Originally Posted by ORDflyer92

I took my first flight on DL since before COVID in Y last night, and now totally understand the reasons behind these rankings. The fare was $400 cheaper with the penalty of having to connect to get from Chicago to PBI. I'll preface by saying I'm PPRO on AA and a lowly member on DL. However, I can safely say that the experience on DL is better even without status. On the ground, I felt the SkyClub was just as nice as any AC, with ORD not being a hub for DL, so I was quite impressed. Service was also much better with attentive agents who proactively updated us about our slightly delayed flight and repeatedly checked to see if we need anything, even offering to get us silverware (well, plasticware); a far cry from AA's lounge staff who could often not care less. If this was an international ticket, the FL would no doubt be a better experience, although we went more two years without the FL in ORD so...

I was on the A-320, and I can say the hard product blows AA out of the water as well, despite the fact that I was in a middle economy seat compared to always getting an aisle MCE on AA since I get them a booking. I know some here don't care about screens, but as someone who loves to watch the flight map and listen to a podcast, the screens are a huge upgrade for me. DL also offers free wifi for T-Mobile customers, but even if you have to pay, an entire flight pass for ORD-ATL was a reasonable $6, where I've seen them for $28 on comparable AA routes. The cabin was also swankier than AA's narrow bodies (even the NEO), and DL sells a proper BoB (didn't apply to my flight but I saw it in the app) with actual snack boxes for the same price AA charges for a small can of Pringles. As strange as it sounds, even the pretzels were better tasting. I also like how DL handled our delay. As soon as the inbound took off, they updated our departure time to an actual reasonable departure time, which allowed us to make changes in the app from early on, compared to AA which usually doesn't update the departure time until the inbound lands, even when it will be obviously late.