samwise6222

As long as Cathay / Japan Air / other partners have space, you can always book it at the lowest level.

Delta, not so much. You can't even book two seats on KE with DL miles.

caburrito

How much do those seats recline? I took a similar service between Santa Monica and San Francisco...except we got bunks.

GetSetJetSet

DL still have garbage partners, no award avail and you can't book partner F awards? I'll stick with AA. I mostly fly premium cabin int'l and I have been happy with AA. Domestic flying is a painful process no matter which airline you choose.

FAA1996

I'm confused, does DL check to make sure everything in the overhead bins is a fancy rollerboard? Is there a certain size or brand that bags need to be for these overhead bins? If this is the case, this might just convince me to switch over, hate flying on a plane full of people with lugagge I don't like...

azeckel

Coming at this from another angle, I've been Diamond on Delta for 9 years and only recently have had to take a few AA flights when I just could not avoid taking a direct flight between IND and PHL. (I once hit DL status by connecting every week on the torture tube CRJ-200 through MEM (R.I.P.) to DFW/DAL as opposed to taking AA direct.) I got a status match from AA (they call it a match - but DL Diamond to AA Platinum is hardly a match) just to get a better boarding group.

The hard product isn't really all that different. At least AA serves Coke products unlike those heathens at Marriott who destroyed SPG. DL has some older MD88/90s but they all at least have power in F. I think the worst planes DL has are the older A319/A320s with only 12 FC seats and no power.

Thankfully I haven't had to deal with AA CS for IRROPS, but DL agents are generally really good. I'm sure having DM/MM status is helpful in that regard. On my recent AA flight, I did get skipped by the drink cart in the first row of prem economy (whatever the equivalent of Comfort+ is). Not sure why. I was watching a movie, but on the aisle so it wouldn't have been hard to get my attention. The guy parked the cart behind me and I think just started in the 2nd row. Hard to call that a statistically significant example of service, though.

I haven't been in an AA lounge, but the DL ones can range from absolutely terrible to just OK. The one in JFK T4 is actually quite nice, but like most - far too crowded. When I've been in MSP recently, I prefer going to the escape lounge with Plat Amex.

Connecting airports is also a big consideration because if I'm going to pick a horse out of IND I'm likely to connect fairly often. DTW and MSP are so so so so so much better than ORD. I despise ATL but I'm not sure CLT is really that much better. DFW ... i guess the equivalent is probably MSP and MSP wins there. And PHX is either SLC or LAX. I don't mind SLC, but LAX is kinda the same for both, so a wash there.

I thought I'd see a couple odd upgrades with AA plat, but the way the program is setup is reason enough for me to never make the switch. You guys will probably laugh at me over this, but I just took my first flight after the match and literally had no idea what the coupon situation was or how it worked. When I went to check in on the app, it asked me if I would like to request an upgrade. Sure, why not. Oh, I don't have enough coupons? Do I want to buy some? No thanks, just check me in, please. But then, I get an email that my upgrade is confirmed and my seat is in row 3. I think OK, it must not be full and they just upgraded me like my wife (DL GM) sometimes gets out of IND. When I get to the airport in the morning it wants me to check in again, only this time I have to pay $80 to proceed. So I had to go to the check in counter and plead ignorance (which is actually true). I was willing to pay the $80 if that's what it came to, but really just wanted to back to my coach (or whatever the comfort + equivalent) seat that I was in. Thankfully the agent was able to make that happen.

After a little more research I see that i have to fly 12,500 miles to get 4 certificates. And IND-PHL being 587 miles means that I'm never eligible for an upgrade without a certificate which is a major disadvantage to DL. Traveling full-time every week on that route for a year would yield a little over 50k MQMs which is never enough to get to the next level where certificates aren't needed. Even with $700 tickets and >$25k in annual spend. And 12,500 miles is 23 segments. So every 23 segments, I can get 2 segments upgraded. Blech. No thanks.

KoKoBuddy

Last year I had to fly on AA since a client booked it for me and paid directly. I hadn't flown on AA in at least a decade and I too was surprised how unpleasant the experience was compared to Delta (where I have been Silver/Gold for the past decade). You don't know what you got until it's gone, I guess.

