dll

I'm LAX-based and have had a few years of heavy international travel. I've been ExPlt since early 2015 and generally enjoy its features.

Maybe I've just grown tired of AA's product lately but I contemplated switching to DL or UA for 2018. I already re-qualified for 2018 on AA so my remaining trips for 2017 have been on DL and UA.

Some thoughts on why:
- Even as ExPlt, my domestic upgrade % is about 40%; I do travel on premium tickets about 50% of the time, but upgrades aren't terribly easy to come by for me lately in markets like LAX-CMH, LAX-IND, LAX-ATL
- I've been incredibly disappointed in AA's domestic meal service; on some flights it's a downright joke. The Vietnamese noodle salad, for example, as a "lunch" main course on BOS-LAX.
- AA's lounge situation in LAX hasn't been great; I do carry a paid membership (bought w/BusinessExtra points), and have been skipping it in LAX lately to the point I'm pretty certain I won't renew for 2018
- I travel internationally a fair amount and really do prefer *A carriers over OneWorld, especially to Europe; SWISS and Lufthansa are nice options compared to LHR & BA, esp. if I'm traveling Club World xLAX

So I've done several trips on both DL and UA. I'm not sure either have me convinced to switch. UA comp'd me to 1K via a status challenge.

UA Pros
- 787 Polaris product, especially if you're traveling with someone, is fantastic; probably the best of the three, IMO; 100% cotton pajamas (on >12 hr flights), duvet, mattress pad, gel pillows, fantastic dessert cart...it's a very thoughtfully designed product. I also like the seat configuration
- UA's new space in LAX T7 is great! Fantastic lounge, nice open terminal space and I've always appreciated its location in the airport for ground transport convenience
- UA's meal service, even on short LAX-SFO flights, in F is just nicer; on morning flights you get beverages and a warm muffin, which is just a hint nicer
- Fantastic mobile app
- MileagePlus is still a good program

UA Cons
- Upgrade percentage on domestic flights as a 1K is about 30%; about on par with AA, probably
- I strongly dislike their domestic fleet - the 737-900 F seats are horribly uncomfortable, depending on which version you get
- Cabin cleanliness on domestic flights = worst of the three
- They've got more EMB-145 and CRJ birds (IME) than DL and AA, so connecting flights can be a bit of a downgrade
- Twitter-based customer support is non-existent; canned responses, often hours later, without any real offer to help
- Very inconsistent product; Polaris is great on international legs, but they have so many cabin configs and seats on their domestic fleet; some have IFE, some have WiFi, some have neither
- If I never have to experience the discomfort of their HD777 (hi-density, used mostly for domestic) I'll be grateful
- Outside of LAX the UA lounge situation is dire; SFO and EWR both have closed clubs for remodeling, leading to massive overcrowding in the remaining ones

DL Pros
- Consistency; crew, ground services and SkyClub are almost universally nice and friendly
- Aggressive refit on their fleet means on-board product is pretty consistent and I find it pretty comfortable in both Y and F
- WiFi everywhere

DL Cons
- Personal experience, but I find their meal service pretty inconsistent; sometimes I get a nice meal and other times it's not even remotely nice
- Specific to LAX, but their ground situation in T2 and T3 is not great; excessively crowded clubs, security and don't even get me started on the horror of T3; this will persist for several years before their renovations are complete
- SkyMiles is the worst of the three programs

It needs to be said: AA generally wins for on-board business class hard product. Some weird inconsistencies, yes, esp. with the 777 fleet, but DL's herringbone 777 and 767 product is just terrible. UA, on the 787, is great; but their legacy UA product, 2-4-2 in business on the 777, is not even competitive, and the retrofit to the new Polaris is going to take years.

After experimenting with my options for 2018 I think it's safe to say AA has convinced me to stick with them. As an LAX-based flyer a lot of things are changing right now - DL with its new terminals, AA with a new club (hopefully soon!), and UA's huge terminal retrofit. It was worth exploring. It seems like UA sort of abandoned any attempt to compete in the domestic market for years and is now rushing to catch up, while DL falls a bit short on international flights.

AA's network from LAX is just as good as DL, and superior to UA. That and the proximity to the PHX hub (some of the best airport food in the country!), allowing for further connections, is a good thing.

swingaling

You make some good points. IMO, the biggest negative for AA is Europe (and perhaps Africa). Unless traveling to an AA gateway city in the EU, you're mostly stuck with BA or (even worse) IB. Fairly non-competitive hard and soft products with both BA/IB and the further indignity of LHR and MAD. AY has a nice hard product on their A350, but their route network is tiny.

I'd greatly prefer the LH/LX/SK combo over OW (especially for N Europe). *A also has a lot better route network in Africa, if that matters to you. DL probably wins in China due to their CI/CZ/MU combo, whereas OW has only CX, which isn't even based in China (I know, CI is based in Taiwan, not China).

