I do 90%+ of all my travel on either United and Delta but have always fallen short in any given year of earning either Premier or Medallion status. Now that the two are mileage partners I expect to be able to achieve elite status in one or the other in 1999. Which program has the better benefits? I'm primarily interested in knowing which is better at actually letting you use your upgrades...

Essxjay

Despite everyone's hopes, the Delta/United merger is a bust! Miles/segments flown on one do not count toward elite status on the other, so I wouldn't count on it helping you reach elite status. All you can do now is earn miles from one partner in the other's frequent flyer program, nothing more. It's just like hotel or car rental miles though, they don't count toward qualification.

That said, to still answer your question, I personally prefer Delta, but that's partly because of location!

Things I like about Delta over United:

* Best web based milage tracking in the business (the miles are in your account when you land and you can see them on the web or by phone).

* Electronic segment upgrades, no paper to wait for in the mail or lose.

* Don't skimp on the first class seats. Lots of 757's (24 seats), 767's (18-24 seats), new 737's (16 seats), etc. United scares me with their 8 F seats on some of their newer planes (Airbus)!

Big drawback with Delta:

* You can't upgrade the L class fares (cheap advance purchase fares).

I'll stick up for United:

* More widebodies = more comfort and better chance of upgrades on long-haul flights.

* More international destinations to use those miles on for vacations.

* Upgrade from any fare (except e-fares).

* New 1st class seats on all aircraft by July '99 (although some complain that the new seats are just so-so)

SERIOUS drawback: "Quarterly" statements with PAPER upgrade certificates are generally 2-4 months late.

But, as Beckles states, the "partnership" is a scam. Which, IMHO, is a GOOD thing.

DL/UA NO WAY!

In a way... I'm glad the UA/Delta alliance did not totally go through. From what I read
it really wouldn't help me much (especially
the fact that I could not be elite on Delta,
plus the danger of getting miles posted to the WRONG program!) As Matt says DL/UA --
NO WAY.

EssxJay: Both Beckles and Matt have done an excellent job of outlining the pluses of both airline. But Beckles brings up a good point:
LOCATION. You have to choose the airline that's easier to get the most direct flights,
services, etc from your home airport.

Saying this, I can use CO since it's hub is EWR. But I bring up this point... it has its
pitfalls but UA for me is the best airline
for the reasons Matt outline plus... terrific
customer service and they've treated me well for the six years I've been with M-P.

I like Delta too, more than a few airlines
I won't mention. But they have limited flights out of EWR so that's less of an option.

Think it through and let us know what you decide. CATMAN

I agree with the other posters, who are all at the FF guru level. Mileage pooling and miles/segments counting towards elite on other airline have pros and cons, whichever way they are implemented someone will complain about it. I like the way it has turned out with United and Delta. Regardless of whether or not United and Delta are partners, it makes sense if one can to concentrate on one airline (if one can) so that one reaches the highest elite status on that airline. I have been happy with United and do not know much about Delta's elite program, I suspect that they are similar. See which airline is more convenient on the routes you fly, do they serve your destinations, convenient schedules, plentiful flights etc.

SXJ:

i was in a similar predicament this year. i'm a silver medallion (exp 12/98), and a premier (exp 2/99). but i wasn't able to fly enough this year to requalify for BOTH of them, so to decide which one to keep, i made these personal comparisons which were most important to me:

>>availabilty from pensacola,florida
only delta flies from PNS, but i usually drive the 2 hours to new orleans to save $200-300 on ticket prices, so this wasn't that big of a decision.
small ADVANTAGE-->DELTA

>>what type of awards to i want? hawaii & round-the-world first-class
united=35,000 miles to hawaii / 360,000 RTW
delta=30,000 miles to hawaii / 310,000 RTW
ADVANTAGE-->DELTA

>>which is easier to requalify for?
i fly to europe 2-3 times a year, and delta allows requalification with 5 atlantic crossings; united doesn't (although i will concede that 3 european trips WOULD give me the 25,000 miles to requalify on united).
ADVANTAGE-->DELTA

>>money-saving perks?
delta allows silver medallions to renew its crown room membership for $275 this year minus a $50 american express coupon that i have=$225/year.
united charges $300 for a premier membership.
ADVANTAGE-->DELTA

>>upgrades?
my experiences with delta upgrades have been terrible:
1-no L-class upgrades
2-800-mile SEGMENT upgrades requires me to use 2 upgrades for a "short 330 mile" pensacola-atlanta-tampa flight; united would only require one 500-mile upgrade (if they flew from pensacola, darn it)
3-delta will not let me upgrade a companion
BIG ADVANTAGE-->united

i'd rather fly united for their upgrade policies, but i ended up choosing delta because it was easier to requalify for this year.

Thanks for all your input. I was already leaning towards United, specifically because they serve my most frequent destination, SFO, which costs just one upgrade coupon. Even though Delta has more non-stops to the east coast and has even upgraded me on L class fares (twice!!), United offers more and better connection times overall. And yes, their biz and 1st class sections are nicer. Still, I'll probably fly Delta to Prague next fall but I'll definitely apply the miles to United.

Again, thanks for all your thoughts.

If United is your primary carrier, then consider an itinerary to Prague which includes a big chunk in United, like United to Frankfurt/London and then a United partner airline to Prague. Sometimes such itineraries do not add to the overall length or cost of the flight. In case coach is overbooked, elites get a better shot at upgrading. And this will give you at least 10K flight miles on United.

Plus, if you fly Delta, your miles WILL NOT count toward premier. If you fly UA/LH, all your miles will count...although apparantly you do not get full credit for the non-UA flights...

as long as the UA-LH-flight is a UA-flight-number (LH the carrier "only") you are promissed the full credits as on "proper" UA-flights (base-miles, class-bonus-miles, status-bonus-miles) but as a GENERAL RULE you will have to claim and proof it later (enclose ticket-copy stating the UA-flight-number and boarding-pass-copy) - till very lateley (and probably still now) the UA-flight-number is NOT LOADED on the LH-computers (only textwise). So as a general rule (happended to me and my wife overall 16 times in 1998) on UA/LH-flights you get the base-miles (and base-status-miles) and the class-miles creditet automatically, the status-bonus-miles only after you claim and proof it.