jimc_usa

I agree with RC. The whole idea of elite perks would be lost if anyone could grab a premium seat. My wife travels with me several times a year and I am about 75% on the companion upgrade.

wphsu99

Did not know about this policy and just came back to work this morning in MSP on the SFO edeye with my girlfriend, who connected onwards to MSN. As a GE, I didn't think I'd have a chance to move up to FC on this route departing on a Friday evening and returning on a Monday morning, so after I booked our tickets online, separate PNRs, I called the GE line and got a very friendly and helpful agent to call the seating department and move my gf next to me in the middle seat of the exit row both ways since she isn't the calmest flier (16B/16C outbound and 15D/15E inbound on the 757-200A).

No problems on the way out, but there was an aircraft change on the way back in (757-300) and NW software? moved us to 40C/40D, both still exit row but across the aisle. She changed to 40F so she could sleep against the window and I moved over to 40E when some guy asked the FA last minute if he could take the empty exit row seat between us. Plane wasn't too full with the aircraft change so she let him. Guess that's another way to get premium seating.

90% of my travel is solo, so it was nice spending some real "quality time" with the gf in an exit row seat for 3.5 hours this morning.

NWsilverflyer

Just booked a trip for myself and a friend for the first time since becoming Elite. I just purchased both of our seats at the same time and was thus able to select seats next to each other in the 'Elite' section of Coach. Should I want the possibility of an UG to FC, though, do I now need to call and "seperate" our PNR's? Or can I be upped while still 'attached' to the non-elite? First time doing this and I'm a little confused. Thanks!

SAT Lawyer

You can still be upgraded while on the same PNR as a non-elite companion, but it will have to be at the gate and not through the normal EUA channels. As a result, you may find yourself without a first class seat that you otherwise may have snagged by falling out of the EUA process.

kb1992

Becoming a Plat elite would solve this Catch 22 problem--- and I think this is what NWA wants you to do. @:-) @:-)

NWsilverflyer

Thanks for the 2 replies. As to the first--can I break it up into 2 PNR's over the phone? Is this advisable?

As to the second, I'd love to be Plat someday but since I'm not currently I guess I'm screwed.

00flyer00

Are NWA elite members allowed to reserve exit rows?

I'm flying LGA - MSP in a month and there are tons of exit rows. The NWA website states "check in only". I was under the impression that elite members can reserve exit rows in advance. am I wrong?

I am silver elite.

flytor

I can choose exit rows for my current BUF-FLL flights. I am silver too.

MSY-MSP

Adding more insult to injury on this one. Recently when checking in online for a non-elite friend the only seats that were available were in the premium section. Tried to select an open seat there and it would not take. Called reservations, who transfered me to nwa.com help desk. The help desk told me that there is a new policy that non-elites traveling without an elite member cannot access the premimum designated seats, at anytime prior to arriving at the gate (he suggested trying the kiosk when we got to the airport). He also mentioned that an elite member will be limited to bringing one (non-elite)companion into the premium zone on the same record locator. We proceeded to print a boarding pass that is similar to a UA departure management card. At the airport we tried the kiosk and got the same result. In the end she ended up with a seat in the premimum section but only got a BP 15 minutes before departure. (BTW the flight was not oversold, and went out with empty F and Y seats)

clarence5ybr

Check out themicah's answer to this issue (post #2 in this thread).

Poopdeck90210

I think there are still some Elite Agents out there who will accomodate you. My wife flew out with another family member this past Sunday MSP-LAX-NAN (she was going home to Fiji to visit her brother). On their return leg two weeks from now, the NW segment is the last LAX-MSP flight of the day (time needed to clear customs). This flight is totally packed and they could not get seats together. I called the Gold/Plat Elite line on Thursday last week and was lucky enough (in retrospect) to be routed to an Elite agent who was willing to dial in Seat Inventory Control and have them both moves up to row 9 (Premium seats) with seats together. I am Gold Elite and my wife and her traveling companion do not have status. I purchased my wife's ticket as an award ticket with miles from my Elite WP account. The other PAX she was traveling with bought her ticket out of pocket.

However, I tried to do the same for my teenage son who is flying MSP-SEA in a couple of weeks, and all three agents I talked to on the Elite line sited the new policy and said they could do nothing.

I would say to just keep dialing back until you find an Elite Agent who will help you. Also, make sure you call during the hours that the Seat Inventory Concrol folks are working.

-Alan

925

I was just told than an elite CAN NOT upgrade a companion not on the same PNR, effective 7/1. Can not. No way.

This is particularly nasty when you fly with someone one way, but not the other. So you can't be on the same PNR, so they can't be your companion for upgrade purposes.

Anyone know any way around this?

MikeMpls

Your use of "upgrade" in this context is ambiguous.

Are you talking about moving a companion to a premium/elite/exit seat (the subject of this thread) or companion upgrades at the gate?

SpinzCity

>>>>>>Recently when checking in online for a non-elite friend the only seats that were available were in the premium section. Tried to select an open seat there and it would not take.

Surely, this must be a policy change to cut back on phone calls. If every elite is tying up an agent with piddly seating requests--and the agent has to pull up two separate records and compare seatmaps--it gets expensive over the long haul.

What Northwest SHOULD do is add the option of coordinating seating to nwa.com, such that an elite member could type in the record locator of a companion into her or his own record, and that would then designate the other person as an elite companion, and would permit a person to book P seats in that record. I would volunteer to fly up to Minnesota and do the programming on that one. Do they still use DOS ?

MikeMpls

Which DOS? MS-DOS, or the System 360 DOS?