I would certainly hope so.
I think you answered your own question in the third word quoted.

Thank you, squeakr, lovetotravel, JS, zrs70, cblaisd. Sometimes I leave the browser on FlyerTalk when I leave my computer. Your posts are the ones I would want my children to read if they were to do so after me...

HA HA, this is so funny. I did call, what they decide to do is their problem. But for the person who said I waited, yeah it was a last minute trip. I'm sure u have heard of those. Secondly, yeah I expect them to waive the 14 day advance, if it's documented failure of their own website. (Which it was) I'm and engineer and we don't hold our clients responsible for our failures, neither should they. It wasn't like I tried to beat the system, their system malfunctioned and hasn't charged me. As i said I supplied them with the proper information. And as for the free ticket, I'm still in luck thus far. I even called them, and they told me it hadn't ticketed yet, so oh well. They don't catch. I'm just 300 bucks happier. HAPPY FLYING

umguy - irrespective of your providing them with your credit card info, irrespective of their system failure, you have knowledge the ticket has not been issued. Your PNR may very well be documented that you called in on such and such date and were told the ticket had not been issued.

Please don't throw a tantrum when you check in at the counter or gate and they tell you they can't give you a boarding card because the electronic ticket has not been issued. If you are lucky, they will charge your credit card with the 14 day advance purchase fare at that time. If you are unlucky, they will charge you the current full fare, IF there are seats available for sale on the flight.

Although the background/history may be totally different, while I was waiting for my UA flight Friday night, two passengers came up to the gate to check in. The flight was oversold, everyone had checked in and been given boarding cards. The agent acknowledged to these two passengers yes, there was a reservation under their confirmation number/PNR, but that no e-ticket or paper ticket had been issued. There were no further seats to sell, and they did NOT get on the flight.

I make all my reservations on-line and always make certain that when the e-ticket receipt prints, it shows a ticket number. A record locator is simply a record locator confirming a reservation was made at some point; without the ticket number, I have no guarantee there'll be a seat for me.

Only with the ticket number do I feel reasonably secure I will be issued a boarding pass and get on the plane.

NEVADA1K:

Thanks for the post above. Very helpful and informative - I purchase on line often and never thought about the ticket number showing up on the e-ticket receipt.

unguy

Don't you get it! You may have a confirmed reservation but NW won't put a charge on your credit card until a ticket is issued.

No charge - no ticket - no flight.

Strephon, check in the lower left corner of each of the tickets to see what the payments total, it will be preceded by USD. I think you'll be ok as you have the tickets in hand. There is also another field to check, if you see your name on the left side of the ticket and follow it across to the right you will come across a box that says "Status". If it says OK in that box it is another indication your tickets are valid. You actually may have only paid the tax plus 20K miles as it sounds like the co payment was missed.

1 - No charge and probably no ticket. Risk showing up at the gate and paying full fare, if you are lucky.

2 - When the system crashed, why would you not call in to the reservation line.

3 - You are NOT, repeat not going to beat the system. People show up all the time and try to fake a lost reservation. They have heard it before.

4 - Yes, print or save any online purchase. Easy to do. I have a folder on my hard drive full of them.

5 - DL shows EVERY flight you have booked, including agency bookings, personal online bookings and even free trip bookings. No exceptions.

Trying to get something for nothing from the airline is really no different from paying with a $50 getting mistakenly getting change back for $100 and not saying anything.

All in all, it sounds pretty cheezy to me.

Well, here is the latest. I checked today and my elite upgrades have gone through. Still no charge to my Amex. I depart at the end of the week. So we'll see. If they don't charge it, I surely won't complain. Just more Dolce and Gabbana I can buy while I'm away.

Oh one more thing, everyone keeps asking why I didn't call NWA until saturday. Well the website went down at 11:30 on friday night. I kept trying until 12:15, hence it was saturday.

Upgrades can be processed without a ticket on the PNR.

Well if you are elite, they know where to track you down once they close their books at month end. My advice is that you should move and cancel your credit card. They will catch up. I've had changes on tickets where the airline didn't charge me until six months later.