Count this Platinum WP member as part of your suspected "increased attrition", who expects to have zero EQM for 2006.

CRC affects WP Platinums as well as WP members who purchase biz fares, not just WC members.

Can you "document" the attrition you're counting on? I suspect not. Since neither can document, I suppose we have to let that one rest. But I can assert from personal experience that as a Plat, I'm not getting upgrades I used to get as a silver. Call that inflation, call that reduced schedule, call it what you will, but it's a fact. I know many others here on the forum can recount similar experiences.

So...your great contribution was saying that "Russ said not much will change" and that there will "probably be some small enhancement to make us happy"? Funny what counts as a contribution these days...

I agree, getting an upgrade is critical! I hear some that complain about reduction in upgrades, but a lot of us do not have that problem. Every now and then there is a upsurge in complains that quickly disappear. It's a recurring theme.

Yep. Sure is better than what some others have contributed.

WP2006 will likely say very much the same, as stated by Russ during the chat. NW is not in a position to reduce the fields of elites.

My second statement reflects on the usual way these programs give us new and improved enhanced features that are usually meaningless - think Platinum Points.

Can't wait to hear your input on WP2006! Or are you going to stick with simple negative comments???

Sadly, I was afraid of 'not much will change.'

Admittedly, I am two things which leave me in an NW minority -- I fly interntionally on Y and C/Z fares, and am based on the west coast.

Steve

That's debatable. Saying nothing substantive twice does not make it substantive.

We have a purely speculative topic that none of us are are likely to know any precise answer to, yet some people try to box in the discussion so as to eliminate the only area in which changes are known to be taking place.


Mike in Mpls.

Apologist at Large

To save 4 cents per elite card Worldperks has outsourced the domestic elite cards to SIN for program year 2006.

RC

.... where most of the employees are actually from China and a simple phone conversation takes an hour. A while back I had to help some (mostly Chinese) software engineers at our Singapore plant work through some issues. They really were a bright, competent bunch, but communicating was a challenge!

Mike in Mpls.

Apologist at Large

Does anyone know the number of elite cards that will be made for 2006?
(I assume that is confidential information.)

Do you think the double EQMs substantially increased the number of nwa elites?

While this has already been discussed ad nauseam, I definitely fall into the camp that will answer "No" to your question. I would not anticipate EUA percentages for the 2006 program year to be different from the 2005 program year due to the double EQM promo. While I have no evidence, my reasoning...

I've missed exactly one EUA in the last 6 months and it was on a Sunday after Thanksgiving flight that was sold out for weeks ahead of time including in First. Certainly had nothing to do with Elite inflation as no elite that didn't pay an F fare got an F seat.

Further, in the last 3 months, not a single EUA of mine has come fewer than 6 days in advance including supposedly difficult West Coast flights.

I'll take that over CO any day, where I went 0/21 for upgrades on domestic segments so far this year...

I agree with Grizzly. I have had 126 paid segments and 8 free segments this year on NW. I have only missed upgrades on less than 10 of them. most came during the Jan/Feb travel time when elite years over lap. I was also a gold at that time. I flew 6 continental segments this year and was 2/6.

Well, I count you both as very lucky - or maybe I fly the wrong routes. On 68 upgrade-elligible segments this year I've been upgradead on 49 - or 72%. Well below what most platinums report. This includes barely 50% from DCA-MSP-DCA and 100% on MSP-YVR-MSP (which is now gone.)

Strangely, everyone else seems to have problems with MSP-LAX, but I'm 8 for 8 on that segment.

Mike,
Thanks for the kind words... and your contribution so far is ...

Just because you do not like what I have to say does not make it less substantive. The topic is speculative to beging with. Most of us saw that on the first post.

Thank god! I'm tired of my US based WP card taking the primary position in my travel wallet simply because I've had it the longest. I open my wallet and have to deal with people seeing this unattractive card that is supposedly Platinum, but just looks like an old Silver card. And the service that I get with it is nothing like it used to be. I, for one, cannot wait for the shiny new Asian-based WP cards to be deployed so that my WP card will finally be on par with my KE and CX elite cards.

peace,
~Ben~

FromXYU is the greatest in the world - i appreciate all of your valuable insights into this topic and others