IndustrialPatent...Here's another NW employee who recognizes the value of your continued presence on our planes. I was not in time to read your original post before you deleted it, but sincerely hope that you receive some sort of satisfaction from NW. Thanks also to VegasAgent, who posts informative and easy to understand explanations.

On Friday I received a response from NW... it's short and states that when Consumer Service has told you an issue is closed, NW considers it dead & there�s no reason to follow-up on it�

Fine. If a Consumer Service agent suggests I�m a high-maintenance consumer and it�d be mutually beneficial if I took my business elsewhere, then I�ll follow his/her advice. Like I said, I�ve had a string of positive flights with AA� they recently upgraded my status from Gold to Platinum even though I�ve only flown about 16,000 miles with them this year. AA wants my business; NW does not.

More than 10,000 excellent employees of NW have lost their jobs. It�s a shame the Consumer Service agent I initially spoke with wasn�t one of them.

I was a multi year Plat earned from AsiaPacific F flights (well, at least when NW still had AsiaPacific F flights) I have not boarded a single NW flight since March of last year.

The REALLY sad part is the total incompetence of marketing / IT that a little basic data mining did now show this change of a 10 year pattern and actually generate at least a form letter!

Trust me IP, you will feel much more love and respect from AA

IP - I certainly wouldn't blame you if you took your business elsewhere...but, in doing so, will you take a minute and send your corespondence with NW to Richard Anderson. If your story is as you say it is, and I have no reason to believe it is otherwise, I would like him to see what Customer Relations is doing to turn around a person that is looking to take his/her business elsewhere. I am one who believes that you err on the side of the customer...there are a few scammers out there and habitual complainers looking for their next freebie, but the majority are honest people who just want some satisfaction and resolution when they feel they have been slighted. The customer isn't ALWAYS right...but he is ALWAYS the customer.

IP,

I'm sorry to hear that things didn't work out with NW. I think I can understand how you feel. When we are dealing with businesses as a customer, few things are worse than feeling that we've been treated in bad faith and have been deliberately cheated. The ill will generated by such treatment stays with us for a long, long time. I had an experience with ANA several years ago in which I was essentially cheated out of $20, far less than the $100 you lost to NW, but it was the way I was treated that has stayed with me. I had purchased some tickets after having scoured all the published rules and having confirmed with an ANA check-in agent that the tickets were fully refundable. When I later tried to cancel and get my refund, the agent I spoke with at that time had a different interpretation of the rules and insisted that I should pay a fee of $20. She would not budge, and I was a hapless college student and exhausted after a day of travel and did not feel like arguing in Japanese (it was a domestic flight, with non-English speaking agents), so I grudgingly paid the $20. But the experience left such a bad taste in my mouth (after having made strenuous efforts to confirm that the tickets were 100% refundable), that I now scrupulously avoid ANA on my international and domestic Japanese flights (and have had many flights on JAL and JAS).

Isn't it amazing how businesses will p*ss off a customer for a few bucks today, even at the cost of thousands of dollars of future revenue?

IP, good luck on AA. They would be my second choice for a primary program after NW, with their international upgrades and MRTC everywhere. However, "NW has been beddy beddy good to me," to borrow from Garrett Morris, so here I am.

Here's hoping you stick around on the NW forum - your incisive humor is much appreciated! Not to mention your vast knowledge of NW history, schedules, etc.....are you really going to give it up? Say it ain't so? I fully understand your decision, but if it were me, I'd go up the ladder....if the facts are as you say, and I echo Vegas Agent's take that we have no reason to doubt it, clearly NW has a big customer service problem that they must address before they bleed too many Platinums like you and B. Watson. Somebody there has to listen to you! Find a supervisor somewhere.... Even if it costs them $100 and some condolence miles to you, somebody there must understand the ticket revenue loss? We hope!!!

What about a letter to the Conde Nast magazine Ombudsman column? They might decline to deal with your issue because they usually deal with problems that involve bigger losses, but they are a powerful media outlet for frustrating experience like the one you've had...