The surprise here is really that DL would sign up with a carrier that has a less than excellent safety record.
That said I have flown them many times and they were fine.
It will be interesting to see how Dlo price out a business class fare as China Airlines have always had good prices to TPE.
With DL gone on the LAX to NRT route, this is an attempt to offer us something into Asia.
It is a good start, but with no old style upgrades available except for Platinum, it is still a long 14 hours