Polytonic

Could you go into a little more detail on this? I spend most of my time in economy (and to me, economy on any airline is pretty much the same thing) so I'm always curious to hear/learn more about how the non-flying experience impacts choice of airline.

threecap

Sure but there is a DL vs UA experiences thread somewhere on this board (or maybe it's on the Delta board)... so this may get moved there. With IRROPS assistance, UA objectively wins, and this is what I value most, especially during COVID. Everything else is anecdotal and based on experience, but from my POV, UA also wins on in-flight service, FA professionalism, plane comfort, website, iphone app, and inflight wifi service (I swear Delta's must work less than 15% of the time). UA's website and app blow the competition away, and it's probably the most frequent interaction its customers have with the airline - it's underappreciated IMHO.

I have seen DL flight attendants outright attempt to pick (verbal) fights with other passengers for zero reason other than being on a power trip. They are routinely more rude, more "snippy" when speaking with passengers. I've thankfully avoided all such ire - but I see it all.the.time.

Delta's in-flight experience is noticeably more amateurish. The bright lights that remain on in 5am departures until the minute before takeoff, the loud music blaring while boarding, more passengers who want the windows wide open in the front during dawn on a Tuesday while business travelers are trying to get a wink of additional sleep, the flight attendants who insist on shaking you awake 40 minutes before landing just to make sure your seat is all the way up when it never even reclined from the beginning. UA's flight attendants are addicted to Candy Crush, People Magazine, and galley gossip -- I see it too and I agree -- but they are far better than the DL FA crews, in my experience. Consistently.

Delta wins in two places for me only: 1) more of its regional jets have a domestic first cabin/seat -- though UA is phasing out its econ-only planes, and for my busiest routes it looks like they convert in March; and 2) there are some secondary/tertiary airports that I have to visit where Delta's schedule and route map provide for a far more efficient itinerary (like 4.5-5 hours for Delta including stopover, versus 6-6.5 for United -- that's too large a time gap for my schedule/value of my time).

Food is crap on both, and for the price you pay for a first class seat I'm not sure why airplane food is such a big thing here, specifically on non-premium routes. The wines are also pretty bad on both, so though I usually am not drinking due to work, if I partake it's a bourbon on the rocks, and I suppose I prefer woodford (DL) to buffalo trace (UA). Again, that's not why I'm flying. For connections when required, I'm no fan of ORD or IAH but ATL is pretty much the worst, but MSP is nice. So we're splitting hairs in all of these categories.

Put it this way, if United could get me everywhere Delta can, within 15% of the one-way time (including stopover), and within 25% of the cost, I would exclusively fly United. I would gladly pay more to stick with UA.

lsquare

I definitely prefer DL over UA in terms of Y food. IMO, it's noticeably better. I still stand by what I said that UA's Y meals are disgusting. I still can't believe I had to eat that when I flew SFO-SIN every week from September 2022 to December 2022.

BOS 1K Flyer

I am a United 1K from BOS so I do have to fly DL from time to time.

Super important to me are the website and app. Over time, the 1K reps have gotten worse so the technology (and self service capabilities) becomes more important. UA's website and app (Android here) are, by far, the best in the business. No other airline is remotely close. (I will say that UA does chip away at features from time to time -- why would they remove functionality that already exists? For instance, sometimes I want to find the flight that leaves the latest...not earliest. The website used to show either. Now, website sort only allows earliest departure time (or arrival time). But, if you want to work all day and take the last flight out, that functionality no longer exist on the website...it's now only available on the app. Annoying since it used to exist. But, I digress.)

Food on UA is simply inedible. I always try to pick up food in the terminal before boarding. It's shameful. DL has better food, in my opinion.

I really like the hard product on UA.

Edited to add: with UA as a 1K, I can add a companion to fly with me in E+ even if they are on a separate record locator. On DL where I was also Platinum in 2023, when I wanted to fly with my partner or boss in Comfort Plus (or whatever they call it), if they were on a separate locator, that seemed to be much more of a headache.

zombietooth

Small business owner as well and yet I have exactly the opposite opinion. I am 1K on UA and Plat on DL and have had many very bad IRROPS experiences on UA over the last 24 months while DL has actually done OK for me. I loathe UA's slimline product in domestic F (I always buy-up to F if my UG isn't going to clear) and find DL's comfort better on average, except for some of the lie-flat 757 configurations that I occasionally get (UA's are bad as well for tall pax, but DL's are horrendous, so much so that I'd rather be in a domestic F seat). Food is better on DL, and I find that UA's service culture has degraded significantly over the last 5 years. I am treated better as a Plat on DL than as a 1K on UA. Things that used to be accomplished easily to reaccommodate a 1K during IRROPS know seem impossible, and UA has lost my bags twice in the last 12 months. I've cleared no domestic PlusPoints UGs in the last 12 months at least, so sticking around for the UGs is a fool's errand. I just buy F on the cheapest, most convenient flights, without preference for any airline, these days and am much happier for it.

xliioper

Yes, C+ seats are a separate fare class on DL and a companion on a separate PNR is only eligible for upgrade at check-in time (and you may only upgrade one companion). If on same PNR, they are eligible at same time (booking time for Plats and Diamonds) and priority. C+ upgrades are automated (just like FC upgrades) and priority based. When upgraded, you will be put in SU class (C+ comp upgrade class), FC upgrades use OU class/bucket. While they will pretty much always hold back FC seats from OU bucket until the gate for FC upgrades, they generally will not hold back any C+ seats from the SU C+ upgrade bucket (which means the seats can fill up pretty quickly with Plats and Diamonds as C+ cabins tend to be smaller).

BOS 1K Flyer

That's a big negative for DL. I can't book a work trip and include my partner so he is on a different ticket. Same for my boss who doesn't have status. If we are on UA, I can "upgrade" to E+ but on DL I can't upgrade to Comfort if we are traveling on separate tickets (which is basically 100% of the time).

frappant

I don't know if this is a good status match offer for DL status or not.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/delta-...c33865bd5f093b

WineCountryUA

very similar to UA's Status Challenge

frappant

But you're getting status for rest of 2024 and 2025 but have to hit their MQD thresholds during 2024? Which just looking at it seem very low. Can't be their regular MQD thresholds though.

jsloan

Yes, if you hit the thresholds you'd get status for the rest of the 2024 qualification year. DL is feeling the blowback from their ill-advised qualification fiasco from last year.

Those amounts are for a 90-day period, and are approximately 25% of the yearly amount.

thyroxine

Delta >>>>>> United
/thread