Originally Posted by
ijgordon
I think one of the most valuable status perks is free E+/C+ at booking. While you can’t directly compare the elite levels anymore, you need Plat on DL vs only Gold on UA.
As noted *A will be much better for redemptions broadly (but will probably put you in LH’s dreadful J or send you out of the way via Warsaw or Istanbul. But with DL if you accept the $0.01/mile valuation (think it may be closer to 1.3¢) you can redeem domestically or wherever and more or less get treated like a paid fare (eg, eligible for upgrades, earn toward status).
Internationally, UA is behind on the catering but the Polaris product is very good and more consistent than DL’s hodgepodge. Just need to avoid the UA 764 fleet for now (and I guess 757 although DL has the same seats, just fewer of those birds).
I will say for some upcoming bookings (end of this year/beginning of next year) UA has been offering me pretty decent availability in IN (premier saver awards) which comes in at 60k or 66k each direction in J (depending on the intra-Europe connection) and puts you on UA metal instead of the terrible LH J product (or LOT/TK) plus gets you Polaris lounge access in both directions.
DL for the exact same destination/dates wants
750k miles/person for roundtrip J!! 750k!!! I paid 120k/person for UA J roundtrip (77W on the outbound, 763 on the return)