vincentharris

Thanks all for the responses, and apparently my disclaimer worked as this has been a productive thread.

I am lazy and being able to take 90+% of domestic flights non stop is awesome to say the least. In fact over the last 5ish years there are only 2 domestic locations where I HAD/HAVE to take United and that is because they are literally the only airline that flies to these locations.

Tiomo17

I can requalify for Gold Medallion Status with fewer MQM's than other airlines require because of 1) threshold carryover and 2) up to 20K MQM's by charging work expenses on my Delta Amex Platinum card. E.g., for 2017 I carried over 7000 MQM's and I am going to get 20,000 MQM's for AMEX spend so on this "off year" for me flying-wise, I only need to fly 23,000 MQMs to reach Gold for 2018. Can't do that on other airlines flying my routes.

Tomphot

Primarily because I live in ATL.
Back in the day, I earned top elite status on Air Tran when I became disenchanted with DL, then came back.
My company let's me fly FC at my discretion - nice perk as upgrades are much more difficult these days.
I like the non-stop routes to most of my destinations.

AWARDBird Team

Yep, Delta's domestic nonstop routes are the best by price and availability.
But it's a pity that they reduce availability on saver international flights.

KDCAflyer

In reality, DL isn't UA or AA. That's about it really.

zn426

A few reasons

TPA is Delta captive. There's Southwest too, and UA and AA have presences there, but I fly international twice a year, so I might as well make my life a bit more comfortable.
Customer service is good-certainly better than AA or UA.
Flight availability-I usually fly at night so I don't have to take time off work. It's impossible at times to get late flights on UA, even to a hub like ORD.
Status is not completely worthless-even as a first year Silver Medallion I've gotten upgraded on 7 of 12 flights

There are drawbacks-I prefer flying to Asia rather than Europe, and they are weak going anywhere outside of the Far East. They don't have good inter connectivity with some of their lower tier skyteam partners (i.e. Saudia) so it's a challenge to get to Pakistan where I have a lot of family-and thus I'm stuck spending a lot of dollars on Emirates/Qatar who have good flights in FL.
MQD requirement is a pain for someone who isn't a heavy corporate flyer-I'll get there this year, but I'm going to have to huff and puff to Silver Medallion. Most likely I'll book a flight to Tokyo or Nagoya as it's most efficient.

ND76

1. I'm 62 years old and have 2.6 lifetime MQMs on the Big D (I just crossed 2.6MM last week). I'm too old to start over on anyone else.
2. I know what to expect on Delta, and get along well with the flight crews.
3. I'm going to make DM again in a few weeks (I'm 18k MQMs away and have the AMEX waiver). DMs do get treated well on Delta.
4. Help during IRROPS. I know I'll get it on Delta; have bad memories of IRROPS on other airlines without status.
5. I'm generally happy with the SkyClub.
6. When Delta jacks up the prices from certain airports, I'm willing to drive to other airports in the region (such as RIC, CHO and PHL) to get the best deal.

apodo77

Always?

3furballs

1. When I was traveling weekly to the same location for work i had two choices of airport to fly into (final destination was halfway in between) delta had the only flights to one airport and the only 1 stop to the other from my home airport.

Since I no longer travel for work but frequently have a small child in tow:
2. They make a huge effort to get me two seats together in IRROPS
3. They have actually put me on another airline (UA) to get me home in IRROPS
4. FA's are always friendly to my daughter (it may help that I bring granola bars for her to give them)
5. DL is consistently same price as others for where im going

acrophobia

Four things keep me flying Delta:

1) I fly >100 times a year domestic, and only do 4-5 international trips a year.

2) I'm based in NYC.

3) United.

4) American Airlines.

Fair enough?

FWIW, my only really serious complaint is that Delta makes it really difficult for me to get from NYC to major cities in Asia the 2-3 times a year I need to do so. Can't even get a direct flight to Tokyo or HK!

ElmhurstNick

I live in a market that is a major hub for three other airlines (AA, UA, WN). I started flying DL seriously last November, and they now get 65% of my business.

- Solid upgrade rate out of ORD/MDW/RDU (70%+ when able to avoid ATL as Platinum)
- Better vacation options to Europe, including VS Premium Economy at 150% MQM (if I can get to JFK/IAD/BOS)
- Sometimes there is a reasonable price difference to buy up to F at ticketing, as opposed to AA
- More comfortable seating although at the expense of a couple of inches of F pitch
- Easier to avoid middle seats - more CR9/E75 and even 717/MDxx on the routes I fly
- Much better baggage handling

I still fly AA, WN, B6, and even AC in specialist roles where a non-stop flight makes sense. But I look at DL first.

PV_Premier

they are the best of the bad options in my home city for my usual travel patterns. if another airline is significantly cheaper or more convenient for some reason, I don't choose DL. for instance, when I go to Seattle I almost always fly AS or WN because their cheapest fares are usually the same $$ as DL, and DL offers their lowest fares as basic economy.

RealHJ

SkyTeam.

It's as simple as that. ST has an extensive network and generally a quality product. Delta is a part of it, so... but obviously the total dishonesty and the lack of any morals & ethics at Delta makes it my last choice, as does the great difficulty in booking awards and the more-often-than-not poor handling of irrops by DL (int'l esp.), that is markedly worse than most other airlines.

indufan

Superior operations.
Nice people.
No hub at ORD. Sorry AA and UA.
SkyMiles that mostly work for me (I just did a concert festival on about 21 hours notice for 30,000 SkyMiles).
Overall, they are competitive on price. And if they charge more and can get by with it, then more power to them.
IROPS.

bkrs

As someone who used to fly a lot of TATL and some TPAC in economy, I think they blow the other US airlines out of the water for the back if the bus experience. I'm a PM now and fly at the pointy end of the plane far more often, but as no status cattle Delta always took care if me during IPROPS, served decent meals (and full sized bottles of water!!!!!!) on long haul flights, had a mobile app and IFE that worked well... when you're sitting in an economy seat for 13 + hours, that stuff counts.