4 hours before my flight this morning, only 5 of 10 CoachChoice seats were filled. 4 of those had been filled since before the day of the announcement, meaning only 1 had been purchased for $15. I had watched the seat map like a hawk for days, moving up from 40D and finally snagging 18C on a 753.

The flight had been zeroed out in all fare classes for days. At the airport, the flight was totally packed, oversold, and they needed a number of volunteers. Every seat was full.

Since NW states they are not charging for CoachChoice when there are no other seats on the plane, it stands to reason that unless a few nincompoops actually paid for the Choice seats at the airport, those seats were filled at the last minute, for free, by travelers probably without status (or they would have picked a P seat earlier) and/or without either the interest/time/compulsiveness to get a seat assignment in advance. In other words, the seats were not bought at the last minute by high value business travelers. NW successfully placed Ma and Pa Kettle, Joe Schmoe, and Joe Sixpack (all people I would like to meet!) in the Exit Rows while their Elites sat in the leftover middles, regular aisles, and back of the plane! And they made $15 doing it!

How the heck does this make sense???

[I realize there are some assumptions in the above model, but NW would have to be pretty gutsy to keep selling the CoachChoice seats at the airport when they know all the seats are full and they have promised not to charge for them when there are no other options.]

Well, I purchased a full Y DCA-MSP and there were only 2 seats left: both RoachChoice. I was informed that on top of $722 one-way, I could pay $15 more if I wanted a confirmed seat assignment. Otherwise, I'd have to pray at the airport. Is that how they treat a full-fare platinum? Makes me even more glad I've given UA all my miles this year.

I decided to cancel it and take UA out of IAD instead....

^ ^ Send in your receipt and boarding passes to Jim "idea man" Cron.

Booked my first trip since the inception of CoachChoice yesterday. On American. Receipt will be on its way to Jim Cron shortly.

In the past, NW has received my business even when it wasn't the most convienent option, or when my corporate travel site was trying to push me off to another carrier. No more for me. I will not be nickle-and-dimed.

I want to see the Kool-Aid drinkers here spin this one.

It's called false logic. The assumption is that those seats would have otherwise been available free for the taking without CoachChoice. However, without the fee, the elites would have very likely snagged them leaving only a couple of middle seats available.

In my experience, if you don't pick your seats, they are generally assigned for you at booking. I doubt Ma and Pa Kettle would have unassigned seats. Unless, of course, they happened to be last-minute high-fare fliers.

He'll be receiving it, along with two F tickets on UA to SIN.... ^

Hope that doesn't mean you're buying Jim two F tickets!!!

Maybe someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that if the only seats left were CoachChoice that you wouldnt be charged for them, I think someone in one of the other threads had the same situation and confirmed with the elite line multiple times he would not be charged.

Just my $.02, your amount may vary

With the full Y didn't you get the automatic Y-UP to F ?

I might consider it if it would get rid of him and the other bozos running NW these days.

F was completely sold out 3 days in advance. Flight was P0 F0 Y1 or Y2

But he would've been able to get a seat assignment, lousy as those seats are instead of having to play airport roulette.

I won't name names, but I think they're down to only one Kool-Aid drinker on this board now.