The international upgrade for elite members, especially plats, is an issue that truly needs to be addressed. It is frustrating to be denied an upgrade with miles on an M or B class fare when you can clearly see that 7 or 8 WBC seats are available on NWA's site (seat map). I have also become frustrated with looking for standard award seats for overseas flights. For me to burn twice the amount of miles to travel for free literally devalues my NWA Worldperks miles in half. I refuse to do it.
I hope that Northwest will realize that our butts in their seats for 80k miles/year means that we deserve a more liberal approach to these upgrades and award travel. I'm not going to abandon NWA but they should be aware that there are lots of carriers out there and high mileage members/ worldclub card purchasers are their bread and butter.