DL2SXM

to me, this one stands out the most. I thought UA was light years ahead of DL on this one. I mean, that was just about everyone's gripe on FT...the award calendar follies. I'm glad I stuck with Delta.

mattp1987

I try to avoid UA in most instances, but I'd rather have a website that mostly works than a pretty website. For instance, UA.com let me make some pretty substantial changes within the 24 hour free change/cancellation window on a flight I did book with them. The fare was gone, but as long as I found flights with the same fare class availability I could make that change. That's a big plus for them IMO. Award searches are much better as well.

Still, none of these are enough to make me want to fly them. The only thing that makes me want to fly UA is to take domestic flights to connect to their *A partners. I'm also forced to fly them occasionally for work in which case I sadly slink by the DL gates.

Deadtail

Delta is without a doubt the best US airline. United is the worst. Mediocracy is somewhere in the middle.

timmy83

I will second this. United is aggressively bad. Southwest is pushing its way down to a similar level of distaste for customer service. (The new) American is extra forgettable.

ceamus1

Looks like everyone is in agreement here.

Service stands out at Delta.

United has a functional awards calendar and search function on its website, but the low redemption levels aren't necessarily available as is conventional wisdom - I've been looking primarily for TATL. Had much better luck with Delta.

I just don't ever look forward to getting on a UA flight. Unfortunately, taking connections aren't a feasible option 70% of the time, so may as well stick with one airline for all of it.

Every time I see Smisek come on before the safety video, I let out a groan - and sort of miss the Richard Anderson videos.

Out of HOU, Southwest is an option - they have a decent network, but with a healthy mix of domestic/international, I'd prefer to stick with an airline that serves the TATL market. That and a corporate contract. UA and DL are both preferred carriers.

DiverDave

Huh? Did you ever set foot in the IAH Terminal E United Club? That place is a palace compared to any SkyClub, and yes it compares favorably even to Delta's ATL Terminal F club.

David

michael_v

The key word is "was". Until a couple of years ago there was plenty of saver inventory on UA, both domestic to their hubs and international flights, LH was one of the most generous airlines in *A as far as award inventory went (including flights to/from UA hubs), US was still in *A which meant great domestic first class availability, OS was releasing tons of award space (but they didn't have the flat beds yet) and so on. Now the transatlantic award space bookable by UA is pretty non-existent, except for some singular markets such as BOS/YUL-ZRH on Swiss, US non-hubs-FRA/MUC on LH, and the hidden alliance partners with limited network that cannot be booked online: LOT and Brussels.
Disclaimer: my experience was from trying to book in business/first from SLC.

McGowan06

+12.

pbarnette

Well, CO always had awful availability. Probably worse than DL. I can't see the current management team being any more generous at UA, given that award redemption basically means you failed in capacity planning. Also, LH (among others) has been rationalizing their F cabins, which used to basically be redemption class as they were absurdly large for any reasonable paid demand. Add in the generally high loads, and I doubt that UA would be much better at this point in time.

mnredfox

This. ^

UA matching DL's FFP policy more or less sealed the deal for me to stick with DL (for now). I still think UA has a much better FFP than DL, but the hard product and service on DL is second to none.

Corganbr

Yep, no doubt UA sucks. I've had nothing but bad experiences with them lately, the latest was when they were extremely rude with my elderly mother at check in on a paid IAD-GRU J ticket. Didn't even help her with her luggage!
I'd love to see a similar comparison between DL and AA as I'm pretty much decided to switch to AA in 2016.

pbarnette

AA is okay. Not at DL levels in my opinion, but okay. We shall see what, if anything falls out from the merger, but I'd probably expect some hiccups at a minimum. The legacy AA J product stinks, save for the 77W if that is a consideration. Domestic F is pretty competitive.

Not sure what to think of their FF product. I've had very limited success using BA miles, which should replicate AA saver + partner inventory. Situation isn't any better than what I have seen from DL. I think that we should expect reduced availability and higher mileage from all carriers and think expecting otherwise downright foolish.

CLEguy

As a long-time UA 1K who's since moved to ATL and now a middling DL Gold, I have some perspectives here as well. To me, DL definitely wins hands down these days in ways others here have highlighted, with a few exceptions:
1. Alliance. *A destroys ST, no ifs ands or buts. That said, *A is rapidly falling and may have been passed by OW at this point, depending on your perspective. They were a clear number one. They may now be merely second. Not a good point for UA in the long-term.
2. Award redemptions, especially the ability to fly partner F. My girlfriend and I went to BKK on LH and TG F in December for 280k miles. Total. Today in fact, we're using the rest of my miles to IST and SPU on OS and SN C; these were 100k each. But in yet another stunning development, United has seen fit to gut their redemption chart for partner premium cabin redemptions, which are now unspeakably expensive.

So, the things UA had going for it: Alliance, Redemptions, Award Routings (which I haven't touched on here) have all seen severe declines. Unless you're a hub captive, there is *zero* reason to fly UA today. They've alienated their employees and HVFs, and they fail utterly to do the one thing that you absolutely must do as an airline: get people where they're going when they need to be there.

June OT rate: 70.1%. The grass is pretty brown.

RatherBeOnATrain

How many times have your United seatmates announced "I’m sorry to disturb you ceamus1, but I’m about to piss my pants”?

Mike Rowe weblog entry - June 24, 2014

5khours

DL is definitely a better choice for domestic flyers, but I have to say that while UA is declining rapidly, for me anyway UA is still way ahead of DL for international premium travel for a number of reasons.

1. No international F on DL.

2. No international FCL on DL.

3. For someone who's tall, PMUA J seats are vastly more comfortable for sleeping than DL J. (Yes we've heard the arguments about direct aisle access, but I'll take 8 hours of good sleep over the advantage of not having to step over someone a couple of times during the flight).

4. No upgrades from J to F on DL (obviously).

5. Much better upgrades from Y to J on UA.

6. No International F awards on DL.

7. No partner International F awards on DL.

8. Very poor availability of low J awards on DL. (I don't even look anymore.)

9. Contrary to what everyone is saying, Saver International F on on UA and *A is very easy to be had. I've booked at least 100 award flights in International F this year and always been able to get the flight I want on the day I want with very little hassle. (Note - Not the case if you are booking summer/holiday travel 2 to 6 weeks out).

10. UA premium awards (UA and *A) were devalued this year, but with the exception of F to SE Asia, they are still good value (and unlike DL they are actually available).

Bottom line, on UA/*A you can fly in great comfort at a very reasonable overall cost versus DL/ST where you get a very cramped seat at high overall cost.

Given UA's current trajectory, I might switch, but if I did it would never be to DL. IMHO, the only way DL makes sense for the frequent international premium traveler is for route/hub captives or if you're not tall and and don't care about cost because you're flying on the corporate or client nickel.