter, laid out alphabetically by pax name, were packets with hotel vouchers, meal vouchers, and apology packets.
Best NW recovery performance we've seen.
Still not sure why no upgrades COS-MSP this Monday until at the gate, however.