UA or DL if only Silver for a few years
 

After years of 1K on UA, I'm now reduced to Premium on UA and Silver on DL. I have to decide which airline I'm going to fly this year (and thus requalify as Silver or Premier) for subsequent years.

I am inclined toward DL because of free upgrades when available. I tend to fly non-business hours and might be able to slip into an upgrade some of the time. On UA, I would not fly more than 25K, so only two free sets of 500's, and availability might not be any better.

So, I'm left to wonder which is better. Both airlines have about equal flights out of my local airport.

What am I missing to consider?

Where are you flying to/from?

Don't all UA's RJs have E+, and many have F? I know on RNO-SFO, UA's CRJs have both F and E+. DL does have some RJs with F (CRJ900s and EMB175s), but the majority have no F. So, if you're going to do a lot of flying in RJ-heavy/RJ-only markets, see what metal DL is using.

Also, as a DL FO, you might miss E+ when your UGs don't come through.

Definately DL. 50% upgrade when I was FO with DL.
E+ is fine, but first class is better.

I fly out of the smaller Virginia airports-- RIC, PHF, and ORF. Usually taking a regional jet to a hub, so F is not always available on those flights. E+ is a nice perk, certainly, but I'd much rather be in F on the longer flights. Even as SM I know there is a good chance I would up to F.

My first big trip is coming up, ORF-PDX, PDX-DEN, DEN-ORF, and it looks like I'll purchase an A fare for first in DL to PDX, $400, then figure out a couple of fares on the second and third leg in Y, hoping for ups.

ORF has it fair share of Mainline aircraft. I try to get on the MD-88s or 757s. I actually have seen these flights go out with empty seats in F.