Stripe

I wouldn't say "dreadful", but it does not compare well to DL's lie-flats. I'd put it a notch ahead of the angled-flats in the A330's, and well ahead of the cradle seats DL still has on at least some of the 767s and 757s. The nice thing about AA is that the seats are consistent across the fleet. No guessing or getting screwed by equipment changes. In addition, AA also has F on its 777s, where the seats hands down beat anything in the DL fleet. If you buy into J it's a fairly easy upgrade to F. And AA will leapfrog DL when it starts rolling out its new J and F seats. DL's business class pillows are way better than AA's, or anyone else's for that matter.

As an AA EXP I'm not excited to see it given away like this, especially after the deluge of UA refugees last year. But I would be surprised if there were many DL takers. EXP is much more of a lateral move from DM than it was from 1K. Upgrade rates, CS and treatment in IROPs is probably equivalent. The AA SWUs kill DL's, the domestic F experience is more "first class", the lounges are better, and the companion upgrade program works like it should. DL has a better international network.