That said, though OW is lacking in Africa and China, they do have a very robust network in South America, probably the best of the three alliances (with ST having probably the worst SA network).

jordyn

I don't think there's a lot here to argue with--your observations generally match my own.

Having said that, I'll make a few minor observations:
- I don't really agree that DL's frequent flier program is the worst of the three any more. At this point I'd say it's at least as good as, or perhaps better than, AA's, particularly for top tier fliers. AA has really managed to turn a true competitive differentiator into a real ho-hum program these days. The exact answer to this obviously depends on what you value in a program, though.
- Despite the comment above, I do think that AA probably still has the best upgrade rates, perhaps because they've just been less effective at first class monetization to date. I don't fly AA much myself, but know a few 1Ks and I think they just assume that they're always going to fly in whatever cabin they book because upgrades are so infrequent.
- Although the DL terminals at LAX are a bit of a mess at the moment, they generally seem to be doing a better job spritzing up their terminal spaces than AA so I'd presume that's a pretty temporary situation.
- If you're flying to Europe frequently, you're right that the AA partner situation is not great. Having said that, the mixed bag that is DL's partners (and in particular the partners to Asia) and the relationship to those partners that is SkyMiles is a real problem and probably my biggest hesitation in switching most of my flying from AA to DL.

rbAA

I wasn't thinking of switching, but I added UA 1K through their challenge. I hadn't flown UA in awhile, so I decided that the fares, especially the EWR-SIN RT for $473, were worth a try and I could add some flights (HKG-SFO-IAD RT for $523,) to hit the 35k PQM's needed on UA metal to extend the 1K to 2019.

Actually like UA's SFO operation, though the lounge is a temporary but large space near the international gates. Also liked the separate TSA Pre and screening as it was fast and convenient. Flew the 787-900 upfront (paid $1059 for the Upsell for SFO-SIN at checkin,) and it was good, just not the 1-2-1 that AA has. My HKG-SFO flight later this month is on UA's 1-2-1 product, so I will get a better comparison, assuming another upsell is offered. Also, don't like the W or higher fares for GPU (SWU) upgrades or the 30k+$600 from any fare. I guess that international UPG's are difficult everywhere.

Biggest thing I liked is the domestic flights on 757-200 with the lie flat seats up front. With AA, I was getting too many "Parker Specials" A321's with no IFE or power and the terrible seats, especially for a near/full transcon. I try to pick out the better options, i.e. next Feb I had the JFK-MIA segment on AA on a 767, but they changed to a 757, so can never count on anything. Or, getting the dreaded A319. What a joke of a plane. Of course, no UA complimentary UPG's on certain of their transcons, but then the last few times I flew SFO/LAX-JFK on AA I missed and flew in coach.

However, I do "relatively" few domestic flights as I'm living in BKK, which also provides me the UA spend waiver, which AA doesn't offer, for top tier.

It's nice to have options, especially since none of the airlines really deserve loyalty any longer, as they are just thinking of pax as self-loading cargo anymore. Airplane food seems to be getting worse, from a position of already being bad, unless you're flying the top carriers. Thought the food offered by QR and OS upfront was far superior to anything that AA or UA offered. Wonder why they can't emulate that-must be a cost thing right?

Treeskier

Great Points and spot on dll. I switched from UA to AA last year. has been a great experience. I have noticed something unusual though, and plan a separate post here. Since Nov 1 my EP status has me last on the list of EP's awaiting an upgrade even though I am over 115K miles YTD through Nov 1. Last week I was in line with a friend who was 4th and I was 13th on list. He has flown 30,000 miles less than me YTD. Same thing happened today. Up until this point I have been hitting 95% upgrade out of my home in Denver. Something is not right at all. Sent an e mail to AAdvantage customer service. Thoughts?

beachfan

Within status tier, upgrade priority has to do with 12 month mining dollars spent. Miles flown are irrelevant (aside from qualifying for status the following year)

CloudCoder

I appreciate the Pros vs Cons comparisons, and humbly request more of the same.

I'm self-employed which means that my "employer" will never pay for biz class. From that perspective the big factors seem to be:

• Availability of Main Cabin Extra. AA=free for elites. UA=ditto. DL = unknown. I don't even know if DL has an equivalent to MCE / Economy+
• Availability of Premium Economy. AA/BA = reasonably priced and a decent product. DL = often much cheaper than AA/BA, however I've never tried the product. UA = AFAICT, non-existent.
• Availability of the occasional, rare, elusive upgrade to International Biz. AA = free with SWU. UA and DL = pay thru the nose. I think you have to buy an "Upgradeable" ticket before you can even enter the upgrade lottery, thus you pay for the upgrade even if you don't clear.

The food situation doesn't weigh into my calculations. Of course UA will have the best of the three: they own the catering company. Still, a $10 dollar bill on the ground buys you a better meal than anything you can get on an airplane.

