Repeat Notifications of Reaching Silver Elite Status
 

I reached Silver Elite status a month ago and now with every flight I get another notification that I reached Silver Elite.

Pairs even non-Skyteam flights in multi-city search
 

In an attempt to make timing work with my schedule, I have tried to use multi-city to force a connection in MSP. In particular, this is MEM-MSP-AMS-MAD. I first select MEM-MSP, then MSP-MAD on the same day. The system comes back with itins such as: MSP-LGW-MAD(on BA or IB), or some convoluted AMS-CDG(AF) and CDG-MAD(AF). It is just unbelievable when there ARE KL flights. NO ITIN WITH KL FROM AMS-MAD SHOWS. I have seen this happen many times. Needless to say when you get out of the NW/KL system, these brief segments on other airlines make the cost skyrocket. This should be fixed.

Try nwa.com/jp. That engine is much more "partner friendly". I just used it to find an itin on CO for a FT'er and it returned a great option that NWA.com/us would not show.

It is giving me the MEM-AMS portion (through MSP @ $660.00 next week) but you are right that it will not give you the connect to MAD.

Mon, May 7
Depart: 8:25
Arrive: 10:32

Duration: 2 hr 7 minNorthwest Airlines 451
Memphis ( MEM)
Minneapolis/St. Paul ( MSP)

Equipment: 757

Meal: None
Non-StopShow Fare Details »
Booking class: V/Economy/Coach
Fare basis code: VKXSL27
Certain promotions require using a specific Fare Basis Code or Booking Class. Your complete fare rules can be found by clicking on "Fare Rules" at the bottom of the Flight Summary page. Please refer to the terms and conditions of your specific promotion to confirm what Fare Basis Codes or Booking Class will qualify.

Time between flights: 4 hr 38 min
Mon, May 7
Depart: 15:10
Arrive: 6:30

Duration: 8 hr 20 minNorthwest Airlines 42
Minneapolis/St. Paul ( MSP)
Amsterdam ( AMS)

Equipment: A330

Meal: Dinner
Non-StopShow Fare Details »
Booking class: V/Economy/Coach
Fare basis code: VKXSL27
Certain promotions require using a specific Fare Basis Code or Booking Class. Your complete fare rules can be found by clicking on "Fare Rules" at the bottom of the Flight Summary page. Please refer to the terms and conditions of your specific promotion to confirm what Fare Basis Codes or Booking Class will qualify.
What to see »
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Select this Return » Mon, May 14
Depart: 9:50
Arrive: 11:50

Duration: 9 hr 0 minNorthwest Airlines 41
Amsterdam ( AMS)
Minneapolis/St. Paul ( MSP)

Equipment: A330

Meal: Dinner
Non-StopShow Fare Details »
Booking class: V/Economy/Coach
Fare basis code: VKXSL27
Certain promotions require using a specific Fare Basis Code or Booking Class. Your complete fare rules can be found by clicking on "Fare Rules" at the bottom of the Flight Summary page. Please refer to the terms and conditions of your specific promotion to confirm what Fare Basis Codes or Booking Class will qualify.

Time between flights: 3 hr 25 min
Mon, May 14
Depart: 15:15
Arrive: 17:13

Duration: 1 hr 58 minNorthwest Airlines 218
Minneapolis/St. Paul ( MSP)
Memphis ( MEM)

Equipment: Boeing 757

Meal: None
Non-StopShow Fare Details »
Booking class: V/Economy/Coach
Fare basis code: VKXSL27
Certain promotions require using a specific Fare Basis Code or Booking Class. Your complete fare rules can be found by clicking on "Fare Rules" at the bottom of the Flight Summary page. Please refer to the terms and conditions of your specific promotion to confirm what Fare Basis Codes or Booking Class will qualify.

It would be great to be able to specify Y or J separately for out and inbound. Even better if we could specify the exact booking class each way. Continental let you separate out each way although specifying by booking class does not always work. For instance, it is more important for me to have an overnight to Europe in J than the daytime return.

I have made these complains known in other areas but here goes a few of mine:

1) make all promos and marketing bonuses thorough and clear where the rules or conditions are specific and fully explained.

A recent one said this in the rules:
This offer may not be combined with any other offers or activities.
Additional restrictions may apply. Northwest is the final authority on interpretation of these rules.

I want to know more and get further assurance that if there are problems in mileage postings for whatever reasons, that the results will remain consistent to every customer's account!

2) reduce the 6-8 week window of posting bonus miles from promos to more like 6-8 seconds. After all, we are an advanced society with computers that should work. We DO pay for them to have them, right?...

3) If I cant book a ticket online because the site cannot handle the booking, I should NOT have to pay a $15 fee to call in and get that flight. PERIOD!

4) when you are having a problem with mileage postings and you call in, have the CS team that works there be more readily able to help get it resolved. If it is well past the date you were supposed to get those miles, give them to us right now because we may need them to fly right now. Example: I am waiting more than 10 weeks for the Valentine's promo mileage to come thru. After being incorrectly told NO when I called in about missing miles and then getting hung up on, I called back and had to re-explain my whole story and am now in back and forth emails with several different NWA marketing associates who say they are working on it. Finally, one person, seemingly another manager, told me the real scoop on what went wrong with the promo and asked that I wait well into May to get the miles. I should be offered something extra for this inconvenience, and also, ONE PERSON should "OWN" the problem until it is resolved! (if that person is out sick or on vacation, they get a back up to handle it further!)

