KDCAflyer

I have noticed that employees in Asian countries are much better at status recognition in general.

RealHJ

In terms of routes, global reach, schedules, and product, SkyTeam is far ahead of OneWorld and, depending on where you go to, either ahead of or just behind Star Alliance. (Out of HNL SkyTeam blows *A out of the water. You can go CI to TPE or NRT, KE to ICN or NRT, DL to NRT, NGO, KIX or FUK, while with *A all you have is UA to NRT one measily daily flight, NH to NRT, HND, OZ to ICN, and AC to PEK - that's it! OW of course JAL dominates, but that's just one airline, the rest of the alliance is rather weak reach wise.)

The SkyTeam mileage earning can be at times pathetic, but, well, it's not that much better in OW or *A either. That's a global trend.

There's no reason to get DL to issue the ticket. On revenue flights, have whichever carrier will provide the lowest fare issue the ticket.

kxc262

Watching Gate Lice

And IRROPS / customer serivce / on time arrivals.

KDCAflyer

Delta can being really entertaining at times. Just pull up a chair next to the service counter at major SCs, get the popcorn, and watch the show.

"I'm a super-triple Diamond who flew 1 million light years last year, why haven't I been upgraded?"

"Sorry sir, first is full of paid passengers today."

cmd320

Routes maybe, global reach maybe, schedules depend heavily where you are and where you want to go, but product, no way. DL, KL, and KE are decent enough, though not notably better than any of their competitors. Outside of AF's new F and J products which have limited availability at the moment, AF is quite unimpressive. Alitalia, while decent may not exist by the time I hit post. I've heard good things about Garuda recently, but can't comment as I haven't flown with them, and they operate a pretty limited network. Outside of that, the rest of the alliance ranges from airlines I would consider forgettable down to ones I would never even consider flying on.

I could see routes and schedule being arguable depending on your location and needs, but I don't see product as ever being something SkyTeam will widely be considered the leader in.

RealHJ

Product: VN and GA have some of the best in-flight J product, service and food of any airline for long haul and an extensive network (esp. VN: at every airport in Asia in the morning you are bound to see at least one if not two or three VN flights; even at smaller airports like PUS you get three daily VN flights out). Light years ahead of DL and most other airlines. MU product is very solid and again far better than DL, though food is only somewhat better. Same for CZ. Same for MF. And I could go on.. the long and short of it is, SkyTeam product is way ahead of Star Alliance who is typically the worst product. NH still has ancient recliners on many if not most of its long-haul flights and in brand new 787 aircraft and the worst food in J of any airline by far ("kaiseki" meal on FRA-HND of
pork + beef burger patty": the whole cabin smelled horrible and some pax literally threw up - and most went hungry, and that is what NH serves on its flagship routes between two mega *A hubs, so it is its 'best of the best'), CA has some good product like A330s (same seats as LOT, LAN, and other airlines with excellent J product) and some really ancient product, UA has 2-4-2 J class, LH has 2-3-2 "footsie" J seats in brand new refurbished 747-8s, OZ uses angled lie flats for many or most of its long-haul flights and only a few of its aircraft have true lie flats, and so on.

So, product wise SkyTeam wins hands down leaps and bounds over Star Alliance, while with OneWorld it's more or less of a tie, but keep in mind that OneWorld has very limited reach in many parts of the world. AY does a good job of providing connections through HEL between most major airports in EU, Asia and some in N. America, but still that will only get you so far, and while AY product is good, the in-flight service is the slowest and most frustrating of any airline.

ty97

Perhaps this is true out of HNL and depending on where you fly. I love Delta, but for my experience, SkyTeam is actually a lag on Delta, and is nowhere close to OneWorld.

RealHJ

Factually, OneWorld has 15 airlines that serve a total of about 900 destinations (ref. http://www.iberia.com/us/our-allianc...lobal-network/), while factually SkyTeam has 20 airlines and more than 1060 destinations (ref. https://www.skyteam.com/en/flights-and-destinations/).

