For me, the difference is that I've neither vowed never to fly them again nor given up after a single poor experience, as my Delta account reflects. The problem is, for now, that their ops, and to a lesser extent service, just aren't where they should be, at least on the routes I'm flying. And, more to the point, they are not as good as United at "service recovery" during IROPS. I base this on a large handful of personal data points.

Again, Delta remains a friendlier, "fresher" experience than UA. But United, for its relative coldness/worse entertainment/lack of inspirational/self-congratulatory pre-safety videos, seems to show more hustle, especially when things are delayed.