Here is the text of the email I just sent to NW:

Dear Sir or Madam,

I have generally been very happy with Northwest Airlines during the 6 years (and approximately 220,000 flight miles) that I have been flying Northwest. However, I would like to bring your attention to what I believe is a serious problem--the unacceptably poor condition of your aircraft interiors and equipment. On 10 of my last 11 flights to and from Narita, I have experienced broken equipment (reading light, audio connection, or seat back) at my seat. On my most recent trip to Singapore (flight 19 from Narita on January 21st), the reading lights in my entire section of the plane were malfunctioning. The switch at my seat turned on the light of the seat in FRONT of me, while the reading lights of several other passengers in the section would periodically flash uncontrollably. On my return flight (#20 on January 25th), the reading lights and audio in my section of the plane (rows 35 through 45, seats A through E) were not functioning, leaving 50 or so passengers with no entertainment and no lights to read by.

This has become a regular occurrence when flying Northwest. As I mentioned above, I have had similar problems on 10 of my last 11 flights, and four of those flights were in World Business Class. (I attach a list of these flights and the problems with each flight at the bottom of this message.)

There is something seriously wrong when 90% of your flights (at least the flights I take) do not even offer the most basic amenities such as reading lights and audio that work. Your flights from Narita are very long, and I am becoming increasingly tired of sitting for 10 or more hours with either no entertainment, no reading light, or a broken seat back. This is unacceptable, particularly when all of your major competitors in Asia-Pacific offer significantly better equipment (such as personal video screens at each seat in coach on the majority of their fleet). I urge you to seriously re-examine the way that you maintain your aircraft interiors and make sure that you budget enough to prevent such widespread malfunctions of equipment.

As I said, I generally have been happy with Northwest. But my level of disappointment grows each time I board a trans-Pacific flight with broken equipment.

I hope you will take actions to remedy this problem.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Best regards,
XXXXXXXXXXX

LIST OF PAST FLIGHTS AND EQUIPMENT PROBLEMS:

MSP-NRT (#19) XXX XX, 2002 (World Business Class, upper deck):
Faulty audio connection (loud static)

NRT-MSP (#20) XXX XX, 2002 (World Business Class, upper deck):
Broken seat back (does not stay partially reclined; always slides back to the fully reclined position)

HNL-NRT (#21) XXX XX, 2002 (Economy Class)
Broken seat back (always slides into the reclined position)

NRT-HNL (#22) XXX XX, 2002 (Economy Class)
Broken reading light

SFO-NRT (#27) XXX XX, 2002 (World Business Class)
Broken seat back (does not stay partially reclined; slides into the fully reclined position)

NRT-SFO (#28) XXX XX, 2002 (World Business Class)
Everything working (the one flight out of eleven without any problems)

MSP-NRT (#19) XXX XX, 2001 (Economy Class)
Broken audio (unable to watch movie as a result)

NRT-MSP (#20) XXX XX, 2001 (Economy Class)
Broken audio (unable to watch movie as a result)

MSP-NRT (#19) XXX XX, 2001 (Economy Class)
Broken audio (unable to watch movie as a result)