I really don't see how they could make the current cards any better (ok, maybe a few millimeters and/or points of size, on the font). C'mon... looking at my Gold Elite card, that big "'06" in white is rather hard to miss...

Or... tell the frontline employees... if there's no date, there's on validity.

Steve B.

Glad you got in at under $500. Hawaii is much more fun when you know you can get in a vacation more cheaply. ;)
To the current cards better part: I think a little more glitz on the NW elite cards might be an aesthetic improvement, ala the cards a few years ago (which had the slight sparkle to it). Most of the other majors have very nice elite cards.

I never said it would because I wasn't responding to current design vs. new design. I was responding to the poster asking why carry a card at all.

When flying Delta they require your card to preboard.

My guess:

2 SWUs for Plat with 100K EQMs, applicable to fares M or higher.

Not sure why anyone is still thinking there will be SWU's this year. RadioCycle's post clearly says no enhancements, only "exciting changes". SWU's are an enhancement to the program, not just an exciting change.

Exciting change, to me, means changing up what is already existing. Enhancement means adding something of value that didn't exist before, like SWU's.

I say forget SWU's cause it ain't happenin'.

-RM

Ahh akin to a Delta PMU, hmm an interesting thought professor. I still think that if they do anything on international flights, and its certainly not a sure thing, it would be to allow Plats or maybe all NW Elites to use mileage upgrades. If we had something akin to AA or perhaps even CO it'd be better than current Y/B sparge upgrades internationally.

Unfortunately, I agree with you. In the whole scheme of things, the changes/upgrades we will see will be basically cosmetic.

I'm in agreement with RobOnLI... based on what Radiocycle said in his post, which reiterates what he said in person at the DC-10 retirement pre-DO, I'm sadly not expecting SWUs.

I don't remember anything he said about automation, though... so I'm interested in seeing what comes our way in that area. :D

I can't wait to see what the automation "excitement" is... I only had to call NW three times last year (2 mileage upgrades that didn't process online and to have my FFN re-entered after I made gold).

I also think I would like to retract my guess that SWU's will be in the future. The more I think about it I don't think they are forthcoming.

A fee waiver for Plats for the $25 aisle seats in FC :p Roachfirst

Sitting around my desk, I have an '06 NW Silver, '06 NW Gold, (3) UA GMs (ok, talk about bland!), and UA Premier (3P, Star Alliance Silver). The "glitz" between the '06 NW Gold and UA Premier is unnoticable. And the "glitz" isn't why I fly NW.

Steve B.

This is just my WAG (or wishful thinking) but I'd be very happy if they added another 'tier' to WBC upgrades. i.e. 15K for full, 30K for allmost full fare then add, say 45K for any fare or "all but the cheapest" fares.

Now that would be 90K for a R/T upgrade vs 100K for a WBC "saver" ticket but I rarely get award tickets for myself because I'm usually on the bubble for status. I'd treat myself once a year or so and burn up some of those banked miles. Hell, make it even "space available" -- at least its more than they have now. An that might an "improvement" not an "enhancement" :)

Gosh, talk about a small sample. Come back to me once you've compared all the elite cards.
So do I.

Ways to implement "SWUs" in the future.
 

I don't want to give up hope that some form of system-wide upgrade for the good little boys and girls among us will be forthcoming at some point in the future!

The question, though, is who gets upgraded, and how. And there are a lot of ways to handle that. In fact, they've already got a sort of "it's your lucky day!" quasi-random upgrade program, in the form of op-ups. It's basically battlefield, which means it's manual and ugly, but as we've seen here, the mere existence of op-ups gives us all some hope that, like winning the lottery, someday it might be us! :)

So what steps could they take to make it even more appealing? Here are a few thoughts:

1. Offer any unsold F seats as DOD upgrades for elites only. This is already done (possibly open to non-elites too, but we want to appeal to elites, right?) on flights to Hawaii ($350 one way, I think), and it works quite well. And the cost difference to put an elite in an otherwise empty F seat versus leaving them in a Y seat is a lot less than $350. They're on the plane either way!

2. If there are unsold F seats left, or you want to be really nice, allow elites (even just plats, hey) to do mileage upgrades from any fare class, a limited amount of time before departure. Say, within 24 hours, but more than 2 hours prior to departure. Heck, you can even make 'em pay PerkPass mileage amounts!

3. If there are still unsold F seats left, or you feel like being really really nice, upgrade elites at the gate in order of rank (where rank is plat-gold-silver with intra-tier rankings based on waitlist order, year-to-date or lifetime EQMs, BIS or revenue, or whatever - let the computer figure it out for you). This would basically amount to a policy of "we will NOT fly with an operable F seat empty" - and I think a lot of us would appreciate that policy.

If you want to get into handling things before everyone gets to the gate - and for the sake of the GA's sanity, I think you do - then there are a few more possibilities:

1. Dole out SWUs, either paper or electronic. How to decide who gets them? Well, if the improved platinum non-points scheme works out, maybe next year start offering them as awards or something. Okay, great, you made it to plat... now if you hit 100K or 150K or whatever, you can have a buncha miles, or you can have a pair of certificates, or you can have what's behind door number 3!*

2. Automate everything and just EUA people already! Of course, you can't run it exactly like you do domestically - last-minute international F is a lot of revenue. So maybe exclude silvers entirely. Maybe even exclude golds. And whoever you include in this... don't EUA them 5 days out, for goodness' sake! 2 days top for plats, and if you let golds play, 1 day out for them. But this would save you all the other steps above, and it would make the UA elites jealous. ;)

So... there are some thoughts.

* Don't pick that. It's a donkey. Trust me.