Can't offer a suggestion on MEM-LAS, but I've been told and seen on this board that Fridays out of DCA are very hard upgrades to come by. Lots of Platinums in DC and congresspeople and others buying last minute full fare tix.
Good luck.

Well, there's one seat left in F right now - it's a paid seat for MEM-LAS, not an R-class seat. I'm hoping an online check-in right at 5:10 will secure that upgrade.

As for the return on Sunday - I just got off the phone with an elite agent - my LAS-IND flight has another R seat left as well (but I got passed over on the upgrade for that too when the EUA ran last night) - seems like I had more success as a Silver! I guess Vegas is a tough market, but if the seats are there, I really think they should upgrade people - at the very least fill it up with another Gold or Plat if not me - but don't let it go empty til check-in!

>>>>>None of my flights for this weekend has cleared. When I called last night the agent told me that the Gold status was still showing (since when I booked in July) even though it was showing plat online. She re-removed my number and reinput it, after i'd changed to my CO # then re-entered NW # online. Availability tool was still showing R4 on 3 of 4 legs this morning.

After getting a gem of an agent, Tracy, on my MSN-SFO outbound for tomorrow, who put me on hold and then upgraded me, it's been the same problem as others have reported for my return.

There are R seats showing in the availability tool for both flights--one flight is wide open. The first agent I called today asked me what EUA was after I mentioned it, and then told me that the record showed that one attempt had already been made at upgrading without success, and that the system will probably keep trying or something. The second agent said that she could forward my record into the upgrade manager queue, and that it might come through sometime later today or something.

I really wonder whether those mileage runs in December to kick my next dozen reservations over to Gold won't turn out to be a big mistake!!!

Well, when I checked in at exactly 24:02 before (according to my cell & my computer clocks - it let me go a few minutes early - just kept hitting refresh), there was one open (unassigned) seat for MEM-LAS in F - however, since it wasn't in R-class, I couldn't get the upgrade. For what its worth, Galilelo was showing F3 P3.

Hopefully the standby upgrade will clear & some of you big, bad, platinum folks will misconnect!

>>>>>There are R seats showing in the availability tool for both flights--one flight is wide open.

After about a half hour on the phone including run-around transfer to somebody in accounting who told me that the difference between my middle initial on my ticket and the full middle-name on my credit card means diddly-squat, I got the available R-bucket F-class SFO-MSN on my return, but here are some conclusions about the whole matter:

1) I think that there is currently a systemic problem with people who have changed status and then hope for EUA upgrades on upgraded itineraries (one supervisor said that she simply did not know why my newly Gold record kept getting "kicked out" of the upgrade process);

2) people in this situation need to DOCUMENT exactly WHO they speak to at the Gold/Plat line, how often this is referred to a supervisor and what the result is, and exactly what they are told by whom; post it here if you don't get satisfaction;

3) the NWA website specifies in writing that if one has Gold status, that one is upgraded if space is available to F class three days prior to travel; this is a contractual stipulation--if they will not act to remedy any technical problem in fulfilling that obligation, despite your earnest efforts to inform them of the discrepancy, then they are negligent, and are in breach of contract.

4) if you know that there is space available, and it is getting to being less than 3-days prior to travel, you have a contractual right to that upgrade--any "difficulties" the system may be having must be addressed in the course of your repeated phone calls, because you are letting them formally know that there is a problem, and you are asserting your right as specified on the website; any ignoring of that right ultimately, down the line, constitutes fraud, because it is ignoring their specific declaration of what your benefits are, despite your consistent remonstrations and requests to remedy any technical flaw;

5) hopefully some techie can simply fix the problem--it might be little more than one line of programming code that does it (I have a dozen records booked as a Silver and 'upgraded' to Gold for the next year, and if it remains a problem, I will remain on the phone--and if that doesn't fix it, I will find someone else who will fix it--hopefully this will be one of the good people at NWA, who I really appreciate--I think they are doing their best--and not a lawyer).

Well, my flight from DCA-MEM (which was overbooked by 6 people & which had FT'ers rmyadsk & seoulmanjr on it) left with F full - I tried getting bumped with no luck because they couldn't get me into LAS unless they rebooked me on a DCA-MSP flight on NW & a MSP-LAS flight on HP in F - they didn't want to do it. But as I was so helpful and I gave up my window bulkhead to a handicapped passenger (5F), the GA gave me 2 SRP's (service recovery packs). Then when I boarded, the FA needed my new seat to sit a family together - sat in 6A and she gave me another 2 SRP's - not too bad.

At the club in MEM, the desk agent said that I should be able to make the waitlist for F as there was one seat left & I was first on the list (the EUA didn't go through at all!). I got to the gate as they were pre-boarding & the GA had 4C for me. Not bad - I'm glad I got to sit in F for that flight!

Now, if only the return LAS-IND would clear! Not sure if there's availability or not at this point, but I'm hoping there will be. I'm down $150 since I've been here, but that's not too bad for 2 days of gambling...

An update on my TPA-LAX trip Friday. There were 28 platinums on the TPA-MSP gate upgrade and I got the last seat. I think only four total got the upgrade. Not ten seconds after getting my b/p the gate agent announced f/c had checked in full. First really was full a day prior, so there were probably no-shows.

I still can't figure out my MSP-TPA today. Two days ago it was showing R4, and EUA hadn't run. We'll see what happens when I get to the gate today.

Off topic but a question I must ask. Has anyone else experienced the stationary wheelchair on the moving sidewalks at MSP?? The guy behind me said something and I swear the people up front looked at him as if he was the devil. I actually agreed with him, but I must keep my angelic appearance!!

My flight for LAS-IND is tonight - I got a text message from NW saying that F was full & that I was on the standby list for it. I decided I definitely need to check-in early, so I went to the biz center of the hotel (the Renaissance Las Vegas - free biz center) & I printed out my boarding passes - I had been upgraded to F for LAS-IND, however a seat assignment hadn't been chosen. The seatmap showed 5 empty F seats (yet the text message said F was full!)

Hopefully the companion upgrade will work! I'm traveling with 2 silvers on this flight & I know that rymadsk & his companion have already been upgraded, so hopefully it'll all work out...

No upgrade three days out for GE to PHL yesterday... no phone or email message at the once-upon-a-time usual 9 am time today, so checked seat assignments at nwa.com reservations... an two day out upgrade did go through last night. That also happened between Christmas and New Year's flying back from PHL to DTW... saw the upgrade when checking in the day before. So... maybe a change in the notice system? Or just a glitch that's happening from time to time? This is my first 2005 flight since the Christmas holiday trip.