automatic silver upgrades
 

When I called to upgrade at 12:01 AM CDT sept. 1 the WP lady said that the silver upgrades were to start being automatic that day -- she then went on to say that she had processed several accts that evening and none of them had been done automatically. My return 9/4 was also not upgraded automatically (I was able to upgrade) -- has anyone found that they were automatically upgraded. And if 3 silvers are looking at one empty seat which one gets it??

I don't trust the automated system...I always call at 12:00 midnight if it is THAT important for a specific flight.

Since upgrades are automatically done several hours prior to midnight (someone has posted the exact time), you can often call well before and confirm the upgrade. If it isn't confirmed earlier, then you can call at midnight. A suggestion if you don't like staying up until midnight.

JL2

The upgrades or based on the date on time the reservation was made, also according to the agent I talked to the last name and the first two letters of the first name on the reservation must match the worldperks account name, so if my agent books me as Tom I wont get upgraded since my worldperks account reads Thomas.

If more people are waiting on the automated list than there are seats, I was told the higher fare type determines who is upgraded automatically. I don't know what the criteria is but I would check nwa.com around 8PM central time and see if the upgrade cleared and if not call NW.

I tried to upgrade yesterday and the 800# person told me I would automatically be upgraded if avaiable. Well I called back @3:30 am and I was not so they upgraded me. So there automatic upgraded system is not working.

On September 1st, the day the program to auto upgrade began there was a computer problem. There were a lot more silver elites to be upgraded than anyone anticipated. It took a few days to resolve but I've been reassured that as of this Sunday, (9/10) the problem will be completely solved. They've upgraded the capacity a lot.

Re your question on if there are 3 silvers and 1 seat...who gets it? The criteria is whoever booked their reservation first.

Hope this helps! Honestly, it's a great program. You won't have to stay up til midnight anymore to call in to upgrade.

I don't trust the automated system...I always call at 12:00 midnight if it is THAT important for a specific flight.[/QUOTE]

I don't blame you for wanting to be sure. However the new program should make your job easier and if it works, as designed, when you call you'll find your flight has already been upgraded.

And then you've heard that NWA will be notifying you soon that you've been upgraded?

So no more midnight vigils AND they'll e-mail or page you- however you wish to notify you of the upgrade.

Darn neat if you ask me!

"If more people are waiting on the automated list than there are seats, I was told the higher fare type determines who is upgraded automatically. "

That isn't quite true. Here's the hierarchy:

Silver elites who are booked on full coach fares have the ability to upgrade 2 days before departure so they get first crack at the upgrade.

The rest of the silver elites are allowed to be upgraded at midnight the night before departure. The upgrades occur in a strict ...who booked first series.

And soon you'll be notified (by whichever means you choose) when you've been upgraded.
That certainly beats staying up until midnight.

Would this automatic upgrading also work when arriving on an international flight, lets say from Europe, and making a domestic connection? Has anyone had any luck with this so far?

49er, thanks for the info! Just curious, what's your data source? I couldn't find this detail on the web etc.

I've got an outbound cybersavers tomorrow... drama & suspense!

Back from my Cybersavers weekend.

Purchased ticket Wednesday 9/6.

Outbound, Saturday 9/9. Called midnight before, hadn't been auto-upgraded, got upgraded.

Inbound, Monday 9/11. Called 11am day of, FC full, no upgrade. Agent said auto-upgrade was now in effect. She didn't know how priority was assigned within elite levels. It ended up being a full flight, with FC full (12, DC9) and 5 on the FC waitlist.

Any Silver's with improved auto upgrade experiences on NWA. I just got Silver status and was wondering if Silvers are still staying up until mid-night to confirm upgrades. Has NWA worked out the kinks?

I am 4 for 4 since the auto system for Silvers came in to play last month.

I had exactly this scenario last week, FRA-DTW-SYR. DTW-SYR had been auto-upgraded.

I've been running about 75% since auto-silver was introduced. Of the 4 autos, I've had two pre-emptive calls to voicemail at work to confirm the auto-up.

I am running 2 for 4 on auto upgrades as a Silver.

I've got my first flt next Tuesday as a Silver. Anyone have experience out of SEA on Flt. 150? It's a DC-10 so there are 34 FC seats.

I have only flow 4 domestic flights since the automatic -- but have been upgraded on every one, including a couple on very busy business days when there was a huge WL for FC -- but then again I fly only with usually a month earlier booking. I was already automatically upgraded when I checked in at London Gatwick last week (not the transatlantic portion, but the subsequent domestic connnecting flight).

I just finished a trip to ELP via IAH with one flight on NW and 3 segments on CO. Got upgraded on two of the three CO, but no NW. That makes me about 50% since the automatic upgrades went into effect. Thank goodness I'll get gold for next year.

------------------

I'm 0-2 flying as a Silver. Flew out of SEA today and was not upgraded. MSP to ORD was also a no but that was good as there were only about 35 people on the plane and most were in FC so I had an entire row to myself!

Happy to report same positive experience. Woke up last Sunday to check my itinerary on the NW web site for my STR-AMS-DTW-DCA trip. The DTW-DCA segment was listed as FC, along with a seat assignment. Very nice work. I was 3-4 under the old system, and now 1-1.

how did you auto-upgrade the CO flights, if that's what happened? I have a CO trip next weekend and they (NW--I'm Gold there) told me I had to call them after midnight 2 days before (for each way, too, and I have to make the call for the return at 2am because that's SFO time here which struck me as sort of strange) to confirm upgrades.

makes me wish now I'd just booked the ****ed trip on NW; the fares were the same but I get lots more miles by flying through IAH instead of non-stop from MSP.

The CO system sweeps for NW Elites. Its happened to me on my last two CO trips and has delivered pretty efficiently.

You should call in advance and make sure that the CO system RECOGNIZES you as a NW Elite. If it does, then it will consider you while EUA runs.

that's a relief, but it doesn't agree with what I was told by NW, and the NW Elite booklet says "automated upgrade processing is not available for WP members on CO." I did make sure that CO had my WP number and that I was Gold. maybe the system has changed since the booklet was printed? it also says all CO upgrades are capacity-controlled, though I'm not exactly sure what that means.

not saying I don't believe you http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif but now I'm confused. the thought of getting wedged into one of CO's tiny 737-800 seats makes me insane.

This system is new as of early November when CO went to EUA processing.

Capacity controlled essentially means that CO holds back some seats for last-minute full-fare purchases, rather than make them all available for upgrades. If still unsold, you can grab those at the gate.