spin88

I find it hard to believe that a you defend United, and dog on DL for its FF program. IMHO Skymiles has become a marginally better program in the last year, MileagePlus as become a much worse program.

You and I are different types of fliers. My yield is three times the yield you have posted you provide. Putting the programs side by side:

Both award Miles for Spending (no different), and for me (given my yield) its better.

Both make it very hard to get reward tickets. But Delta is making it easier (opening up more seats) United is making it harder (opening up fewer seats). Still probably a slight advantage to United, but slight.

But, if you can find seats, United Kills you on partner redemption in J/F. That is a slight advantage to Delta at this point, for what I want (permium travel) MP is basically dead to me at this point.

CPU? Delta still give them, and does not do TODs. United does not really give them any longer, and aggressively sells TODs. Having just sat as No. 5 on the list, and gotten a $199 buy up offer (off a ticket that cost $213 in G RT SFO-ORD, UA can still get some fares from me when they are dirt cheap! ) for the last seat, don't tell me that CPUs exist, its a promise that is not delivered by United. Big advantage to Delta.

SWUs? Delta gives 4 good on any fare. United gives 6, but makes you pay any extra $600-800 for a W, and then does not clear the upgrade unless they can't TOD the seat. Major advantage to Delta, which not only has a better Business Class, but does not play games with upgrades like United does.

Delta gives free drinks/snacks in EC, the seats are also better. I'll take their deal for EC over the sub-par that E+ is now offering. Having just spend over 4 hours in row 20 on a A320, Big advantage to Delta.

And Oh, Delta is on time, and the first Class Food/Drink is zillions of times better.

787fan

Hahhaha DL doesn't use TOD ? when's the last time you visited the DL forum ?

" United Kills you on partner redemption in J/F. "

sucks for you that DL doesn't offer F redemption .... AT ALL.

"My yield is three times the yield you have posted you provide."

what is this? elitism ? 3 times the yield and pick the single worst FF program (and VX, another worthless FF program). Reminds me of 2 different Harvard professors ....

"EC ... the seats are also better."

DL's C+/EC cabin is usually 1/3rd the size of UA. guess who has a higher chance to not even scoring C+ at all ?

On-time is also WORTHLESS if you can't offer me nonstops. A delayed UA nonstop flight will probably arrive earlier than your "on-time" DL flight, while completely neglecting the fact that the on-time metrics is nationwide. Out of NYC, there's ZERO proof that DL is more on-time than UA.

anc-ord772

While it has become more difficult to obtain domestic awards on UNITED, the suggested easing of Delta awards is only because of the acceptance of higher priced awards. The 25k RT domestic award on DL is all but dead.

DL doesn't allow F rewards. So if you want a premium travel F experience DL isn't the way to go.

DL has much more reasonable F fares than UNITED, so folks are just buying F. They are also becoming more involved with FCM, but in a way which hasn't destroyed their customer loyalty to date. I receive excellent up fare prices to F on DL, UNITED, not so much.

UA-NYC

You have a really bizarre fixation with NYC vis-à-vis route networks...most US airlines aren't defined by a single market.

Since DL runs ~8-10 points higher than UA in OTA every month/quarter, pretty funny if you don't think that, quite logically, they have a better OTA in NYC as well.

Oh, using MP miles Int'l F costs over 200K TPAC/TATL now...when you can find it...not such a selling point anymore.

anc-ord772

Just one data point, but there was plenty of F saver down to South America last month. I know people dump on UNITED metal, but still, it was available. Also, that's the same price you would pay for a J award on DL.

787fan

Let me post that question back to you - you're based in NYC too. Why would you care if DL has 5000 daily departures from ATL at 100% mainline if they have a paltry offering out of your hometown / home airport, forcing you to unnecessarily connect, when its competitors are offering competitively-priced nonstops left and right ?

I don't pretend to be the one who cares about whether that XNA folk can get to Bismarck or Boise on a mainline.

And even for domestic redemptions, UA gives me a clear 2-tier pricing - saver, or (very close to) last seat. In DL, good luck with their 5-tier mambo jumbo that has less transparency than Senate campaign financing.

channa

I'm not following. You'd rather pay High than Medium?

