IAHtraveler

I'm CO Gold and my friend and I are booked YVR-MSP on 9/12/07 flight #1651. As of last night, it was showing 10/16 FC seats still available. Do you think I should split the reservation so that I have a good chance at an EUA, or are the chances good enough that she'll get a companion upgrade that I should leave us together?

Thanks!

UpgradeMe

A: Why ask this before even the Plats and their companions have cleared?

B: Seating charts mean next to nothing.

C: How many elite coach seats are occupied at present?

IAHtraveler

Currently looks like ~20 are occupied, however, this could be silvers, golds or elites, so I didn't think this info was pertinent.

MikeMpls

If you are Gold and your wife has no status, you will be both be taking your chances at the gate unless you split the record. EUA is done according to the lowest status in the record. Gold companions do not count in EUA.

RobOnLI

If you are adamant about flying next to each other, you should not split your PNR. If you are OK with one of you sitting in FC and the other potentially sitting in coach, split the PNR.

The gate can't process your upgrade and your companion at the same time (because other golds, silvers and some other companions come before your companion). What you'd have to do is talk to the gate agent and let them know that you'd only like the upgrade if your companion can receive it as well. This means the gate agent will skip your name during EUA processing at the gate and will only upgrade the two of you if two seats still remain when they get to your companion.

-RM

IAHtraveler

MikeMpls and RobOnLI,
I appreciate the help! For some reason I was under the impression NWA cleared EUA as Plat, Plat Companion, Gold, Gold Companion, Silver. By this point, we'll have had 14 straight days together (more than I think we've had in well over a year!) so it's not necessary we sit together. Thanks again for the info, as I'll call & split the record.

RobOnLI

I keep getting told I'm wrong but I also thought that at-the-gate upgrades went in the order you described. I'm positive based on past experience that that is the case - but people here say no so we'll go with their word.

-RM

MikeMpls

For starters, his last post was about EUA, not gate upgrades.

Rule #1: A single companion in the same paid PNR as a Plat counts as a Plat. If there are 2+ companions or if it is an award ticket, rule #2 applies (but with regard to award tickets, we're not sure the EUA software is up to date with the program rules )

Rule #2: The upgrade level for everyone in a PNR is lowest elite level in the PNR.

For EUA, they are cleared in this order:

1. Full Y-fares at time of purchase
2. Plats & Plat companions (but must be 2 F seats avail. for Plat & companion to clear, otherwise both are out of luck)
3. Golds (no companions in EUA)
4. Silver (no companions ever)
5. Plats on award tickets
6. Golds on award tickets

(Not sure if 4, 5, 6 are in order or if Plat trumps Gold trumps Silver at the 1 day window)

At the gate, they are cleared in this order:

1. Plats (including single companions on PNR, if only 1 seat avail. GA should ask if you want just one, if you're not around for the page, you might lose)
2. Golds
3. Silvers
4. Plat Companions on separate PNR's & any Gold companions

(For Plats & Golds themselves, paid vs. award ticket seems not to matter at the gate -- Plat will trump Gold or Silver, Gold will trump Silver -- not sure if ticket type isn't supposed to matter, but this is my best hunch as to it actually goes down.)

NWA_CSA

Just so you know, gate agents for NW are not allowed to upgrade elite members traveling on WP tickets, unless they are plat, and only in special cases, silver and gold members are never to be upgraded when traveling on WP award tickets. Some think that this is not a big deal, but NW is starting to watch us gate agents more closely, and I am not so willing to lose my job just because a silver or gold member is getting all riled up about an upgrade. We can look in your WP account and see where you got your miles, how many you have, and how long you have had status. The last thing I am interested in doing is upgrading someone who doesnt deserve it. Oh, there is also another "rule" that NW has for gate agents, seats cannot be released until 30mins prior to departure, therefore gate upgrades are not able to be processed from the PPL until then. So, just hang out, we will call you in order of status!

MikeMpls

I really appreciate your "do it correctly" attitude, NWA_CSA. it it were universally held among all NW GA's, these threads would be all but non-existent in FT!

You might ask you management or the Elite Line to clarify the subject of upgrades for Golds on award tickets. From the 2007 program benefits:

Anything that fails to clear during EUA should be waitlisted to clear at the gate if the seats are available.

Stripe

This past weekend the rep in the MSP WorldClub told me a plat cannot upgrade a companion if the companion is traveling on an award ticket. Of course, I knew this to be false for I got upgrades at the gate for my daughter, who had an award ticket, on two previous segments on the trip.

It just shows that there is ample room for additional training for NW agents, whether they are on the phone, in the club, at the gate, or on the plane.

MikeMpls

Actually the agent was correct.

Plat companions traveling on separate award tickets have never been upgradable. Any such upgrades received would have been at the gate, and only because the gate agent wasn't following the program rules.

A Plat companion on the same award ticket was upgradable until this year:

The rumors going around suggest that the software might not yet be updated to enforce this change.

rschendel

The other downside of splitting the PNR is that the non-elite will likely lose the Premium seating choice. So, you could end up with 1 FC seat and 1 non-premium seat. Now that I am down to a lowly Silver, I have kept everyone on the same PNR and then asked at the gate if I could be upgraded. This has worked a couple of times. I usually give the upgrade to my wife as she only travels about once a year. Even if I do not get the upgrade, we still get to sit together in Premium seats (usually row 5 on a DC-9 or 319/320).

Stripe

To clarify, I was on a paid ticket and my daughter was on an award ticket. I would have thought I could get a companion upgrade for any passenger, regardless of how they were flying, if I was a plat on a paid ticket.

FWIW, I technically had already "used up" my companion upgrade chit, as my spouse was on the same PNR as me and had been upgraded with me via EUA. So that probably should have kept me from using the other type of companion upgrade for a third traveler. But that didn't prevent the additional upgrade on two of four legs, and the reason given by the WC agent for denying it on another segment was the fact she was on an award ticket, which struck me as incorrect.

Edited: Never mind. The rules for standby upgrades do clearly state the companion must be on a paid ticket:

Companions traveling on WorldPerks award tickets, Continental Reward Tickets and certain companion fares are not eligible for First Class upgrades.