FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Thinking of switching to Delta
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Old Feb 3, 2020, 3:47 pm
  #112  
Adelphos
 
Join Date: May 2011
Location: NYC (LGA, JFK), CT
Programs: Delta Platinum, American Gold, JetBlue Mosaic 4, Marriott Platinum, Hyatt Explorist, Hilton Diamond,
Posts: 4,864
Interesting thread - coming to it late. I switched from American two years ago to Delta now, with a few JetBlue mint flights sprinkled along the way. Even thought Mint is nice, Delta is still a better choice for most business travelers...

1) Lounge access - Delta (for better or worse) offers the most democratic and comprehensive lounge access program of the US airlines. An Amex Platinum (not the branded card) gets you into all their lounges when flying Delta - the Amex Platinum is probably as widespread as the CSR. Also, you can get in the club using two cobranded cards, Reserve and Delta Platinum (Gold, their $95, also used to give access). So average flyers can basically always access a club

2) JetBlue penalizes business travelers by taking away half of their points if you book through a corporate portal - I'm not aware of any other airline or hotel company that does this

3) Much bigger route network, better IROPs coverage, etc

4) Delta has improved their hard product

In terms of the market structure in New York, American Airlines is more to blame for ceding the NYC market to Delta (and to a lesser extent, UA and its move from JFK).
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