We're planning to use airmiles to upgrade to business class on a trip to Paris. Given the choice of AA-777 business or Delta-777 business elite, which would be the better choice and why?...purely for amenities and service. We will be two of those irritating "business class upgrade" passengers, totally full of enthusiasm and the joy of life, so we look to folks with experience with both airlines to advise us. Thanks!

Well, it depends.

Purely in terms of amenities and in-flight service, DL BizE on a 777 is nicer than Biz on an AA 777. The differences in terms of service are now negligable. However, DL's BizE product on a 777 only has 6 seats accross (2x2x2) versus AA biz class which is 7 seats accross (2x3x2).

The downside is your tickets on DL will also likely be much more expensive than on AA, because only Y/B/M fares are internationally upgradeable on DL. You didn't mention when you were planning on going, or where you were planning on originating, but just to give you some numbers for comparison, here's what the different cheapest fares would be for a few different months, and different cities. (These are the cheapest published base fares that are upgradeable -- no taxes/fees included)

SEPTEMBER..AA Fare.....DL Fare....Difference
JFK........$ 548.......$ 904......$356
ORD........$ 568.......$ 963......$395
SFO........$ 658.......$1126......$468

NOVEMBER...AA Fare.....DL Fare....Difference
JFK........$ 378.......$ 904......$526
ORD........$ 418.......$ 963......$545
SFO........$ 468.......$1126......$658

The reason that DL's fares don't change between seasons is because the upgradeable fare classes are part of the permanent rate structure. So, if you're traveling during a more-peak time, the cost difference will be lower, but will still be significant.

Hope this helps.

While waht Miles has said is correct on the surface, it is somewhat incorrect in practice. While Y,B and M fares are part of the "permanent" fare structure, there are in fact different Y, B and M fares for different seasons. Unfortunately Delta has not yet loaded "new" fares into the system yet, so the November fares will change (I have about 99% certainty of this). Therefore the fares shown for November are showing up the same as September (i.e shoulder or low season fares are currently showing up the exact same as high season fares).

The reasons for this are many, but in about a month time November fares will be lower.

However it is true that AA will allow a much wider range of fares to be upgraded, you have to actually have the upgrades available to get them.