I am flying out from DFW to ONT on July 3, connecting through MSP. I am taking the last flight of the day out of MSP to ONT, and was wondering what were my chances of not getting out. The flight numbers are NW 1487 and NW 1029, and both are oversold right now. I do have seats assigned to me right now, but beyond that I am worried that a "delay" will get me bumped off the flight. I do not have much experience with NW, but I know United is bad about consolidating flights at the end of the day, and blaming it on some unrelated storm 1000 miles away. Any help would be appreciated.

You�re paranoid! NW only flies to ONT once or twice daily (both flights from MSP)� neither your DFW-MSP nor your MSP-ONT flight is oversold � you have a 2-hour layover at MSP � you�ll be find. If the worst happens, NW will take care of you.

How is me asking a question paranoid? I called up NWA this afternoon to see if I could change seats, and the CSR not only said there were no seats available, but both flights were really oversold. Maybe she was mistaken, I do know most flights are oversold because many flyers do not show up for their flights giving you more space. Just asking for some friendly advice...

There is a big difference to not having "assignable seats" and actually being oversold...Many times even as Platimum I can't get a seat assigment in advance...The agents only have a limited number of seats they have access to assign.

My bet is you will be fine!!

You are right. during one of the conversations with the elite line, I was told that only 60% (or was it 60%) of the seats are preassigned. So if you look at the seating chart, the flight may look empty and yet be prety full.

I think Iconoclast realizes this which is why he differentiated them:

Aha, yes. What worried me was the very oversold part, not the availabilty of seating. I just have not flown NWA in a good while, and was hoping someone here might know of what to expect.

Well.... besides the 2 hour MSP connection, and the seats available to sell on galileo....

My bet is if there's a delay in DFW, you can ask to be rerouted DFW-MEM-LAX leaving DFW 7:36pm to arrive LAX 11:39pm-- note, though, that the DFW-MEM is very very full, also-- but the DFW gate agent is the one who would have authority to confirm you on it. MEM-LAX looks fine. True, this puts you into LAX an hour after the ONT flight, and NW will cover the SuperShuttle if the delay was due to a mechanical delay or oversell, but most likely you'd be rerouted via these NW flights.

In the event you run into trouble in MSP, there's a 9:10pm LAX flight-- granted, this is showing pretty full, and it's only 6 min. later than your ONT flight, but it's an option.

If you're a very good sweet-talker, you can ask for the 5pm connection via IAH on CO to arrive 9:50pm, but my hunch is that only under extreme circumstances will the agent route you onto CO.

Good luck!!

If your DFW-MSP flight is delayed beyond the departure of the ONT flight, you're going to miss the ONT flight regardless of how many people are booked on it.

Don't worry about it.

I would prefer the delay be in Dallas, and be final so that I can use the CoC and fly out non-stop from American or Delta. I am not too worried about it though, should be a quiet night in Dallas, and looks to be ok in MSP.

Don't count on that. It is not easy to get an airline to off-line you. In my experience, getting a full refund on a non-refundable ticket because of a mechanical delay is easier than getting booked on another carrier. Why airlines prefer that is beyond me, but that seems to be their preference.

Also, I suspect July 3 will be a busy day, so there might not be any seats on AA or DL anyway.

Iconoclast,

I didn't mean to insult you. I'd like to help, but I honestly don't know what type of response you're looking for. Your DFW-MSP flight is wide open and the MSP-ONT flight is almost oversold... ask for a seat assignment when elites begin getting upgraded 5-days out.

You have a two-hour layover at MSP... that's plenty of time. If your DFW-MSP flight is delayed for any other reason than weather, NW will put you up for the night and give you some other goodies (meal vouchers, consumer service recovery packet). If it's weather -- hey, it happens & there's nothing you can do . It's a very, very minor risk all of us taken when traveling... and not something we think about usually.

If NW needs volunteers -- and they very, very, very, very rarely do-even during the holidays (this isn't UA or DL), they'll ask for them ($300 voucher + free room & board for the night) - and chances are, they'll get them.

The long and the short answer is, if you have seat assignments, which you indicated that you did. And the plane flies, you will be on it. I have never seen NW involuntarily bump anyone. IP is right in that there is generally no shortage of volunteers in the rare occasion that NW needs one. They are very good at load management and do not generally have oversold situations. Yes, they do oversell the plane, but at the gate, everyone that has a confirmed seat gets on the plane. I did get a bump about 3 years ago on a July 3 flight, and ended up going through MSP instead of MEM and got in earlier.

If your D/FW flight is weather delayed, than so will the DL and AA flights out of D/fw and no one will be jumping to other carriers. I live in D/fw also and generally the only weather delays here are afternoon thunderstorms which we haven't seen anytime recently.

I think you will be just fine.

I've never had a problem getting re-routed onto another carrier by NW when cancellations and/or delays occur causing me to miss a connection. They first check other NW flights and when that is not an option (i.e. oversold), I have always been re-routed onto other carriers.

It doesn't happen often - but they happily do it when they need to.

Best,

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

I appreciate the help guys. Just hate taking the last flight of the day, but with such a long delay I am not too worried. As long as I am in Ontario by 10 AM Friday morning, all is well.