Gotta admit, I'm impressed that NWA un-Coach Choiced premium seats that had been Coach Choice before this change (especially in the forward exit rows, if I read others' reports properly) and moved them elsewhere. That makes it more likely I'll be able to get my preferred seat at booking.

While I consider the Elite-free-24hr vs. Elite-pay-36hr a pretty straight tradeoff, I admit I like the reassigning of some seats out of Coach Choice entirely. Net improvement.

Of course, it ain't the way it used to be prior to March 14. But I might as well pine over the loss of drive-in movies, original Star Trek episodes and youthful innocence.

If the Coach Choice seats no longer include the reclining exit rows and bulkheads, then I really don't care what NW does with Coach Choice. In fact, NW can make the entire rest of the cabin Coach Choice for all I care. I still am befuddled as to why someone would be motivated to pay for a non-relining seat or a run-of-the-mill coach class seat not at the front of the cabin, but if there are suckers out there who will dig into their wallets, more power to NW.

It sounds like this change is for the better although the ideal situation remains to exempt elites from any Coach Choice fees from the get-go and allow elites to pre-reserve any available seat at the time of booking.

Making some dummy bookings, the reallocation of Coach Choice seats appears to be an enigma.

On the 319s, for example, I am still seeing the starboard side exit row seats as Coach Choice offerings. So one half of the exit row seats are still part of Coach Choice.

But the 320s are showing no seats whatsoever as Coach Choice seats.

On the 753, exit row 27 is no longer part of Coach Choice. ^ But all of exit row 40 is now Coach Choice. Again, that's one half of the exit row seating that still is part of Coach Choice.

What is the rhyme and reason to NW's madness.

Well it surely impacted me. Not being able to reserve the seats I like at the time of booking took away one of the few real perks I enjoyed at NW. Now I see bulkhead seats and reclining exit row seats opening up again. In fact I've already gone online and changed seat assignments in various segments of my next seven previously-booked trips.

I would guess it is because the only other seats available at that point would be middle seats in the back. On a DC9 I would much rather pay $15 to get an aisle seat halfway up or a nonreclining exit row to avoid dealing with the engine noise. Also on a 753 I would like to avoid the 15 minutes it takes to deplane from the back. There are many reasons why people would pay the $15, but most of them don't apply to elites because we have always been able to choose these seats, and feel entitled to them.

Same here CT. Switched as soon as I received the email. In fact the seats now chosen for CC seem not to be of much interest to me. Thanks go to RC for the helpful alert a few days ago! ^ ^ KT

It ain't perfect, but on the whole it looks pretty good to me - I'll take it. In its current configuration I don't think this will often impact the average Elite traveler.

^ NW for listening - now I can book on the Red Tail again.

This morning I received an e-mail from NWA announcing the official implementation of Coach Choice. Elites are exempt from the Coach Choice fee (up to 24 hours of departure). I am happy that NWA listened to and accommodated its elite members.


Dear jinabe
Your WorldPerks number is xxxxxxxx.

On March 14, 2006 Northwest began testing the Coach Choice(SM)
product that allowed customers to purchase a limited number of
aisle or exit row seat assignments for a $15 charge. We wanted
to update you on this test and respond to some of the feedback
we have received from our WorldPerks Elite members.

So far, customer purchase response for Coach Choice seats has been
positive. Demand has been strong and has significantly exceeded
our expectations.

It is clear that many customers value this choice, particularly
those who ticket close to departure and otherwise may not have
had access to a preferred coach seat. Based on these results,
Northwest is committed to maintaining this new option.

As with any new product, it is very important to listen to
customer feedback and determine if changes should be made. In
response to this customer feedback, the following modifications
are being implemented effective April 18, 2006:

>> WorldPerks Elite customers will be exempt from the Coach
Choice charge. Elite customers will have access to Coach Choice
seats up to 24 hours prior to departure at no cost. These seats
will be available via Northwest Self-service Check-in Kiosks or
nwa.com.

>>The seats chosen for the Coach Choice program will be
adjusted. Some of the most popular coach seats, such as row 6 on
the DC9, will be returned to the Select Seating zone. Other
seats on the aircraft will be designated as Coach Choice seats.
Select Seating, which includes aisle seats, exit row and
bulkhead, will remain an important component of our Elite member
benefits.

Thank you again for your feedback on the product. We appreciate
your business and your loyalty.

Sincerely,

Jim Cron

Vice President of Passenger Marketing & Sales

See previous postings. The fee exemption, and ability to choose a Coach Choice seat, is within 24 hours of departure for Elites. But there are fewer previously prime seats forward now being labelled as Coach Choice and thus more available for Elite advance seat selection.

Never hurts to read earlier posts in a thread. I've learned that the hard way, meself.

>>>>>But there are fewer previously prime seats forward now being labelled as Coach Choice and thus more available for Elite advance seat selection.

I checked my bookings through April, May, and June and except for where planes were pretty much booking up already so shifting seats to the new schema would be impossible, the Choice seats were moved to one aisle row at the back of P and to the poor-cousin exit row. I think this is an exceedingly fair and well executed shift. The best seats are now back for elite pre-booking, and the Choice seats are now--if they happen to be gone--pretty much a wash. These are seats that would be gone on a slightly more elite-ridden flight without anybody noticing--a statistical increment from previous opportunity, one that a minor variance in number of elites on a flight would make invisible. It's a statistical difference now--one that is worth affording NW in their search for black ink, I feel. This adjustment is vastly superior to the previous situation of having the very best seats banned from advance elite access.

good move NWA ^

compromise.. tweaking.. whatever.. UA won me over and I am gone.

Thanks! Best summary I've read on this issue that got overly and unnecessarily confusing

Well, it likely came just in time for me...bought a ticket tonight for a 6-segment RT (with WP# in there) and got two middle seat assignments that couldn't be fixed except with Coach Choice. My fare was a budget one, but I could imagine lotsa late bookers as paying in the higher categories on business and looking at the same thing (Coach Choice or middle).

Will try to bag something different in the 24-hour window if I don't get saved by EUA. Seems like there's a whole pre-flight seat-jockeying to-do list now!

Acceptable to me. I booked my first RT yesterday. Both exit rows in the 757's were open and the roomy 6D on the two DC-9's.

Like previous posters have stated, it gives the company revenue and last minute booking elites (been there myself) a choice.