BOSTransplant

DL just has better colors than UA or AA. The dark blue with a white shirt and red accents looks so sharp.

SDQBound

Not many options. Being a CDG Skyteam captive, there are plenty of choices when traveling around Europe and to the US. I fly to SDQ many times per year, and I usually had a choice between AF/DL or AA. AA has gone downhill with limited connections from Miami, so connecting in JFK is easier, with plenty of options.

Significantly reducing my travel in AA in favor of DL/AF will allow me to reach GM by the end of the year.

paterwdb

Treatment in IROPS, every time. Every time it happens, they treat me like I'm the only passenger they're trying to get home that day.

Plus they're non-union, so there is no entitlement mentality from the employees.

emkn45

Same when MSP is your home airport

DJCobol

Oh man, don't tell me that. I'm in 1D on a TATL ATL to MUC in December.

dilbertsdaddy

I have one on AF and one on KL coming up and neither is lie flat. I think I would prefer the coffin....

kop84

I've never found the 767's too bad. I'm admittedly only 5'8 so I've never had a problem.

beachmouse

I'm not a total outstation captive but after Delta absorbed my preferred carrier, they ended up with about 70% of the seats out of the local five gate airport. They're generally reliable, good with IRROPS when there are issues, and I have in general learned to stop worrying and love the ATL.

I gave United a try earlier this year since I'm all about the free stuff and you can essentially get miles with them from the top of a cereal box. For my $5 in airport security fees, I got an E-135 (VPS was one of the first places to get the nicely rehabbed 717s) and IRROPS recovery so incompetent that I had to promise my husband I would never book us on such an awful airline again. If I'd actually paid money for the flight I would have been sending letters to the DOT level of cluster****. I'm still saving my boxtops for United miles but the goal is to figure out how to use them on Lufthansa somehow.

Will end up using American a bit in the coming year to burn some gift cards, but it's barbie jets with less convenient hubs for usually no real price difference if booked more than about two weeks out.

I can and have gone to the airport a little over an hour away to burn some WN gift cards, but their IT system breaks over a two connection routing- I cannot get to San Francisco from PNS or ECP without doing a two ticket open jaw routing that costs a lot more than a single DL ticket from the airport that's just about in my backyard. Even though they've got a perfectly adequate domestic economy product, they just don't get me where I want to go a lot of the time.

PeggyJM

Ditto. Sharing my time between SIN and MSP, there aren't any good alternatives. In the past, however, we were able to upgrade our transpacific flights using miles or vouchers. First they took away the SWU and replaced them with GUCs, but one can only earn if Diamond and then only get 4, which is good on 2 round trips. Beginning in June 2016, it will take 80,000 miles to upgrade a B fare to BE one way, instead of the current 25,000! Even now, they have downgraded the SIN to NRT from a 777 to a 767, and the NRT to MSP from a 747 to a 777 (and sometimes an A330) so there are fewer seats to be had and they hold them back til the last minute, so unless you have a GUC, you can't get one of those seats at the gate. Very frustrating to be on the waitlist for 6 months and watch as we fly out with empty seats in BE! I'm currently upgraded on a flight 10/26 and tried to change my ticket. There are NO upgrades available the entire month of November!

With smaller planes and fewer seats available, Delta has been able to increase prices, even with the drop in fuel costs. If it becomes impossible to upgrade, we may rethink our choices, though. Certainly we will stop purchasing B fares if we are going to be sitting in the cattle car anyway!

mahka42

Performance, performance, performance.

My flights almost always depart and arrive on time (maybe sheer luck? unless it's a wx issue), and my bag makes it too. I've only ever had one missing bag with DL, which they recovered and delivered to me within 8 hours.

When IRROPS happen, DL has had the best service recovery I've experienced, with agents (gate, ticket, call center) who are willing to work with you, especially if you come with some solutions (new flight numbers, OAL flights, etc.). I still remember snowmageddon 2010/2011 (?) flying out of DCA to get back to SFO. DL upgauged the aircraft to try to get as many people onto the last flight before the airports shut down. Missed the original connecting flight in MSP and I had a new flight and boarding pass as soon as I walked off the plane.

Now that I'm in NYC, having the JFK/LGA routes helps with options, but even when I was in SFO, I would gladly take the connections.

The FAs seem to be better than most US domestic airlines. Hard product is pretty top domestically, ok when up against the international players, but in the end, DL gets me where I want to go when I want (and planned) to be there.

Occupationalhazard

They (and their partners) fly where I want to go, typically at better times and prices (I know....) than alternatives.

Within the US, I tend to fly TransCons that are company paid. DL has a better schedule and pricing for those.

I also fly TATL, either on DL, KLM or, when possible SU--if I am buying my own tkt, SU has comparable service in J, I can get 6 hours sleep on the overnight to SVO (which is enough for me to be fully functional on arrival) and then when I bounce back from SVO to Europe, it's on a plane with a legitimate, intra-Europe business class. Done/Dusted.

Also, with rollover MQMs, it's too easy to stay, b/c I'm 20-50K ahead of the game to Diamond in any given year.

O/H

Navig8R

My first flight was on Eastern out of GNV and naturally transitioned to Delta. They've been my parents airline of choice and now mine.

Also, I despise US out of DCA and would rather walk to my destination than pack myself in gate 35, become a sardine in the can they call a bus to be stuck on a 50-seater. To make this experience even better, throw winter into the mix. No thanks

Dieuwer

I do.

jamesteroh

Same with me with DTW being my home airport (unless I want to deal with connections every place I fly to)

vbjd1111

SEA PMNW. Rolled over into DL and stayed because (a) they had good 1-stop connections to anywhere east of the Rockies; and (b) AS covered West Coast and Alaska well with full credit. AMEX boost helped deliver one tier higher status. As DL has entered SEA market, AS coverage has become substantially less valuable because I often get little or no MQM for AS flights. However, DL is slowly covering most of the same markets and is often price-competitive (though generally has fewer flights). AS also has significantly picked up its service level so willing to go with either carrier depending on price/time; thinking about whether I should jump to AS FF program but have not pulled the trigger yet.

At this point, I am satisfied with C+ and occasional upgrades; ability to pick seat is critical to me. RUCs also help.