MiamiAirport Formerly NY George

I find from my somewhat limited experience DL employees are motivated/encouraged to be much more customer proactive. If there is a delay the GA is on it. I've had a DL Captain come down the entire a/c showing the storm track on his phone when we were placed on a ground hold. You always get a greeting from the DL Captain. Ultimately how someone values some of these little "extras" will be different. Most paxs could care less if the Captain ever said a peep.

As hard as it is I think DL tries the best it can to take flying back to the golden days. But lets face it, 30 inch legroom, 17 inch width seats, 90% load factors, etc. will mean it will never feel like 1970 again. True, the view of a top elite is very different. They expect to be pampered with upgrades, immediate help with an issue, greeted by name, etc. Most paxs today seem content to sit in 32E and play with their phone until the bell chimes to get up and deplane. We are a rare breed that actually still enjoys flying albeit its sure much sweeter when were sitting up front with a cold PDB.

SteveinA2

JCATMAN you clearly have not been through Detroit
It is a way better airport than any Hub in AA's system (with nice lounges too)

dickinson

Lots of Delta love in this thread. A little over the top in my opinion.

SteveinA2

I've been DL Diamond and AA EXP plt in the last 12 months.

In my opinion

Clean aircraft - DL wins (An ongoing AA weakness)
Priority Tags FC on Regional jets AA wins
Business class seat - AA wins
Intl First - AA wins
Partner availability and quality - AA Wins
Domestic First seat AA has 2 more inches and wins
System wide Upgrades AA wins and has Intl F as an option
Clubs - DL wins and it is free for Diamond and $450 on AA
IRROPS - DL wins Which is very important
iPhone APP - DL wins
Boarding process DL wins
Flight attendant - DL generally wins
Mile redemptions - AA wins big time
Operations - DL wins big time
Hawking credit cards in flight - DL wins as they don't lie to credit card customers and repeat for endless times

Ignoring routes/Hubs/geographic considerations
Overall anyone flying Intl is better with AA
Domestic fliers probably better DL

If I could change one thing about AA it would be the operational performance
If I could change one thing about DL it would be the award mile levels (500,000 to EU is common)

cova

I will stick with AA and UA - AA is big at DCA and UA is big at IAD. Flying DL means pretty much flying to ATL most of the time.

They all have ups and downs. DL is known for good service these days, be it they have old planes.
Problem with AA is they are reducing number of MCE seats and legacy US aircraft have less seat pitch. And now 737 Max is here.

UA has good E+, lots for international flights (which AA is eliminating).

Both AA and UA - Elite upgrades are pretty much gone for EXP and 1K due to cheaper F and new upgrade priorities.

aztimm

Did they rebuilt DTW since the early 2000s? I used to fly through DTW a few times a year before I gave in and switched to HP after moving to Arizona.
The maps of DTW I see now are nothing like I remember. What I remember is more like T4 at PHX, a main building with fingers protruding. I think at the ends they were round to allow for more gates. NW Express was all in one of the fingers.
I've flown into the AA gates of DTW, as recently as last month, and that area certainly looks new.

My last time flying DL was about 2 years ago, as a non-status flyer, on SLC-DEN. Sure I considered flying SLC-PHX-DEN to stick with AA, avoid bag fees, probably get upgraded. But sanity won out--why turn an hour flight into 3-4 hours?
The experience was ok; I survived, paid the bag fee (was a work trip, so work paid), and arrived in DEN delayed.

aacar

Off-topic, but that would also yield ~100 segments (90 are needed for Plat Pro).

formeraa

On this particular issue, I will defend AA. Project Oasis simply copies what DL is doing on their A320 series aircraft. See the DL forum for all the complaints about tight seating in Y and the tiny lavs. On these aircraft, they actually cut galley space in half in the Y cabin -- see all the DL FA complaints on various forums. AA is simply copying DL's lead here.

pdac1975

I also switched from DL to AA last year having been a Plat or Diamond with DL for 10 years.
I agree with everything the OP said.
I switched because it was becoming harder and harder to remain loyal to DL out of DCA as their flights were being cut back and honestly direct flights started meaning more to me than status. I was fairly shocked at the difference when I first switched though. Especially with customer service and the hard product.
I'm now almost EXP with AA and I've become pretty used to it but these post help remind me of what a shock it was when I made the switch.
The only downside I had with DL was that it was getting harder and harder to use miles for International J. That being said, I still managed to use 125k miles RT on VS Upper Class earlier this year to LHR which works fine for me. As long as you search partners you don't have too many issues.