Not true if you fly mostly international, IMO.

DL does not give their Plat any useful international upgrade instruments (for those flying on cheap fares).

DL does not allow international mileage upgrades on cheap fares (even for Plat)

What does the DL Plat get flying internationally that AA Plat doesn't?

AA Plat is better than DL Plat if you fly mostly international on cheap fares because AA:

1) a) Gives you to option to use miles + co pay to upgrade your cheap tickets
b) GITU will likely gain Flyetalk coupon connection access within a month or two, then can trade things like bump vouchers or other things he may get for AA SWUs, avoiding the co-pay issues. AA SWUs often go for ~$300 voucher credit or 30,000 AA miles. Buying cheap AA tickets and trading for VIPs will be far less expensive than upgrading on DL.

2) Is more likely to clear an upgrade than DL (if you buy an expensive DL fare so you can waitlist, upgrade clearance is still worse IME)

Of course, international upgrades get really good at the AA EXP level, with 8 free per year. A benefit DL lacks at all levels.


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For someone flying mostly domestically, I would agree making top tier on CO or DL would be wiser than AA Plat status if you fly 75,000-80,000 per year. At this level of flying, domestic upgrades are better for cheap fare flyers on CO/DL rather than AA. (Of course AA wins the domestic category again once you get to 100,000+ per year)