precchia

Greetings, I am currently a Plat on US Airways.
I have a couple of questions about US vs. Delta.

Currently, I live in Dallas, but fly US Airways because, quite simply, I hate American Airlines with a passion.

I am moving back to Michigan, specifically near DTW, so it would make sense for me to switch back to DL. I have never held status with DL, so I don't know how good it is, so, I thought I'd ask the experts.

I can do a status match to get Gold on DL. I am wondering how some of the perks I have on US Airways will be worthwhile on DL:

• Upgrades - I get upgraded on nearly every flight I go on with first class seating
• Aisle Armwrests go up on all seats - I am a big guy, so I always get aisle seats, and I typically "need" the armrests to go up. I can survive without putting it up, but for my sake and the guy stuck in the middle, it needs to go up.
• Priority Boarding and Security
• Affordable reward travel

Those are some of the most important aspects for me. I know the DL planes are nicer, and have IFE, but I have an iPod that works just fine, and the nature of my flights have me sleeping most of the time anyway. Main concern is the upgrades; not sure if going to a Hub will make Gold seem like a regular traveler.

Typically travel every week, with standard holidays off.

rankourabu

KyRoamer

DL miles are worth about half because you usually have to pay double or triple on international flights. Domestic upgrades and awards are more readily available. I'd collect US Airway points and use them on Air Canada. RT BC to South America is costing 75,000 miles. RT to Europe this summer in FC is only 100,000.

kss5555

As an elite on both airlines, I can tell you your decision is going to be based on your routes.

If you are flying mostly west coast from DTW through PHX then I would stay with US Airways as your upgrades are much better most likely than on DL, however, if you are flying alot of short hops where 1) non stops are much preferred, and 2) you do not have to fly RJ's that US flies on their DTW-DCA/PHL/CLT runs.

DL mileage bonuses for Gold is higher than US, however, like other posters have mentioned it is almost a wash because US redemption rates are much lower, especially with the 5,000 discount for US Airways MasterCard holders.

DL for Plat or higher has free reward redeposit and changes, where on US you do not have this option as a Plat, and you have to still pay close in reward redemption fees (I believe this is waived for Chairmans however).

To me it comes down to which routes you will be flying, for me, I use US Airways for DTW-PHX and southern California routes, and DL for everything else.

rrz518

Delta's facility and route network from DTW are impressive (thanks mainly to NWA). If you have to connect, may I recommend MSP, which I find equally nice, albeit quite sprawling. Avoid ATL.

Upgrades from DTW are "iffy", esp to key routes, I'm a Platinum and have difficulty with this.

Service on Delta is spotty at best. There's a reason they are ranked dead last in customer satisfaction.

I had a better overall impression of being a silver (or whatever equivalent that is on US) a few years back than being a Platinum on Delta today. (Very unscientific, just an overall impression). I stopped using US when I moved to the Albuquerque area, and US was not there at the time.

CS on Delta, while consistently prompt and efficient has ranged (for me) from nothing short of amazing, to downright condescending, rude and hostile.

longing4piedmont

Source?

precchia

Hmm, some great feedback here! It sounds like I'm looking at perks vs. Convenience.

Namely:
Dividend Miles may ultimately lead to better perks for me, but it would cause a connection nearly every route

DL would be convenient out of DTW, without connections, but it sounds like their Medallion Program doesn't provide the same level of perks

Do I have that about right?

longing4piedmont

No. You have a subset of folks here who are very vocal when it comes to anything DL. The skymiles program is much better than the DM in many ways at GM and up. What is called SDC being the most important if you fly a lot and want to have flexibility in changing your flights.

I've redeemed many award trips this year, at low mileage and combination of international and domestic. Most folks here find the same results.

Been a CP and I will walk before I go back to US......

Davescj

If you do lots of domestic travel, I think DL is better for upgrades. Also, DM (125K per yr) gets free SkyClub access.

Another reason I'd suggest DL, the SkyPriority services are quite good. I have not been impressed with my dealings with US, but granted I was not an elite with them.

