Well, a few reasons:

1) I was still living in LA at the time I made the switch over to DL... now that I'm in DFW I might go back to AA (and BA), but (at least on the routes I fly), the short-notice fares I'm getting with DL are better than those on AA

2) Great Biz fares on KE to HKG and Seoul (~$3K RT, even on 4 days notice) are what got me started on DL the first time.

Also excellent fares (and great seat) in China Airlines' Dynasty Supreme Class (2-class service, on select routes only)... $900 each way Taipei-HNL.

3) When I do redeem miles, I want to do so on Virgin's Upper Class or in Singapore's Raffles.

4) Sounds silly, but free drinks at the CRC compared to $4-6 each at the AC... $20 bucks out of my pocket per segment adds up too

5) The AA F/As were starting to piss me off...

Pros w/ AA were about an 80-85% upgrade rate compared to less than 60% w/ DL, and of course the superior service w/ the better food+wine and the warm nuts and salad dressings, and being able to upgrade any international fare and not just YBM...

I've been thinking about going back to AA for a while (well, since I moved back to DFW in May)... but before I do, I at least want to get Plat on DL so I have the upgrade certs... I've come this far... AA even has the no adv purchase $418 DFW-LAX RT fare now (same as DL)... ::sigh::

Deep apologies for my ignorance - I checked back and realized it was a LAX-JFK flight actually, which further piqued my interest because I thought Delta's transcons were on 763s... turns out they have 757 transcons too.

-brownguy