So, just by the numbers, SkyTeam is bigger than One World by 33% in terms of airlines, by 18% in terms of destinations.

I mean that's just plain facts.

Star Alliance has far greater reach with 1300+ destinations and 28 airlines, but many of its airlines have a rather subpar product on many of their long-haul flights.

aero0729

Aside from some stupid PR stuff that's hurt United I have been downright blown away by how much more I enjoy flying them. Especially in F. Much more space. Economy plus is easy to grab seats and the cabins are huge. Meals in F are more substantial and done nicely in courses. Even short morning flights serve a hot muffin and coffee in first. United is trying harder that's for sure. I don't like their approach to Basic Economy and I do agree that their Econ plus seats could use more padding.

Overall between far more (and I mean FAR more ) useful miles and some improvements in service Delta doesn't have a slam dunk anymore. American is trying harde too. Their biggest downfall is lack of technology for IRROPs. What idiots. Seems like a simple Capital investment that will pay off

hockeyinsider

Except some Sky Team member airlines like Delta basically ignore 99% of the airlines in the alliance. What's the point of an alliance if you aren't given an option of flying partners or you're penalized -- even in business-class -- for flying them by not getting full mileage?

ty97

I'm not arguing any of those facts. That, for me, does not make Skyteam better than Oneworld. Quality and quantity do not always go hand in hand. You may have a different opinion of Skyteam and that's great! I don't share your opinion however. (NB: This is not me saying "you're wrong". It's me saying that our opinions, and probably are needs/wants in an alliance, differ.)

Occupationalhazard

I am still with Delta because:

A. My origin airports are NYC, typically JFK. When I fly T2 (or T4), I can utilize the CLEAR lane at T2 and be landside to airside in <5 minutes.

B. My travel is 99% TRANSCON or TATL. Where I fly, domestically, DL has better pricing and product. TATL is a mixed bag. Sometimes Skyteam is better, sometimes *A is. Loyalty to one airline or alliance is dead, so folks who fly a lot are better served by having a primary and a secondary alliance.

C. Amex partnership.

D. Overall familiarity with the program

E. Lately, I have noticed an effort to be more customer-focused by the customer-facing folks. At least they seem more enthusiastic in their greetings, etc.


Points & Miles aren't like 401K. They are much more "smoke'em if you got'em". The value will always decrease and devalue over time.

N.B. Call in to book and have them add to your PNR that you are a honeymoon couple. Same with your hotel.

O/H

hockeyinsider

Ugh. That is sure a lot of useless acronyms and jargon. Would writing Star Alliance really hurt? Or Transcontinental? And TATL always sounds like a dirty acronym to me.

ty97

I have to say, I have come to really appreciate when I flights arrive/depart T2 instead of T4 at JFK, as crazy as that sounds. T4 is obviously much nicer, the SkyClub is great with the nice SkyDeck to boot. But T2 is so *easy*. Other than the drawback to having to cross the street outside to/from the AirTrain, the Pre-Check line is always short at T2 and you are never more than a 2 minute walk from your gate. Plus the refurbished T2 SkyClub is quite nice, if not T4 nice.

STVA

Pros:
-Largest market share from my home airport
-Mainline aircraft going to ATL (vs. regional jets to CLT on AA, and some regionals to UA hubs). UA sometimes routes me through EWR...no thanks!
-I like ATL much better than CLT or IAD. Running from one end to the other of CLT in foot is no fun. IAD isn't the worst airport, but has its downsides (shabby overall, mobile lounges).
-As mentioned by other posters, they seem to be run the best in terms of professional crews, schedule integrity, cleaner/nicer gate areas than the other airlines, etc.

Cons:
-This spring and summer the storms around ATL have been bad when I happen to have been flying. Not Delta's fault, but still can be a downside when other hubs have had fewer storms. In winter, ATL is a positive.
-Reward program isn't as good as the others.