If UA doesn't have saver, you pay the highest rate. DL lets you pay incrementally more in many cases, without always having to pay the highest rate like UA does. Advantage: Delta.

Plus with DL's improved award availability, it's often easier to find DL space than UA space. Out of NYC, European J redemptions are often easier on DL than on UA.

UA-NYC

Kind of a pointless argument then if you just say "I want the most nonstops", ignoring product quality and the like. I've actually flown more AA domestic ex-NYC this year over UA and I have no qualms whatsoever about the route network. I don't fly DL regularly but they're making big corporate gains...and we all know "business flyers" don't like to connect.

More fun facts (or solid opinions) about the big 3 in NYC:
- Worst terminal experience - A at EWR
- Crappiest RJ situation - UA with its fleet of god-awful E145s on 2+ hour routes ex-EWR
- Worst lounges - UA, not even close IMO
- Worst soft product (not NYC specific, but affects NYC flyers) - UA
- Furthest behind on Wifi (and most unreliable) - UA
- Airport with the worst OT rating - EWR
- Airport where I end up parking on the roof (exposed to the elements) as there's no parking available in the covered garage - EWR

UA is not God's gift to NYC flyers :-: Sure, you can get a n/s to China - but without any competition (unlike out of JFK) you'll pay an overpriced $10K+ for J.

Sulley

DL does TODs.

I flew out to the Bay Area for a job interview recently, and was provided with a ticket on DL

When I first received the PNR, I logged in to check the reservation and was offered to buy up to F for $418.50.

A week later, it dropped to $353. Then $250.

Finally, at check-in, I snagged DCA-SLC-OAK in F for $160.

Yay (for me).

BearX220

That seems to me to be a completely bizarre view. I'd say nonstops are comparatively worthless when persistently late or cancelled.

787fan

Worst terminal is DL JFK T2. And it's not like AA at LGA T2D is any prize either. DL flies far more flights and seats from JFK-T2 than UA at EWR T-A.

Worst soft product ? that's very subjective. I've gotten surly FA's connecting through MEM before.

Fewest destinations, frequencies, and seats from NYC ? AA. And not even close.

Just take a popular transcon route NYC-SFO (not some obscure one to artificially inflate one airline) : AA is 5x daily and UA is what? 21-23x daily ? Or look at NYC-LAX : AA is 13x while UA is ~19x. UA beat AA at their own cornerhub strategy.

Heck ... AA can't even get me from FRA and AMS .... and you tell me AA is business-pax friendly ?

787fan

Can you PROVE that UA cancels more out of NYC than DL or AA ? national stats are meaningless because I don't care if DL is 100% ontime at Maui.

The choice you offered is faulty. Last seat at UA is Tier 2 while last seat at DL is Tier 5, which is priced FAR higher than UA Tier 2.

And you can proclaim all the award availability you want (anecdotal). There's no unbiased external studies showing DL has higher availability than UA.

UA-NYC

Will agree to disagree on that one. EWR-A is a 3rd world country.

AA at LGA is great, I'm not sure what you're smoking. it's 100 yards away from UA's concourse and is much, much nicer. Have you been in the AC there? It's fairly brand new...and after security.

LOL - there's a first time for everything, I don't think I've ever seen the claim that UA's soft product is better than DL. This is just sounding desperate.

Based on your CPM, you're not a business traveler, are you? I am...AA works great for me, as it somehow does for many others. And if you're a global traveler, there's this thing called "oneworld" whch is fantastic at JFK.

You may not be aware, but the UA EWR-LAX/SFO flights are at pretty high artificial levels due to trying to drive VX out...as soon as they are, they'll drop back down.

And you do know yields for EWR are much poorer than LAX, right?

787fan

oneworld .... how's your SWU working at BA CX JL QR ? whooops you can't use on any of them.

Sooooo many oneworld airlines at JFK combined and NONE can get you nonstop to major business destinations PVG PEK TLV BOM DEL FRA AMS.

And what's the point of proclaiming about being a biz traveler? does that make your opinion more worthy than any other ?

iflyuaaa

That is not a TOD. A TOD would be between $0 and $99, which UA offers frequently.