Lounges are definitely a factor. UA recently re-did their food offerings (at least at IAH) and I think they're now the best of the three, domestically. Overseas, it's all a matter of "which partner lounge can I visit?", as the _worst_ international lounge is better then the _best_ domestic one.

Each airline has unique features, none of which is a selling point, but several such "quirks" might add up to a selling point. For example, cancellation and change fees. All the airlines suck, but I think UA penalizes customers the least. Or, how crowded and miserable it gets at their main hubs. Again, they all suck but overall the UA airport experience is probably the best of the three. That might be due solely to a temporary lull in their growth due to recent bad publicity. (Hey, now THERE's an idea: for the best overall experience, fly the airline with recent bad publicity. Smaller crowds and better service. LOL )

I fly enough to easily make the top tier on any airline, and to get 3/4 of the way to the top on a second airline. For now I'm gonna stick with AA, for several reasons:

• A trainload of miles in the bank
• Already at the top and no need to qualify or challenge
• Route network gets me to where I need to go.
• Familiarity with the program.
• SWU's
• MCE
• Premium Economy
• Knowledge of a few "loopholes" (such as AAVacations discount biz class, 3-class sold as 2-class, etc.)
• CX lounges

For 2018, I'm torn between using UA or DL as my second airline.

Reasons to choose UA:

• Convenient route network (my biggest customer is in Houston)
• Better food (they own a catering company)
• Star Alliance is probably the strongest of the three
• Familiarity: they've been my second airline for several years

Reasons to choose DL:

• Premium Economy is aggressively priced
• Probably the best on-time record of the three

I wish that one airline stood out as the clear choice. For years (actually, decades) AA was that one airline. They valued me as a customer who flies a lot, even though it's always at a discount. But now all the majors value me strictly for the dollars. Well, their attitude is starting to rub off on me. I'm starting to disregard loyalty, and look strictly at price. From that perspective, it's hard to beat DL.

rbAA

Until DL actually installs PE seats, it's just C+ which is just like UA's E+ and AA's MCE. For an additional cost in most cases though maybe "free" with status.

CloudCoder

Nice to know, extremely valuable. I was looking at some flights to/from LHR in Prem Econ. DL prices are far below the others. Now we know why. They're selling Econ and calling it Prem Econ.

dll

The other thing I'll point out here, after a dozen segments this year in Europe or South America on domestic/short-haul flights: we have it better than we think in the US.

Take almost any shorthaul flight in Europe in a premium cabin and you'll find yourself smashed in to a standard Y cabin with an empty middle seat (unless you're on SAS, whereby they fill all seats). On LX (Swiss) for breakfast you'll get cold cuts and a warm roll. On Finnair you'll get a nameless omelette.

In South America it's similar. LAN has a premium economy cabin on some of their A319/A320 fleet, but it's the same premise as in Europe.

And still on others, like TAM, it's coach only with slimline seats. And those flights can stretch for 3-4 hours, which wears on you.

We may complain about elements of our US options and indeed there is variance. Some are better than others. But, compared to our EU and SA brothers/sisters, we don't have it so bad.

3Cforme

Delta has started with PE seats on the A350s although few of those are presently in service. 777 and 77Ls are up next - which are said to be keeping 3x3x3 seating even in the cheap seats.

3Cforme

Have another look. Delta.com identifies Virgin Atlantic-operated flights as having Premium Economy. On the Delta-operated flights the Premium Economy cabin is shown as 'not offered.' Delta.com makes the same distinction between AF ops (with PE) and DL (without) to CDG.

ckx2

I believe the misconception is based on the booking class, which last time I've checked was still "W" for C+. Given W is commonly referred to as premium economy (almost as established as A/F/C/J/Y), several booking engines displayed their flights by mistake.

jordyn

This isn't quite correct. DL is a bit different than AA and UA in that they treat their "more legroom" product as a separate class of service, so "Comfort Plus" is basically just the same as MCE or E+ only sold as a different class of service. This also affects how elites get access--you "upgrade" into the Comfort Plus cabin. In practice as a Platinum, I was able to "upgrade" at booking on every flight this year regardless of whether it was 60 days in advance or just a few hours before the flight, but there's a complicated dance if this doesn't happen of figuring out whether to let the system automatically upgrade you (potentially into a middle seat) or waiting to see availability show up and moving yourself manually with the risk that someone else will grab the seat in the meantime.

DL also has a new "Delta Premium" cabin, which is a proper premium economy product. As 3Cforme points out, this is currently only available on the A350s, in much the same way as AA's true premium economy was initially only available on 789s. Like AA, they'll start to roll out to the 777 fleet, but they're probably about a year behind at the moment. Having said that, DL seems a lot more aggressive about cabin updates, so I wouldn't be surprised if they finish before AA does. You can also buy true premium economy on partners that offer it, including AF and VS.

chenalex

Pricewise, do you find that AA is cheaper than Delta/UA for the same routes on the same days?