With on-line check-in, the passenger assigned the FC seat could have checked in and subsequently changed travel plans and did not bother to have him/herself unseated.

In January we were booked to fly OMA-MSP. The night before our scheduled departure I checked us in. Due to a last minute medical emergency, I called NW to let them know we would NOT be traveling as booked. The agent said she could not unseat us until we knew when we were going to be definitely traveling. Our companions made the flight as scheduled, but the GA kept paging and paging us because we were checked-in but our boarding passes had not been scanned. He said we would not be making the flight and the flight left as scheduled.

Frustrating when a seat goes empty and you are on the list for an upgrade. Happened twice to Mrs.Airport. I wrote customer service after the first incident and was told the GA was working under a time constraint and needed to get the flight out on-time. But, nevertheless, it was disheartening. The very next trip, same thing, open FC seat from MSP to LAS. I chalk it up to the lazy GA.

And the FA paperwork is printed up 30 minutes before take-off, at times, and a later copy is not always available.

>>>>And the FA paperwork is printed up 30 minutes before take-off, at times, and a later copy is not always available.

But doesn't every boarding pass get beeped through the scanner at boarding--and then the gate agent sees who has arrived and who is missing--and in my experience a gate agent then makes a final walk down to the aircraft for a last second chat, and then often closes the door to the aircraft from the outside. On my MEM-MKE flight on Monday, the gate agent did this, then got on the intercom, and paged two pax to the front. They came quickly, were told to take any first class seat, and the gate agent left the aircraft with the door closing behind him. That's the way it SHOULD work, shouldn't it?

Apparently, you just visited a portion of the perfect world. Appreciate it - we don't always get exposed to it. Yes, that is way it should work.

Arrived on UA from IND - ORD this morning (3/3/06) and instead of my original 900a - 1036a ORD - MSP NW flight I switched to 700a - ORD - MSP.

Amazingly got a first class seat and there were a few empty seats in first class. It surprised me when he handed me the boarding pass with 1D on it!

I know I didn't put that Alaska Air ad in my last posting... where did that come from? And can I stop the Tribalfusion pop-ups? I know it is off subject, but I don't want to be criticized for littering the board with ads.

Randy needs to make some $$$ to run FT You can subscribe to premium and they go away.

Methinks the potential strike is affecting bookings on NW...I flew MEM-LAX yesterday, and it went out with 2 seats open in F...

I sure hope they settle this garbage soon...



K

Last year I flew out of MSP to the West Coast. Gate said first class was full. I boarded and five minutes before departure saw an empty seat in FC. I asked the lead flight attendant, she said only the gate can upgrade. I walked out to the counter and they indignantly told me FC was full; I said I understood, just asked because I still saw a seat empty, told the attendant the situation and took my seat. Just as the door was closing the attendant came back and handed me a boarding pass for FC.

It would almost be worth us NWA FlyerTalkers establishing a database of flights (city pairs, flight numbers, dates) that someone could forward to NWA on a bi-weekly or monthly basis. The pressure should be ON about this kind of lapse, because it is unfair, because the upgrades are what being a frequent flyer on NW is all about, and because pax have hours to have to sit there and stew about it in coach--which is no fun.

Any volunteers?

I'll do it. I don't fly as much as of the posters here but I'll keep my eyes open. How about starting a new thread on the topic?

On a flight recently seated in row behind bulkhead when prior just to closing GA came on board and mentioned to passgr seated @ window bulkhead that there was seat up front for him after all. Already settled in and short flight(IND-DTW), he choose to just stay where he was and the seat remained empty.

I recall thread(s) last year lamenting the hit-or-miss, mostly miss at the time, FC drink service. At the time, I was on several FNT-DTW hops - 16 minutes in length wheels-up to wheels-down - where we didn't get pre-flight service and certainly no inflight service for such a short flight at low altitute.

In those days I would have likely done the same - why move when your bags are already stowed? Moving up to FC would buy you nothing than a few extra inches of seat width for a few minutes; no drinks or tidbits to snack on. Certainly not worth the hassle of trying to "swim upstream" to retreive your bags in the Y overhead.

However, I have noticed a marked improvement in FC drink service, both pre and inflight over the last few months. While my UG percentage has notably declined (pre-March 1 or Sept promo inflation, who knows ) the times I've been up in F is a much better, and consistant, experience now. FAs seem more attentive, pleasant and regularly seem to "go the extra mile" with their service - not something I would have expected considering the BK and tough labor negotiations.

On my last flight FNT-DTW, the FAs served the pre-flight drinks and then proceeded to write down beverage orders to be served inflight. Not a small feat considering that almost everyone - twelve to fourteen out of 16 pax - asked for a beverage. I can count on one hand in four years of flying how many times I've experienced an inflight service on this leg, and those times the majority of FC pax declined the offer.

Well, this FA crew sucked it up and worked a fine ballet in the DC9 galley pouring and serving as soon as we leveled off. Prior to departure, the Captain announced that with the southerly departure out of FNT and the southwesterly inbound arrival at DTW, the computer calculated 15 minutes flight time from takeoff to touchdown. He then stated that he thinks he can do better than that - a "boast" that got a chuckle out of the pax throughout the plane.

The lead FA then announced to us in F that we would likely only have three minutes to consume our inflight beverage before they have to collect the glassware. When the FA took my normal VO-and-diet order, I told her that if the pilot thinks he can do better than 15 minutes to Detroit, I think I can likewise do better than three minutes on my end.

The crew even handed out the standard mixed nuts and pretzels before we took off. This had to be one of the best FC experiences I've had on such a short flight, and I'm glad as I was sitting in paid P - just purchased my ticket that morning.

Bravo NWA, both pilots and FAs!!! ^

Last Thursday I flew ATL - MEM and there were only 3 out of 16 FC seats occupied. The funny part was that I had to wait to get upgraded at the gate.

I was flying STL-MSP tonight and got the pleasure of being downgraded to Coach from my original EUA'd FC seat. This was partially my fault, I did not depart on Monday MSP-STL on my original flight, so I was plucked out of my EUA'd FC on the return flight. Being Plat, I thought I would have a good shot at getting another EUA back to FC. To improve my chances, I took the time to check in 24 hours in advance and snagged one of the handicapped seats in row 5 of coach for myself.

When I got got to the gate tonight (after the flight was delayed 45 minutes), I got the usual and abrupt "FC is Full!!!" from the GA when I asked him about my UG status. I took a quick scan of the podium and noticed that there were two boarding passes printed out and sitting right at the edge of the podium. I could not make if if one of them was for me, and he waved me off before I could inquire about them. Hmm...

No PAX were called to the podium to claim the boarding passes that were printed. The GA did take care to expedite the boarding process because of the delay; he wanted to make sure that PAX made their connections in MSP, and even asked non-connecting PAX in the window seats to stay put in MSP when we arrived so the connecting PAX could have a better chance to make their connections (like that would happen). The GA apparently didn't care about the several PAX on waitlist for a flight out. When we boarded, almost everyone in coach noted that there were two FC seats went empty, and several* PAX on waitlist at the gate who could easily have been boarded after two coach PAX were UG'd to coach.

When the doors were being closed, I inquired with the FA if a colleague of mine traveling with me (who is Silver on her own) could have the two open FC seats, and then the GA could then take two of our other colleagues off the waitlist and board them in our seats. Answer: Nope - I don't have the authority to seat you in FC, Sir.

Thanks NW. Thanks A LOT!

-Alan

I think that airline sometimes show seats as "occupied" if they are malfunctioning / out of service.