I hadn't flown UA premium t-con in over a year, but DL flights were all at least $1k more, so did UA SFO-EWR this weekend. Not a great experience in either direction. The four hour delay last night, resulting in a 2:25 a.m. SFO arrival didn't help (on the plus side, the drive home to Oakland at 3 a.m. took a record 24 minutes
).
Service wasn't very good either direction . . . FA last night tried, but didn't seem to understand that with an 11:40 p.m. Sunday night departure, we all pretty much just wanted to be left alone. I didn't eat, but last night's menu was certainly not inspiring - short rib, grilled chicken breast, lasagna. How many times have we seen all that before? UA of course loses big to DL at both ends on the lounge front. And EWR - with the exception of Classified - was its usual pit of unpleasantness (not that JFK is so much better). Oh, and my seat didn't fully recline . . . stopped about 2-3 inches short, which meant two big seams in the cushions then a gap between the leg and foot rests.
Based on this experience, for future flights, I'd be willing to pay up to about $300 extra to fly DL. So UA was still the right call at $1k savings, but it's pretty sad how far the ps experience has fallen.