I'm flying tomorrow and OLCI won't process my upgrade. I'm 99.9% sure that one should clear because a booking on DL.com shows upgrades are available for my second leg.

Here is the error I receive:

"Your upgrade request cannot be processed at this time. Please see a Northwest agent to assist you with your Elite upgrade."

I've tried to call NWA and the agent said they can't do anything, even before looking at my reservation. Is this true? Should I try back and escalate the call if the agent isn't helpful?

You need to provide info like flight number, date and city pairs. And tell us the exact flight number you booked it as. This is important because if you're on a codeshare (DL-coded, NW-operated or vice versa) you are basically SOL when it comes to upgrades.

NW phone agents cannot do anything about domestic upgrades, technically. There are a few who can get around this but, generally speaking, the phone agents cannot manually process upgrades. They must be done automatically.

-RM

Is this really still the case? I know months ago there were issues, but would have hoped they ironed them out by now...

So as a Delta GM, flying a NW Operated flight booked as a delta codeshare (which was all the Delta site would sell me...) I won't get an upgrade?

I got this message when traveling with a companion on a NW-ticketed and NW-operated flight, but with a DL flight number. I had been suspicious about the no-upgrade as the F cabin gradually filled in the days running up to departure. I got the message above during OLCI after I said that, yes I and my companion would like to be upgraded if available. I too could see that there was R space available on one of the segments.

I tried several agents and finally got one who took the time to get the help desk and a supervisor involved. They all agreed that I should get the upgrade but that there was a system problem. They couldn't (or wouldn't) force the upgrade, nor would they reticket it with NW flight numbers. We did get properly added to the standby upgrade list (numbers 1 and 2) and got our upgrades for both segments at the gate. But the automatic upgrade was clearly broken.

I followed up with a TTU reporting the problem. After many back-and-forths (many of the responses were almost comical in their non-responsiveness) I got the following response a few days later:

I really have no idea whether the issue he describes is relevant to your or my problem but I think you're stuck. Just complete OLCI, then check your position on the standby upgrade list on nwa.com. Good luck.

The issue has been ongoing and also seems Random...It can be manually que'd to the processor, but ultimately the airport agents have to clear the upg if the upg processor fails...

Not really the same issue, but could be the same result. Once I was not on the UG list in SMF (before the merger) and the GA's at NW refused to even consider placing me on the UG list. "You have to call the elite desk for that." Right - and the elite desk says they can't help, you need to do it at the gate! I didn't get upgraded on that flight.

Not without an act of Congress, no. The best you can do is beg for a manual insertion into the u/g queue and get the battlefield promotion. It's almost never successful.

This problem started at day 1 and continues to this day. DL recognizes it as a problem but will not fix Deltamatic on purpose. This has been known for months and DL refuses to change its policy.

Once again, with feeling: do NOT book codeshares unless you are prepared for no upgrade.

Ah, best in class... I guess I thought as a newly minted Gold Medallion, I'd be better off booking the flight on Delta.com, which of course, will ONLY sell me DL codeshares on the nonstop DTW-MCO route.

I am half temped to cancel and rebook on NWA.com (though I'd be out the $120 of the ticket... It's worth it to be eligible for an UG, as far as this fat man is concerned.)

Perhaps I'll try to duke it out at the airport... I'll lose, but maybe it will be worth a try.

Thanks for the replies. I've called NW twice and DL once and all ended that it has to be done at the airport. And they also explained that the upgrade system has problems with DL codeshare/NW operated flights, which this trip has.

I have to check a bag, so hopefully they can at least do it at the ticket counter...

Sorry, I was speaking from the Res/Elite line perspective....We can manually Que the record and it will add you to the list...

I routinely book delta coded northwest operated flights going DTW-MEM/MSP-BWI for work related trips to get extra miles and have always been upgraded 3-4 days out when available, via online checkin when not in advance or at the very least been on the upgrade list as well. Also, got the EUA on a Delta coded SLC-DTW flight at my window as well just a couple of weeks ago.

TTU assures me this glitch doesn't exist... I guess we'll see. I am encouraged by kss5555's post, though.

Alright, three days until my flight and I did get my upgrade today. So... It doesn't look like its ALL doom and gloom.

How horrible. That's what I call lazy GA's. All GA's can add folks to the WL (at least at NWA they can).