Better First Class product, AA or DL?
 

My wife and I are taking a belated honeymoon later this year to LAX and MCO, and we've decided to splurge a little bit by flying First, as she never has and I've only gotten a surprise upgrade on AirTran a few years ago (The look on my parents' faces as they walked past will always stay with me!). The two airlines that are constantly trading places farewise are American and Delta. Any significant pluses or minuses to consider with their First products?

Better First Class product, AA or DL?
 

Depends where you're originating and your planned route. That would affect whether you get a meal for example. Also aircraft type matters on each. Let us know these details and a better opinion can be offered.

Better First Class product, AA or DL?
 

For effective first-timers, no there really wouldn't be significant pluses or minuses in comparing the two. The differences for the most part would be splitting hairs (doesn't mean there couldn't be dozens of posts on the topic - this is FT after all!)

For example, Delta gives you mini bottles of water (Dasani usually I think) while AA will serve you in a glass. You're more likely to get a pre-departure beverage of your choice on Delta, whil AA if you're offered anything, it'll most likely be water or OJ (and maybe sparkling wine), unless you're really lucky and they open the bar.

Bigger differences could be route- and aircraft-dependent (eg, AA's 737-800s have a few extra inches of legroom but some people think the cushions are a little too firm). We could be more specific if you could be too. :)

Routes would be the following:

AA
MSP-LAX on an A319
LAX-MCO on 737 redeye
FLL-CLT on an A321
CLT-MSP on an A319

DL
MSP-LAX on a 737
LAX-MCO on a 757 redeye
FLL-ATL on an A321
ATL-MSP on a 757

My wife's 4'11", legroom isn't much of an issue :)

All things being close to equal, I prefer to avoid 757s. They're big for a single-aisle aircraft, so it takes forever to board/deplane* and get to the lavs: everyone wants to get there, they're all the way aft, service carts are often in the way, and the cabin crew may object to too many people hanging around waiting their turn.

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*I hate that non-word airline jargon invention, but I don't know of a better one.

If they board through 2L door (DL probably mostly does, AA usually doesn't) then the 757 is far superior if you're in F because you don't have all the coach passengers traipsing through the cabin.
And then in-flight it's better as well since coach pax never have to come up and use the F lavatory, they can use the one at the front of Y.

I'd check out the seat map on the LAX-MCO DL 757 - if it's 16 seats then it would be an internationally-configured plane with flat beds (always subject to change though), which would probably tilt the whole itinerary toward DL. But I suspect they wouldn't have those aircraft on that route normally.

Overall, both of those options will be quite similar. I would go for whatever is cheaper or has better timings for you.

Look at it this way: Car fans could debate between Mercedes Benz and BMW all day long. But if you have been driving on old Chevy for years, both MB and BMW would be a huge upgrade and seem pretty similar to you. I would just add that I wouldn't expect too much service wise on domestic F anymore. Priority checkin/security/boarding, a better seat and maybe a meal is about all you get. Much better than Y, but not that amazing.

If you ask this question on the AA forum, they'd say DL is better. If you ask this question on the DL forum, they'd say AA is better. Welcome to FlyerTalk.

Better First Class product, AA or DL?
 

My feedback is that this is a push. I prefer the 757 generally for the reasons mentioned above, and generally I'm a big DL fanboy, but most of my flying is DL and UA with very little AA experience.

If you really want to split hairs, take a look to see about seatback entertainment if that's important to you. Likewise the DL studio offering.

Now if cost isn't a big issue, I'd suggest you route through JFK/LAX. That would be a whole different ballgame as the service between those city pairs is like international business class. In that case, I'd rank AA first class > DL "One" > AA business class.

I'm not sure how many there are or how often they come up, but I recently bought an economy ticket on Delta RT from Idaho to New Orleans and when i called to ask about the first class upgrade price, Delta said they the had their "UP" fares available and it would only be $95 total for the roundtrip upgrade. Not sure if AA has those type of options, but I like Delta for it.

I completely forgot that this is about F. It's not like the OP kept it a secret, it's right in the thread title! My bad. :mad:

BOOM - those dang coachers

Just pulled 25k DL point upgrade each way from Spokane to Vienna and Munich to Spokane. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Edit: oktoberfest of course - will be arriving in Munich on the 22nd of Sept. after 3 days in Vienna and two days in Prague. Everything free other than the upgrade points and the BMW rental to drive from Vienna to Munich viaz Prague. Iz'zm ozbviously excited. And my z key is going nuts after that glass of wine onzto the keyzzboarzdzz.z .....

I'd do DL if price is equal. I'm a longtime AA flier and generally a fan, but I wouldn't pay a lot of money for their domestic F product.

- Seatguru, at least for now, thinks LAX-MCO is the international config. (Lie-flat seat.) That gives it a huge advantage over AA on that segment.

- If Seatguru is wrong, then it's a push: both airlines are in the 38-40" range with regular F seats. I flew the AA 737-800 in F yesterday, 2 segments, and I noticed the thin cushion. I suspect DL has a more comfortable seat.

- The AA 737 has a seatback video screen, although I didn't use mine yesterday so no idea what content is there. (Large screen though...probably HD-quality.) On your redeye taking off at 10PM PT, do you plan to watch a movie or try to get some sleep?

- AA was 0 for 2 yesterday on PDBs. On one segment, they didn't even come and collect jackets until the whole plane had boarded. On the plus side, I actually liked my meal, although it was a grilled chicken salad that I would hope most airlines would get right. You can reserve your meal online in advance, although I don't know what they do food-wise on redeyes departing well after the dinner hour.

- AA A319's always feel cramped to me. This is an old US Airways plane, I think.

OK, I would NOT rely on Seatguru for something like that (well, for anything, actually...). I would suggest checking the seat map for the specific flight. Of course it could change. However, I can't help but wonder why DL would have an international plane flying between LAX and MCO? Do they actually use that aircraft to any long(ish)-haul international destinations from either city?

Well, DL is at the lower end (down to 37" actually on many birds), and AA is at the upper end. ;) But it's definitely noticeable, it can actually be difficult to work on a laptop with the seat in front reclined if pitch is only 37-38. At 40", with articulating seat pans, it's no problem. Though comfort probably more of a consideration on a redeye...

I know it is a goofy routing BUT if you are in for a dime you are in for a dollar. Why not MSP-LAX-MIA-MCO on AA? LAX-MIA has frequent 777's - now that is a first class aircraft!! You can book business and the hard product will be far better than anything you listed above. The 77W's are true 3 cabin and will have international F. Just my $0.02