philforest

Just took a flight that was booked on United because the fare was $300 per person (there were two of us)less than the cheapest fare my TA could find on Delta. Granted, we had to drive three hours from our arrival (and departure) airport on each end of the trip. That cost us a $75 car rental and a bit of sleep.
Because we were on Untied, we couldn't use Delta perks to upgrade; so we rode in the back cabin.
On the way out (ORD-SJC), we had a delay. When they came through with the drink cart, the first one was free. Would Delta have done that? The meal was so-so. But would Delta have served one?
On the way back, we were on time all the way. Still, the drink service was "the first one's on us.") Would Delta ever do that?
And, the meal was GOOD, which is something I've never said about a Delta First Class meal.
OK, DL: Get some spies in coach on those United flights. They could very easily take me away from you unless you improve.


[This message has been edited by philforest (edited 08-30-2000).]

[This message has been edited by philforest (edited 08-30-2000).]

Lootsy1031

I fly about 60k miles on Delta per year and about an equal number on United.

Both have strengths, but these strengths are very different:

United:
• Better quality of food (both in F and Y).
• More food (especially trans-con), and food served on shorter flights (UAShuttle flights excluded)
• Can upgrade from any fare (Premier Exec).
• Better West coast, trans-con, and Asian route network.

Delta:
• Better ground (airport) services (check-in, gate areas, etc.)
• Friendlier employees (reservations, ticket desk, gates, flight attendants)
• MUCH better Business Class product.
• ALWAYS successful in upgrading from coach.
• Better East coast and European route network.

Bottom line -- I think Delta has better customer service than United, although UA has better/more food, and (from LAX) many more flight choices.

I'm interested in anyone else's thoughts??!!

[This message has been edited by Lootsy1031 (edited 08-29-2000).]

davefr

You forgot a few areas.

With DL you can get SLC, CVG, and PDX which are "problem free" hubs. DFW is an "OK", but ATL is a "hub from hell".

With UA you get DEN as the "problem free hub". ORD and SFO are both "hubs from hell".

With UA you get Channel 9. With DL you get the Skyview system on certain ships.

I've never seen DL serve drinks "gratas" in coach. However on the ground, DL's CR doesn't charge for drinks yet UA's RCC does.

Lootsy1031

I would absolutely agree with all of DAVEFR's comments.

In addition, Delta's JFK hub is "from hell", as is United's IAD hub. (Although, of these two hubs, IAD is, in my opinion, far worse.)

ryanDLGM

I don't fly United very often and when I do it's out of MIA (not the best hub city either), but I have to say that I have found every meal in Delta DomesticFirst, with the possible exception of an omlette here and there, to be very good. This is since the menu changes earlier this year. I usually look forward to eating airplane food on Delta. BTW, SJC-ATL and SJC-CVG are meal flights in coach, except for the redeye.
I think they're both very good airlines compared to the rest of the domestics.
I do really like channel 9 though.

------------------
Now DL Platinum for 2000 and probably 2001.

RRWhite

I hesitate to weigh in, but I'll wade in anyway: There's been a bunch 'o bashing of ATL (the airport) recently, but I'll tell you that, IMHO, it's the best big airport in the world to get around in. Maybe it's because I know it so well, but I like it. Now, y'all don't go flaming me, everyone has his/her opinion, and that's mine.

An earlier post hit the nail on the head: both DL and UA have pluses and minuses. I flew UA recently from ATL to MSP and return, and before that flt would have said that UA was better in the "flt dept." Not so anymore. I think DL is better. I went thru ORD, and agree that it is the airport from hell. I also would have said that UA was better in the food dept, but also not any more. At least in F, DL's food is not bad.

UA needs to work on their scheduling problems, which they are doing. I love channel 9, but the captain didn't turn it on on my last flt. I wish DL had an equivalent.

I don't *always* clear first with DL, which aggravates this 3MM, always PM flyer. MM status isn't counted when it comes to upgrades, and I think it should be. I usually fly full Y fares, but occasionally get a break. The break usually winds up with me fighting for an upgrade and sometimes losing. Not good, in my opinion.

I have generally found UA's employees to be super friendly. I generally rate DL's FAs to be a bit on the non-friendly side, as well as the gate agents. But the CR employees are usually great.

I don't know if I addressed all of the above issues or not. I've been trying to finish this post for 30 minutes and have been interrupted several times with phone calls. Anyway, that's my $0.02 worth!

Don

ATL-SFO this past Friday on DL:

Downside: Two-hour delay in Atlanta for an equipment change; it required the 200+ pax to schlep from concourse B to concourse A. Mass confusion amongst the gate staff about re-ticketing (they'd pulled an L-1011-500 for an L-1011-1, so they ended up with more F seats available for the inevitable `I want my upgrade' war. But only half of the gate staff realized this, and passed out conflicting info. It wasn't pretty)

Upside: we were in coach, and when I offered cash to the FA for my wife's drink I was told those precise words: ``the first one's on us.'' And the COACH lunch wasn't at all bad (small, yes ... but not bad). They gave us the movie free, too, for the ATL delay.