5) when you call NWA sometimes you get this stressful sounding man's voice who tells you it's so busy now, you should go online or call back later. It hangs up on you. I think that's bogus. Once I waited and pushed thru several prompts to get this far, I do desire to wait in queue and have my own choice as to whether I wish to hang up! This primarily happens when calling WorldPerks. AND IF someone calls, I find this generally means THEY DO need to speak with someone and some aspect of "automation" is NOT working right now. This is WHY people call!

6) NEVER resort to using call centers in places like India, Phillipeans, etc, Thank you!

7) if a flight is stuck at the gate, OFFER FOOD OR SNACKS OR COFFEE!!!!!!!!!!!

That's about it from me for now. Hope THESE get thru too!

Thanks for making the thread and good luck!

:)MM

Annoying is when I search for flights, then am prompted
to sign in and my WP number is not remembered although
I have checked the box asking it to remember. Then I
am returned to the search results and all information has
disappeared and needs to be re-entered. Or it will tell me
that my session has timed out. and I need to sign in again.
Annoying is when search results are returned with the
phrase "no NW/KL or code share partners' flights were
found", when there are all kind of NW and KL flights available.
Annoying is when the Japan site returns an inquiry about
a NRT-Europe flight via the U.S., when the U.S. site returns
the non-stop KL flight to AMS.
But it is only slightly annoying to me since I am retired and
have all the time in the world. For you busy guys out there
it must be very frustrating at times and I know I have only
touched on a couple of issues.

I notice I may be one of the few with mileage posting issues but here's one more that MAY relate in terms of WP:

The Visa card... you get bonus miles for signing up for say a Platinum WP Visa. I have heard several MIXED responses as to whether you get NEW bonus mileage for converting that card to a SIGNATURE Visa or if you have to sign up for a whole new account all together. I would really appreciate it if NWA and WP could get the handle on this one and let us know once and for all. Every time I am about to pull the trigger in response to one of the ads or promos I seee about the Sig card, I call and consider it but get a different answer.

Miles things need to be consistent.

When I book a flight several months in advance why can't the return flight calender jump to that month? There are far less professional sites with better working calenders!

That is a great one. I hate that and I have to do it (book many tickets in advance) all of the time. I would love to see that fixed.

Check-in bug?
 

I had a multisegment 2-ticket single itinerary last year booked on NWA.com. Couldn't use web checkin for the last return leg for whatever reason. The agents en route to the last origin point couldn't check me in either. Due to late arrival (the a/c had to be defuelled DTW), I lost my seat assignments as I missed the minimum check-in time.

Had a similar situation on a MR this past weekend. Turns out that there was a fare-break: ie, in my case, routing rules don't allow me to go to LAX via BWI - so the fare broke at DTW-BWI, then had BWI-DTW-LAX-DTW-BWI, then had BWI-DTW. I could only be checked in for the first segment, then has to checkin at BWI for the middle 4 segments, then the last segment again at BWI.

My frustration is trying to book flights that aren't all on NW, but use Sky Team partners. I fly from DLH (Duluth, MN) and constantly get the "you can't get there from here" message when I try to book cities that would use partners, but aren't code-shared (even flights on KLM, which look like they should show). For example, I am looking at going to EZE. DLH-EZE comes up with:
No Northwest Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or codeshare partner flights were found between Duluth, MN (DLH) and Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini, BA, Argentina (EZE). Check our service destinations and routes or search for alternatives on our partner sites, listed below.

When I try MSP-EZE, I get routed through CDG!:

$8196.20 Avg Price/Person
$8295.85 Avg Total Price/Person

KLM 6056
operated by
NORTHWEST AIRLINES -- NW 56

Booking Class: Q / Economy
Ticket Designator:
Meal: Dinner
Equipment: 333
Sat, Dec 1
8hr 10min
9:30pm Depart Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP)
12:40pm Arrive Amsterdam (AMS)

Approximate Distance: 4154 miles Plane Change
Choose This Flight

KLM 2023
operated by
AIR FRANCE -- AF 2241

Booking Class: C / First Class
Ticket Designator:
Meal: Meal
Equipment: 320
Sun, Dec 2
1hr 15min
8:50pm Depart Amsterdam (AMS)
10:05pm Arrive Paris (CDG)

Approximate Distance: 257 miles Plane Change

KLM 2256
operated by
AIR FRANCE -- AF 418

Booking Class: B / Economy
Ticket Designator:
Meal: Breakfast
Equipment: 777
Sun, Dec 2
13hr 35min
11:15pm Depart Paris (CDG)
8:50am Arrive Buenos Aires (EZE)

Approximate Distance: 6880 miles

Another thing: yesterday I was booking DLH-PRG. Using the "search for weekends" option (which I love) gave me rates over $1000. The fares were through AMS. When I actually plugged in dates, I was able to get a fare (Fri-Tues) for $723. Thurs-Mon was just over $800. These fares were through FRA, connecting on OK (Czech Air).

It made me question the accuracy of the weekend search feature, which I use to book most of my trips.

I am told that the NW techies are looking into this one. :)