As a UA elite and DL elite, I would rather fly DL even without E+. Frankly, UA's reliability for me hasn't been stellar and between the occasional upgrade and exit row seating, I don't often sit in a standard pitch row.

I don't think E+ is a significant moneymaker or other airlines would have introduced something to compete. AA tried for awhile with their "More Room Throughout Coach" product awhile back where every row had more pitch but after some financial analysis they put the seats back in because they weren't getting a revenue premium for it. And UA just borrowed money at 17 percent interest, which tells me that they're not getting much if any extra revenue from E+.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marke...0090629?rpc=44