Elite Extra Perks were a step in the right direction, offering international upgrades finally.
NW's award redemption is subpar, definitely below any Star Alliance or oneworld carrier.
NW's elite program is good for domestic upgrades, and again elite extra perks is a step in the right direction, and I'd probably rather be a Northwest Gold than midtier with AA or UA. But for top tier, AA EXP and UA 1K have NW Plat beat hands down. UA 1Ks get 8 confirmed at booking domestic upgrades a year (2 per eqch quarter they fly 10k miles) *and* 6 systemwide upgrades which allow confirmed international upgrades from most fares. AA EXP's get unlimited complimentary domestic upgrades at their upgrade window and *8* confirmed upgrades valid internationally from any fare.
I had to knock UA on award redemption, though, for their filtering out otherwise-available Star Alliance awards (a simple search in the UA forum for 'starnet' will reveal tons here)... but they're still better for redemption than NW.
I used to like NW's website a lot relative to the competition. It's no longer legions ahead. Frankly didn't vote in this category, and didn't vote on member communication either.
Anyway, NW has some things going for it, but top tier elite isn't the best, and award redemption really does lag (both in terms of availability and number of miles required for international premium class awards).