On the SFO-ATL return Monday, the cabin crew had pillows and blankets already set out on each seat (coach, again) when we boarded. And the COACH breakfast wasn't bad, either.

davefr

I've actually found DL personel way more helpful than any other airline. (AS comes close)

I've had DL customer service agents track me down on the road via cell phone and proactively help me with problem flights. I've also had airport gate/CR agents go the extra mile to help me out. Under Mullin's reign, I've never been denied lodging due to missing the last flight of the day. (even when the root cause is weather). I really sense that DL personel are sincere in their desire to help.

UA personel are professional but I've never sensed that they go much out of there way to help to the extent DL has. That's why my loyalty is with DL despite their stupid FF pgm rollbacks.

I admit that DL goes downhill fast in ATL, but if you stay can away from ATL they are the best.

mktozd

I share most of Lootsy1031's points as well as the following:

UA:
--Newer and bigger planes
--Bigger alliance

DL:
--MUCH better service
--Nicer FA's
--Better clubs than RCC

Others?

JRF

A little deeper, how does UA Epress flights (and any other commuters they have) compare to ASA/TWE/ComAir/SkyWest?

bdwarf

I agree with Lootsy1031 about customer service vs food service. But I think ATL is an ok airport. Pretty easy to get around compared to others...

When I was delayed by 2 hours in ATL last year, not only did Delta give free drinks and movie, but I was mailed a $50 voucher and an apology. Not something I expected, but pretty nice. (Interesting, my fiancee who wasn't a skymiles member didn't get such a letter...)

The cost of the ticket never matters to me anymore - If you fly the cheaper ticket on United, you can still get Delta miles for it.

davefr

I would venture to guess that DL actually has bigger planes as defined by % of domestic routes where they dipatch a wide domestic fleet of widebodies (primarily body. DL actually has a pretty impressive 767's, Tri-Stars, and they even use their MD-11's and 777's for a few domestic routes).

I agree that DL's international alliance network is a joke. Canada and the South Pacific are big holes in their network.

QUOTE]Originally posted by mktozd:
I share most of Lootsy1031's points as well as the following:

UA:
--Newer and bigger planes
--Bigger alliance

DL:
--MUCH better service
--Nicer FA's
--Better clubs than RCC

Others?

[/QUOTE]

Lootsy1031

JRF,
Interesting question regarding the commuter affiliates (it's best not to use the word "Express", as Delta uses it for its low-fare Florida product (737s), and United uses it for its commuters).

Here's my $0.02:

Delta (SkyWest, Comair, ASA, TransStates):
• Comair is a great airline. Nuff said.
• ASA can potentially be a nightmare. But I think they're getting better, especially after Delta purchased them.
• TransStates flies crappy planes out of JFK (J41s -- ). Don't know about their service.
• SkyWest is another great airline; note that they also codeshare with United out of LAX (SkyWest changed allegiance to United from Delta at LAX, but kept their DL affiliation elsewhere, i.e., SLC).
• ACJet -- If they're anything like Atlantic Coast (the parent company, which also flies for United), then they're probably not great.

United (Great Lakes, Air Wisconsin, SkyWest, Atlantic Coast (ACA)):
• ACA, Great Lakes, Air Wisconsin -- IMHO, all of these could use some work, especially ACA. Horribly unreliable operation at IAD. Crappy and old J41s. But they're finally getting some CRJs.
• SkyWest -- see above for Delta. Good airline.

Net net, I believe that Delta has the edge in commuter carriers, especially with the large number of regional jets they are all starting to fly.

philforest

I'll go back to the original message: If I must fly in coach, I'll pick United. Crappy seating (not enought pitch - they've taken it away from the crowd and given it to those first five rows). But it's still better than DL's 757s.

[This message has been edited by philforest (edited 08-30-2000).]

Jamester

As someone who switched allegiance to UA this year (pls don't kill me, that's more upgrade seats for YOU ), I'll pitch in on the list, in the order of importance:

United:
- Upgrade on any published fare as a Premier & above (I put this as a definite plus!)
- More extensive network (since I fly mostly along the west coast, mountain and over the Pacific)
- More convenient schedule (since I fly out of the "hub from hell" SFO )
- Nicer aircraft (I think so)
- Good food (never those stale pizza or the mystery ravioli)

Delta:
- Extensive East Coast and South (if that's where you mostly travel to, DL works just fine; but my travelling days to Tallahassee and New Orleans were over a while back)
- Less waiting line at the SFO station, since it's a non-hub, and a short walk away to the gates
- Nicer (younger?) flight attendants, some with good ol' polite Southern hospitality

As you see, my only gripe against DL is their upgrade policy. You're forced to buy K fare and up with absolutely NO guarantee that you get the upgrade (and absolutely NO refund in the difference between L and K when you get stuck on the back). At least with UA it's a win-win situation for me; when I don't get upgraded I don't feel so ripped off.

And another reason why I prefer UA these days is a matter of route convenience. I'm getting sick of spending 5 hrs flying into DEN (via SLC) when I can get direct flight with UA for 2.5 hrs. Plus DL's Pacific routing isn't that extensive anymore.

All in all, both airlines are good airlines; for me, it's like comparing Coke and Pepsi, some ppl like Coke, some ppl hate Pepsi. Neither are wrong. *shrug*

Thx
Jamester