jhalapin

Perspective is a funny thing.

I was just popping over here from the American forum because of the same problems looking for validation that Delta might be a bit better. Between weather at DFW, cancellations due to crew shortage/timeout and just overall dissatisfaction with service I was looking for greener pastures.

The big 3 all have the same problems it seems.

YMMV

cmd320

That’s because they’re all pretty much the same airline. Erase the branding and the
actual experience will be pretty much indistinguishably poor.

Justin026

It might be a decent time to look at other airlines and still protect your DL status, although I agree with the sentiment that the Big 3 are much more similar than they are different. I am still comfortable giving my business to DL when picking between the three. Price competition between them will always move my decision, but there has been little of that happening for the last few years.

I have tried it several times. I was a big AIrTran flyer after their rebirth in 1999 and loved their FF program. I also flew Northwest heavily, even getting to 1mm in their program. I tried TWA when they set up their Atlanta minihub. Air South — I was on them in the middle of a day trip on a free FF ticket ATL-JAX the day the airline folded; DL got me home. Alaska using a status match (a miniature Delta). Southwest after they purchased AIrTran. And MaxJet and then SilverJet to London. And some other misadventures.

Sticking out the ragged end of the COVID period on Delta. They urgently need to fix their manning levels on the phones. Yes, I think the snack box sucks, but I like the minican Old Fashioned. I have never cared about the duvet covers, plastic “suite” doorways, etc. Any flat seat is a rare blessing and I cannot bring myself to complain about the minute differences between them.

ezefllying

I suppose I should have screenshot my boarding pass. I did this yesterday, and it was helpful during a misconnect in DTW. Unfortunately, the kiosks I found at ATL were shut down for the night (presumably since there were no more scheduled departures), so that wasn't viable.

ezefllying

For me, the difference is that I've neither vowed never to fly them again nor given up after a single poor experience, as my Delta account reflects. The problem is, for now, that their ops, and to a lesser extent service, just aren't where they should be, at least on the routes I'm flying. And, more to the point, they are not as good as United at "service recovery" during IROPS. I base this on a large handful of personal data points.

Again, Delta remains a friendlier, "fresher" experience than UA. But United, for its relative coldness/worse entertainment/lack of inspirational/self-congratulatory pre-safety videos, seems to show more hustle, especially when things are delayed.

ezefllying

Having to fly out after 5 and return on the redeye, the A330 would obviously be preferable. But, based on the experience, I did change my return connection to DTW yesterday. Went mechanical, so I guess it's a bit of a crapshoot.

TuxTom

This past Friday I had my first DL IRROPS in months, possibly over a year. Flying MSP-SEA-RNO, the OO-operated E175 from SEA to RNO that evening was cancelled due to thick wildfire smoke in RNO reducing visibilities below minimums. Before the gate agent even finished his announcement when it was cancelled, I was on the DL App and successfully rebooked on the next mornings SEA-RNO departure. I didn't have to wait in any lines or make any phone calls. It was flawless as far as IRROPS goes. Sure, I had to spend an unexpected night in Seattle, but that was beyond DL/OOs control and given how bad the smoke has been lately, I'm okay with a minor inconvenience to get home safely.

FlyBitcoin

Fly PHX-ATL-PHX a lot, mostly on the widebodies and always on departures before Noon.

Have not had a single delay in my last 20 round trips. Flying at night is always riskier, even on DL where they pad the schedules a bit.

Next time you fly to ATL-PHX, try to fly early in the day.
And if you fly the first flight on Friday AM during NBA season, you will usually ride with Charles Barkley. He's not a fan of the widebodies though. No live TV... and he's seen all the movies already.

Oh and Hertz was bankrupt and has recently emerged from it, and actually states on their app that their PHX station is open 7a-11p.

vinnmann

This exactly puts into words how I have travelled the last several years. I lean toward DL due to having Sky Club access, but otherwise I'll fly whoever has the best combination of price, service, and routing. It is very freeing.

cmd320

Same. I used to lean towards Delta for the same reason, though flying AA I almost always have a Centurion Lounge option at my connection, origin, and/or destination airports.

The other reason I used to lean towards Delta was for their operational excellence. I book (well used to at least) lots of itineraries with separate tickets for domestic and intercontinental. I could pretty much always rely on Delta to get me to my gateway airport (usually JFK) on time, more reliably than any other competitor and with a decent enough product on board for the ~2.5-3 hour flight. Times have changed on those qualities though.

DLmedalliongold

Living in Dallas my partner and I have been pushing more business to AA as we value time and having a lot of non-stop options from DFW in theory is great. These past two months have been atrocious for both of our experience on AA for different flights for work and pleasure. AA has been an absolute disaster. I am rethinking that we've now both made PM on AA and are well on our way to Platinum Pro before end of year, and hating that AA makes me miss Delta in everything they do, including the onboard experience, the friendliness of the crew, their operational performance, their lounges, and most importantly their on-time performance and cancellation factor. We can all look at our own anecdotal experiences, but if I weren't hub captive, there's really nothing that would make me choose AA over DL any day of the week because the data shows just how much better DL really is in the above metrics.

volabam

They all move in lockstep in a way indistinguishable from collusion when making passenger unfriendly changes and are substantially the same. It's a matter of choosing the lesser of evils and balancing potential benefits like lounge access and upgrade chances against fares.

sydneyracquelle

And hub captivity.

RobOnLI

Don't fall for "United is better operationally" hook, line & sinker just yet. Here are a few points:

1. United is struggling to get flights out on time just like DL because their hubs do not have enough workers for below-the-wing functions like getting fuel to the plane, bags loaded, cargo loaded, or catering.
2. Speaking of catering...United is switching catering companies by October. This means the current caterers are basically doing a "work stoppage" and several hubs are having a hard time getting flights catered. IAH is the worst. Several flights are going out with no catering which means you're lucky to get a bottle of water in first class.
3. Upgrades on United are much harder to come by this year. As a 1K I'm batting around 30% (haven't tallied the numbers recently). This is, by far, the worst I have ever done as a 1K, even before the pandemic. And this cannot be blamed on "fewer flights, fewer seats". This summer every United flight I'm on has solicited for volunteers because they are 100% booked.

Fly the airline with the right schedule and price because at United you can forget upgrades (as a Plat, which is what I assume you would be if you did a status challenge/transfer) and will be just as frustrated with delays and cancellations. Yes, I think UA has far better IT than DL though. The app is generally superb.

-RM

DiverDave

Wowsers, that is a dismal upgrade percentage. Are you flying much on the new domestic widebody routes?

From my anecdotal evidence of flying Delta this year, I think a lot more folks are doing WFBF. I can observe this on my HSV-SAN MQM runs where the large 764 cabin has been generally more than 3/4 full before the upgrade window opens. That's a lot of FC seats being purchased. Even on some flights in/out of HSV the cabin can be close to full before the upgrade window opens.

FC has been pretty full, main cabin less so. Have not been on a flight this year where volunteers were even solicited. I would love to get a good offer on an MQM run, but it never happens.

David