Setup: I may have to move some of my business from AA to CO/NW this year depending on who our company gets as new clients. As I'm currently Executive Platinum on AA, I will probably be able to be comped to Gold on CO for 2000, then will fall to Silver as I'll only do the 30 segments (3 round trips to each client).

Question: At aa.com, as an elite I'm allowed to make reservations with exit row seats, before ticketing. Most of my tickets are purchase 14 or 21 days out, for weeknight evening travel. Is this possible at the Continental site or would I have to book by telephone with a Continental agent? Can I even get exit row in advance? Also, does it work the same way on NW flights??

I'm not worried about the upgrades if I can get the exit row, as most of my segments would be under 500 miles (ORD-CLE-ALB, ORD-CLE/DTW-LAN, and ORD-MSP-PIR). But, the CO pitch is significantly worse than the AA MRTC pitch on mainline coach and at 6'4" that's a problem.

After booking either online or via phone, a phone call to your elite line will solve your request. Exit row seats can only be assigned to elite members until day of flight. At that point it reverts to airport control.

Forgot, Dors NOT work the same on NW. As a matter of fact you can't even get "premium" seats near the front. Had NW really make CO mad over this the other day. The CO supervisor was steamed. Her northworst counter part said the agreement only covered upgrades not priority coach seating...

Thanks, Cigarman. The NW part doesn't surprise me. I was second-tier on NW for two years (95/96) when I lived in Boston... I pretty much detest them, but they're about it to Pierre unless I want to drive 200 miles from Sioux Falls.