I have 8 upcoming NW segments in the next week, and I seem to be observing that NW is processing its Plat Elites at six days before departure and then I (as a CO Elite) am being processed at 5 days.

What is the order for CO Elites in the NW EUA order? Is a CO Elite equal - then sorted with NW Elites per the priority order? Or is NW processing CO Elites separately - such that their NW Plat and NW Plat Companions are being processed first?

As a CO Platinum who at times has been a very frequent NW flyer, my observation is that NW has been running Platinums starting 6 days out, and that's usually when my upgrade clears. In the past, we've been told that NW and CO do not show favoritism toward their own elites, and that CO and NW Platinums are processed together, and no preferential treatment is shown by the airline actually operating the flight toward its own elites. However, it's possible this has changed, or it's possible that you just happened to be behind some NW Platinums in the fare class pecking order and that NW didn't have enough seats released for EUA 6 days out to upgrade you, but had released more seats the next day, when you were upgraded.

FWIW, NW upgraded me a full 9-10 days in advance of my ATL-DTW flight this past Monday.

The actuall process doesn't really seem to matter. I've been upgraded on every domestic NW flight I've taken! Seriously, every time I've flown NW I've gotten an EUA.

That will probably change if they become NW-Delta...

FWIW
DLM

I have better luck with Continental upgrades than NW. Contrary to what a lot of people indicate on this board.

One thing I have noticed when flying NWA metal on another carrier's ticket is that the fare bucket I booked gets converted to a much lower one on NW.

For example, on my SEA-SYR $118 Delta B fare mileage runs a couple years ago, the Delta B fare (Just under Y, 2nd Highest economy, 150% EQM bucket) got converted into a NW M fare which is just a mid range economy.

Similarly, a Continental V fare code share (mid range economy ticket) got converted to a Northwest T (the 2nd lowest economy bucket).

Since Elite upgrades go out to the highest fare buckets first, it seems people on another carrier's ticket flying NW metal will have a big disadvantage.

On a lighter note, I have been EUA'd more than 5 days in advance flying NW.... even when just a Continental Gold, when flying through smaller markets such as SYR, BHM, LIT on a cheap fare. (Then again, I've had seats like 37B and 35E when flying as a Gold or Platinum between SEA and MSP/DTW on high (i.e. Y or B) fares.

Wirelessly posted (Treo 650: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 98; PalmSource/Palm-D060; Blazer/4.5) 16;320x320)

My last NW flight I got a battlefield upgrade 15 minutes before departure and we left with an empty seat. This was DTW-BOS but I've had better luck other times as far out as 3 days as a CO plat.