I hate to say it, but upgrades on NWA have been great lately. I have gotten 9/11. And I am getting the upgrade about 3 days out.

Anyone else having the same

6/6 as a silver in August ^

1/1 in July, does that count? (not counting DTW-NRT with no op-up), another coming up next week. We'll see how that goes.

Hopefully the "op up" god will be fully operational and running on schedule next week

Gate agent pages, "Hoyateach, please approach the podium and indentify yourself to an agent"

Hoyateach approaches the podium and answers the page.

Gate agent will say, "Hoyateach, we need your seat and I think I could get you something better, could I have your boarding pass and passport please?"

Hoyateach gives gate agent boarding pass for seat 67-F which was provided at check-in because some check-in agent gave away the good Y seat that was reserved to put a family together.

Gate agent tears up boarding pass; Hoyateach figures the new boarding pass can't be any worse than a middle seat in the last row. Gate agent apologizes for the inconvienience, prints new boarding pass and stamp it D/A OK. Agent then returns passport. While this is happening, a rude passenger keeps interrupting asking the GA for a better seat because he is Platinum and paid lots of money for his economy ticket.

Gate agent then puts new boarding pass into ticket jacket, and gives it to Hoyateach. Gate agent says "The only thing I have is an aisle seat, but it's a better seat."

Hoyateach will then look at new boarding pass and see seat 77-B. The rude passenger standing next to Hoyateach at the podium demanding a good seat is given a new boarding pass, 67-F.

What do you think? It could happen.

SDF_Traveler

2 out of 2 in August. Gotta love the upgrades even for us lowly Silvers

Thanks NW!

SacFitz

Yeah - I've gotten upgrades as a Gold on **very** hard routes out of DCA since the strike started and 3 days out at that. This thing ain't all bad...

peace,
~Ben~

Edit: Oh, ye airline gods! Please don't smite my on time arrival or departure status for my arrogance!

5/6 in August as silver elite.

3/3 so far.

Remember though, if you're getting upgrades you weren't before, that probably means they're not selling the seats they normally do, which is bad for NW in the long run.

If, NW is not selling the seats that they usually sell, than it is bad for NW. However, the "fall" season has started and fall and winter (with the exception of the holidays in Nov and Dec) tend to be the shoulder season for the airlines. So yes the cause could be that people are buying away, but you really need to be comparing your upgrade percentage to August of Last year, NOT to May,June and July of this year which would have been Peak travel season.

Just like everything that happens today is NOT a direct result of 9-11, everything that happens with NWA is NOT a direct result of the strike. Some things are being affected by both events, but that does not mean that everything is being affected by either or both events. There are busy and slow seasons every year.

Of course you're right (dunno why you quoted me...). I didn't make any comparisons, just stated my rate this month. I assume people are smart enough to say "Hey, I was/wasn't getting this upgrade last year". Then again, there are routes that are always full, regardless of day or season. You also have to take into account that passenger loads across all airlines may have been higher/lower last year when compared with this year. Just as looking at short-term rates can be misleading, looking at the bigger picture can be misleading, too. YMMV always applies with this sort of thing, but I suppose we'll have a better idea as the next month or so passes and we have a larger set of data.

To answer why I quoted you, it had nothing to do with your upgrade rate, and it really was not even answering your post. I mainly was refering to your statement that if NW was not selling the seats that it was bad for NW. That made me consider that we could not compare apples (peak season) to oranges (shoulder or low season) in how many seats were sold in the F cabin. Which I don't think you personally were doing, but just as a general comment that posters needed to look back into their long term memory before deciding if an upgrade today might indicate that NW was doing worse at selling seats.

Also it might be a cultural thing. Growing up in VA and living in TX when I say You, Your, or Y'all I mean the collective you (ie. anyone that is reading the post, standing in the room, etc) not the specific you. So even though I stated "you might need to ...." I in no way was refering specifically to you (unless it specifically applied to you). I tend to throw "you" out to anyone that it might apply to, not just the specific person I am speaking with.

A friend of mine who is in NW management (in IT) told me that he thought NW might be reserving a higher percentage of seats for customer loyalty upgrades (a.k.a. Elite upgrades). I have been batting 100% on UG's MSP-SEA since July.

-Alan