See attached picture

I am not hostile to them, I just think I should get what I paid for. So, my letters in the past have been about priority luggage arriving last (it’s the contractor) the conditions of the lounge (no reply) the lack of priority boarding in Alicante (on their Facebook page).

Do you accept to pay for something and not receive it?

Anyway, you defend then so strongly I guess you work for them...as has already been implied.

If you do then fix the issues rather than defend poor service. Implying I am being untruthful does not help in the forum nor does being condescending or rude. It’s a forum, stuff gets discussed.

And the way you rant about poor SK service isn't condescending?

Exactly that. By removing the aspects of your product that differentiate you from the competition as legacy carrier, you unavoidably bring the fight to LCCs home ground: direct price competition.

Wasn’t it Bernard Shaw who wrote that “If you wrestle a pig in a mud hole, you will both get dirty, but the pig will in fact like it”? Or something along these lines...

Here is what happens when legacy majors decide to go cheap on service provided back for the money or otherwise and go to school us to pick way more on price alone:

Never before today have I flown a DL basic economy ticket, at least not long-haul. And yet now I am in the air on DL in “basic economy” leaving Scandinavia because it was not easy to avoid it. I get lounge access even without using DL/Skyteam elite status. It’s non-stop. The DL mileage program now mostly stinks from the rebate currency perspective and my elite status provides less and less. The seats are whatever they are since most of my trips are booked less than 24 hours in advance. What will I do next time leaving say Europe for JFK and I see “basic economy”’ come up? Book basic economy if it makes sense enough for me, and not give DL any premium for my business in economy class and not pay any ancillary fees. I learned a lesson: don’t avoid basic economy always. Is that what they really wanted to teach me?

I guess Delta or any other carrier is not looking out for traveler with a profile like yours. They are in the mass transportation market where they have to fill as much seats as possible, as reliable and predictable as possible to operate with profit. Pax with booking patterns like yours (or mine) are just good to fill up the last few seats at the last minute... a nice bonus.

and the one thing is clear, ticket prices are the one and most important thing deciding the load quota in the back of the plane. For the pointy end, (actually both ends are more or less pointy...) I think next to price you have corporate agreements, schedule and route network/convenient connections which determines how successful (means how well booked) a flight is.

very little has to do with ancillary services on the ground.

It’s a great example of dumbed-down offerings making a person more willing to take an “unbundled” choice and realize that “loyalty” to an airline or alliance is overrated and that business class and higher fare economy tickets may not actually be needed as much as previously thought. I did this DL basic economy flight within a seven day period where I had two DLOne flights.

Over-provisioned route? Not when I want to go nonstop between a specific airport pair and not have to count on DY long-haul.

DL miles provide better redemption options? I must be the most ill-informed DL MM around then. If someone wanted to exchange SK points for DL miles at a 1:1 ratio, I would be laughing at the SK points-provider all the way to the bank and back while circling the whole globe multiple times.

Better lounges? Sometimes yes and sometimes not; but then again, except at SkyTeam hubs, DL mostly uses the same non-US lounges I can get access to regardless of which carrier I am flying.

Priority boarding? Doesn’t mean much to me when I would prefer to be one of the last to board. At least with DL from Scandinavia to the US, I know I will more reliably be able to avoid check-in counters than when using SK to the US and I will be able to be the last to board without having to fill in some stupid paper form by hand before even being allowed into the gate area.

Better network (connecting?), better lounges, better in-flight food, better premium cabins, much much better service, better/working priority boarding, better elite status difference/benefits between levels, 24x7 elite support, better redemption options for my miles? None of thiose are substantial discriminating factors for my purchases of west-bound non-stop flights bought within 24 hours of departure. My time is more limited than my money, and most of what is mentioned above is either lacking in sufficient differentiation or is substitutable enough for me on a west-bound TATL flight to not matter enough to get me to go back to older habits.