J.Edward

Before you jump make sure US has no plans to follow NW.

kcnwa

It's only a matter of time before all carriers do it.

"Oh look, NWA can get away with it, I bet we can too! Sure we're profitable, but we could be extra profitable!!!!"

Spiff

Not when the other carriers see NW fall on their butts and/or go Chapter 7.

osxanalyst

I highly doubt that UA would do anything of the sort. The company has been adding perks to attract premium passengers, contrary to the race to the bottom at other airlines. With E+ already in the planes, what will they do, charge the elites to sit in E+? That makes absolutely no sense.

IF NW would simply admit the error of their ways and exempt its elites from the CoachChoice fee, then there would not be a public relations issue at all there.

BearX220

That's nonsense. Why haven't all carriers ripped out their IFE, removed the pillows, stopped serving food and strewn filth through the cabins? NW has done all those things too.

PaulMSN

Well, if they expand to transatlantic without exempting Elites, I have to go. Most of my travel is to Europe, and if I have no chance for even minimal comfort in coach without paying extra, I'll fly UA, thank you. Does UA status-match Silvers? I guess I have to start reading the United forum now.

rockyp

Yup, I was just comped from NW Silver to UA Premier. And I love their E+ seating! On to Premier Exec...and beyond.

respectable_man

If anyone at NW is listening...
Man!... this level of anger expressed so many times in so many different ways by so many of your customers cannot be ignored...

dmitzel

DING, DING! Anyone else notice that this is the major reason business-travel elites are in an uproar?! If my outfit tells me to "pound sand" when I ask if I can expense the $60.00 RoachChoice UG on my 4-segment trip, how am I going to feel having to suck it up out of my own wallet?

No way - and there are many others like me - am I going to pay out of my own pocket to support company business. They're not in the business of being a charity, and I'm not certainly in the business of being a donor. Whether on principle or out of financial well-being, if we aren't going to shell out the $$$ then we can't sit there, period!

So when NorthWorst - there, I said it and I feel better - expands this "successful" test program to every seat forward of the exit rows (and including them) I'll be gone rather than have my "elite" butt sitting in the back next to the lavs.

NWA, you'd better wake up quick and either scrap this test or mod it to exempt elites. Woe to you if you decide to expand it as is. There will be lots of corporate business travelers like myself on your competitors.

TRVLRZ

So far with 8 segments in the last 5 days I have not had any issues yet�. I don�t see this being a problem for me unless I purchase tickets at the last moment.

Not saying that I don�t think it�s a very bad idea and will cost NW in the long run but so far so good. (I am sure my attitude will change when I am forced to buy a ticket at the last moment. )

Hobo_Wyoming_Slim

Seems like the law of unintended consequences is alive and well.

My company will never pay those nickel & Dime charges and this is a company that willing pays business class for overseas flights. If NWA thinks for ONE minute of one day that I'll pay 15 cents they can kiss my rosey red rear end!

Emotion aside, I don't have to do it elsewhere why would I do it for the priveledge of flying Old, Dirty planes operated by disgruntled employees who've had their wages cut in half?

Paging NWA management we have a spill on aisle 3!

respectable_man

Can you clarify please? Are you suggesting you were always ug'd or no-one was sitting in the CC seats?

sbagdon

The number of CoachChoice seats appears to have expanded, at least on the A320. CoachChoice is now 8C/D (C$), 11B/C/D/E (E$), and the new ones appear to be 13C/D (C$). I seem to remember 9C/D being C$, but for every A320 I looked up, all seats in row 9 are blocked. The odd thing is... 13C/D on the A320 aren't P seats. Is CoachChoice expanding into the back of the plane?

Here's where it gets wierd (and sorry to duplicate post info). For all DC9s, A319s and A320s I checked for the next 90 days (and I checked quite a few), the left rear row, right rear two rows, and row in front of the E seats are blocked off. For 757s, rows 14/15/16 on the right, all of 23/24, 25C/D, all of row 33, rows 39/40 on the right, and 41C are all blocked... for every flight in the next 90 days (that I looked at).

The theorist in me says that NW feels that CoachChoice is working. And CoachChoice will be expanded on the DC9s, A319s and A320s to all P seats in the row in front of the E-row plus the two aisle seats behind the E rows, and on the 757 for all seats in 14/15/16 on the right, all of 23/24, 25C/D, and all of row 33. Also, more seats in the back are going to be blocked until the last minute, to "funnel" people into the front of the plane, and give them the mystery option ("where in the back am I going to end up?"), or the pay option ("$15 to know I'm getting a good seat...").

CoachChoice is expanding... not if... is. The big question is... will NW make the Elite feel elite again? And are they going to make this more complicated (CoachChoice seats all over the place, certain Elite impacted, certain fares exempt, etc), or simpler (everything in front of the E-rows CoachChoice with Elites exempt)?

Steve B.

xliioper

These seats have long been blocked. I believe the ones in the back are for UAM's. Not sure why they block all the front seats in the 757's.

humanoid94

I wonder why AA or UA hasn't tried to take advantage of this situation. How about a "We Love Michigan and Minnesota" promotion, in which they formalized the comp process for residents of those states. Those of us on FT have known for a long time that airlines will comp status, but I don't think this is generally known. I really think a promotion with automatic comps and maybe some other perk would be quite successful for one of NW's competitors.