Originally Posted by
diver858
maintains more of its premium service culture - unlike its mega-merger competitors.
I'd argue that AA lost a more premium service culture years ago. I don't fly United, but I do fly DL and I find their service much better, especially internationally. Looks like AA has made some improvements lately (I wouldn't know -- I stopped flying them a couple years ago in favor of DL's far better service, although I am liquidating a bunch of miles on F to Tokyo soon, so maybe things have improved lately), but I would definitely give DL the service edge these days based on my experiences with AA back in 2011.
I too hope that a merger doesn't go through (especially if it's run by Parker). AA service is still probably way better than US'. But at the same time, my few recent (within last 18 months) flights on US have actually gone very well and been perfectly pleasant. They felt a little "sloppier" than my AA flights (and much sloppier than DL), but with better uniforms and a slightly better feeling product and not quite so many ads everywhere, they wouldn't be all that horrible.