The case for paying more for Delta vs AA or UA has certainly evaporated. In 2019 I wouldn't fly any other airline. Now I'm on track to keep AA Gold next year in addition to barely requalifying for Delta PM.

That's a consequence of Delta's failure to follow through on its marketing. I started flying AA when they were serving drinks and Delta wasn't, and now I don't see much difference between the two.

Pre-2020 I could rely on DL to get me to important meetings same-day with very little buffer. Now I know and accept that I must always fly in the night before. I also know to put aside the full day of travel for potential problems in both directions.

Sad, but true. But also of all other airlines.

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I was flying in the night before - I will barely make my meeting today (provided my flight actually takes off in a bit)

"But I had something happen on my flight and therefore the airline must be a disaster because it happened to ME" is such a common post across every forum on FT.

I'm not sure how so many people never ever had operational problems in the past but they should have bought lotto tickets.

Yesterday, was a bad day for US carriers:
34% of AA flights were delayed and 3% cancelled, 26% of WN flights were delayed, 22% of UA flights were delayed and 2% canceled, and 22% of DL flights were delayed and 0% canceled.

This data does not suggest DL is doing worse than anyone else.

In order to recover from a disruption (whatever the cause), there needs to be slack in people, equipment, airport space, and airspace.

Three years ago, airspace and airport space were more often the limiting factors for recovery. So leasing extra gates and delaying flights until the wee hours of the night would have allowed for recovery.

Now people and equipment are the bottlenecks. It’s a different operational game and I’m sure requires all of the airlines to rewrite their playbooks.

One thing I've noticed is that Delta is really slow to return to normal on board service in First. IAD to SEA r/t in first this week - still serving boxed meals?

There are things out of their control which I cant blame the airline for - as noted, its happening everywhere. But yes, its surprising that on coast to coast flights in First they are still serving very small boxed meals.

Boxes v hot depends on what station currently. There are many many threads about food complaints already - both complaints about the lack of hot meals and then people complaining that they don't like the hot meals. Either way, not usually considered an "operational" problem .
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-air-lines-skymiles/2063945-delta-flight-meal-food-service-definitive-thread-2022-edition.html

I've requalified for DM already this year, but have looked more broadly for flights. I will be UA Gold this year for the first time in decades.

Had this Sunday in Wisconsin

MKE-LGA

Was delayed due to operational issues then that put us in the weather window of the storms but they boarded us anyway and had us sit on the run way for 2 hours to the dot. Said we could unboard or wait 30 minutes and we'll be taxing back out to take off. 15 minutes into that they canceled it. Even as a Diamond Medallion the best option I was given for flight was Wens night (3 days later) because everyone else ahead of me was able to choose which is nuts considering the status for upgrade list was 5 people on that flight so how many medallions or other plat/diamonds are even there? Couldn't even use the app because it said "you must call to change"

Luckily watching flights we caught a monday night one that my non-status GF could switch too via app but I had to call. The time I got someone on the 0 minute wait diamond line the flight was sold out except one FC/J Fare. The rep said give me a second let me see if I can just give you that and he did. I was a paid W Fare originally.

They did issue me a hotel voucher and meal voucher...that didn't work and they couldn't manually issue anything either. So now I have to hope they'll honor my reimbursement request.

The other part is when IROPS happen, the interior hubs (mostly DTW & MSP) have had their schedules scrapped way too thin, so there is often no ability to reroute. When a MKE-LGA nonstop is cancelled, there aren’t enough frequencies and seats between say MKE-DTW to make a one stop re-routing possible for days, which didn’t used to be the case.

Not only has the reliability and customer service taken a hit, but the DL flight schedules have actually gotten worse in 2022 vs 2021. Even though less people wanted to fly last year, DL actually had better schedules in both DTW & MSP in 2021 vs 2022, which previously helped a lot in the event of IROPS .

With the upgraded terminal at LGA, it makes sense to diversity a bit into AA/B6 for me. Question is will I push for Delta Diamond first or stick with Platinum.

Indeed, the data does not suggest that Delta was doing worse than anyone else, yesterday.

I think it's reasonable to say that DL has probably deteriorated the most vs. the other majors compared to pre-pandemic. That's why it hurts here. Before, they were so far ahead, and now, it just depends on the day and week.

I'd still rate Delta above AA and UA in terms of reliability, but to say 2022 Delta is the same as 2019 Delta, let's not kid ourselves.

And as someone else also mentioned, the lack of flights through DTW and MSP is quite pathetic. I would understand if they kept "pandemic" schedule for the most part as many people left/took an early out/retired, but these schedules are even worse than 2021, and even then they can barely cope. They did not have a mass exodus of people suddenly leave in 2021 so not sure what their issue is.

OK enough Delta bashing from me, none of the other airlines are any better so methinks this has to do with horrible HR departments that they never gutted.