However, DL is good to its elites (in my experience). I have also found low level awards on DL, even 12 hrs in advance Europe - US - Europe in J.

Finally, I think DL does a good job in the F cabin and more AVOD than US.

Dave

Sez_Who

You will no doubt find some great things about DL. OTOH, there will be things you will miss with US.

My suggestion is get your status match and see for yourself. Only you can decide if what you are giving up is worth more than what you are gaining. If it doesn't work for you, nothing lost and you can always go back to US.

rrz518

Here:

http://travel.usnews.com/features/Am...nest_Airlines/

And here:

http://www.theacsi.org/WSJ/%3C/index...218&Itemid=232

DTWflyer

Your decision will likely come down to your travel patterns. I would strongly, strongly consider DL and almost encourage you to switch to DL simply because of the hub convenience factor of DL at DTW.

I don't know your specific travel patterns, but essentially DL can get you nonstop pretty much anywhere in the Midwest, Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and major cities in the West Coast, Mountain West, Asia, and Europe no problem.

If you are in a situation flying to smaller markets in the Southeast that would require a connection over ATL (DL) or CLT (US) then you could potentially stay with US. Same to smaller markets out west where you would have to connect over SLC (DL) or PHX (US). Both DL and US are not as good at connecting into Texas markets, but you could consider the other Star carriers too for staying in the alliance.

As another one eluded to, there is a small, but very anti-DL minority on this forum that continually runs them down. They are not as bad as they proclaim. In reality, service can be great or spotty on any airline.

To your key points:
Upgrades:
DL Gold status is generally sufficient for getting upgrades on off-peak times and/or more leisure-heavy routes. However, it will not do you much good at peak business/consultant travel flights on Monday mornings, Thursday evenings, etc. DL does offer F into most major markets, not something that can always be said for US.

Keep in mind US's DTW Schedule:
CLT: 6 flights (3 with F)
DCA: 3 flights (all 50 seat RJs)
PHL: 7 flights (only 1 with F)
PHX: 3 flights (all 3 with F)

So, despite challenges at getting upgrades at peak times on DL, with US's schedule into DTW, there isn't a whole lot of flights even with First class to begin with on US.

Aisle armrests:
I don't know on what fleet types they actually go up on DL's fleet, if any.

Priority Boarding and Seating:
DL Gold will get you access to such. There are Skypriority security lanes for DL in DTW.
I do not believe US has such in DTW. US flies out of the smaller North Terminal that houses all non-Skyteam airlines.

Affordable Award Tickets:
I for one generally do not have a problem with this, however most of the complaining on this forum is about the sky-high milage redemption on DL for international business class tickets. I primarily use my miles for domestic award travel, and/or international coach tickets and find redemption to be pretty good. Not as good as AA but it works for me.

Again, you will have to consider your travel schedules, and what you want to get out of the rewards program. If you don't mind having to connect through a US hub and/or ride on a lot of single-class RJs to get to those hubs then you could keep you US status. I would switch to DL simply for the convenience factor, there is a significant perk to being able to take nonstops and getting home earlier.

javabytes

Blah, blah, blah.

AA is 79% on-time over the same period. Continental is 80%. Even darling Southwest is only 81%.

Sure, 0.00223% of passengers filed a complaint and this is worse than all other airlines... but when 99.99777% of passengers don't file a complaint, I fail to make the leap to Delta being a "mean" airline.

Just like pretty much every other US airline. Except for Southwest, where for some reason people really truly believe they aren't paying for bags.

hazelrah

To OP, you'll have to take some of the commenters here with a grain of salt; many of them are Diamond or Plat. medallions so their experience will not be that of a Gold.

My upgrades on Delta as a Gold are only about 50%.

DTW_John

I fly the major Midwest routes on DL for business, however, the much smaller size of the new North Terminal (US's gates) and relatively low traffic compared to the McNamara terminal allow for significantly less time spent running the security gauntlet and getting to the gate. There's no such thing as arriving at the McNamara terminal thirty minutes before departure and still making it onto the flight, especially if running the half marathon between A and B/C terminals.