I'm a United status newbie...currently at Gold but if all the purchased trips work out should be a 1K by December.

Anyway, I flew AA and DL this past week, both in First, and both mainline flights and United holds up well in comparison.

The things I'm grateful for:

1. The App. Hands down better than either of the other two.
2. The dessert treats
3. Not having DFW as a hub and the delays that always seem to go with it.
4. Newer airplanes
5. Dasani lime

On the other hand there were some things that I wish United would adopt...though relatively minor:

1. Actual salt and pepper shakers ala the little plastic boxes on Delta's food trays.
2. Dr. Pepper and Diet Dr. Pepper (I understand this isn't going to happen but it would be nice)
3. All-day wifi passes

I was also impressed with the service from the FA's on both AA and DL. I hope as the new contract is implemented things may improve in that area on UA as well.

Interested in the opinions of others

IAH is not much better (if not much worse), though

I've flown AA a fair amount lately. I agree with your assessment, except it should be noted that in my experience United's wifi is cheaper than AA's, sometimes significantly so. On a route I usually fly, wifi is either $7 (A320) or $11 (737) on United, while AA wants around $20 for the same flight.

I'd say 80% of the time the UA flight attendants I encounter are very pleasant, about on par with AA.

I find UA's reliability of operations better than my recent experience with AA. UA is no stranger to delays for ridiculous reasons, but my experience with AA is worse (3 mechanical delays just in the last month). Note that this is a recent improvement for UA -- it was far worse in the last few years.

The UA app is a step change above the AA app, and you can do a lot more self-service with UA's systems (upgrades, same-day changes, etc.). UA's app also allows me to better predict when irregular operations might occur so that I can switch to another flights.

One significant downside I find with flying paid F on United is that when things go south, it's difficult to be accommodated in F on an alternate flight day-of because F is often already full. This is different from my experience with AA, which seems to have more F seats available close to departure.

I have zero experience with Delta. I would put UA above AA in my experience.

This is a relatively minor benefit I believe, but I believe that in terms of US carriers, UA beats DL and AA hands down on TPAC network and schedule.

How about fares, how is it that UA is often the most expensive ticket for a given itinerary, rarely the least expensive one? I really don't get it and wonder how UA hangs in against the competition when it is, IMO, so non-price-competitive. Do others think I am mistaken about the relative cost of tickets and/or the UA offers a regularly superior product?

Yes!

YES! I've had the same issues. It seems an A fare really doesn't mean much during irrops.

As far as wifi goes, Delta's prices are a little better than United's but I still prefer United's service.

One random area that Delta seems to shine is the speed with which they return regional jet carry-ons after the flight...espicially at DTW. They're on it!

Yeah, UA definitely never seems to have F inventory day-of. It also makes it nearly impossible to VDB from F (well, without sitting in Y).

IME UA frequently has the cheapest (or same price) or only non-stop for my cities. If they don't, I don't fly UA.

This is coming from a DL flyer, so may be biased, but I've got a fair amount of experience with UA and I think I can offer some opinions. Very little experience with AA however.

Business Class:
I think Delta wins here hands down. DL's worst hard product in D1 is better than United's current best. Polaris may change that, but we'll have to see what DL plan to introduce on the A350. Soft Products are comparable, but I'm going to give the edge to Delta, from my limited personal experience in both I think DL are just slightly more polished and their FA's are a little friendlier.

Domestic First:
Much of a muchness really, though DL do have free AVOD on a much larger percentage of the domestic fleet than UA do. Service is pretty similar. Pretty much every plane on both airlines I've flown recently had Wifi.

Economy:
DL win big here, their recent upgrades have really refreshed the fleet, and the vast majority of their planes have Wifi, Power, and AVOD along with mood lighting and huge overhead bins.

Route Network:
Domestically I think the route networks are pretty comparable and it all depends where you live. I live in NYC and so have the choice of both, but I absolutely hate EWR so I tend to avoid United unless the the price is reasonable.

TATL they're pretty similar, I think DL may have a few more destinations themselves but with codeshares its much of a muchness again.

TPAC I think United has the edge, but its a small edge and DL have been expanding in the region.

South America United absolutely dominate. SkyTeam only has 1 south american member in Aerolineas and DL really only fly to the major capitals.

Reliability:
DL's on time percentage is way better than UA and AA. Anecdotal, but I've only had 1 real incident with Delta involving requiring some passengers do deboard and rescan boarding passes, which only resulted in a 15 minute delay for which DL awarded me a a ton of miles. UA i've had several incidents resulting in 30+ minute delays, and their flights frequently seem to be overbooked. Especially considering I mostly fly DL out of JFK, UA should have an advantage out of EWR, but it doesn't seem to materialize in reality.

Thats my overall impression, but as I say I'm a frequent DL flyer so I may be biased. Hope this helped! and let me know if you disagree.

They all do a fine job,

Except when they don't.

UA has the best alliance, and best FFP.

DL offers the best hard and soft product.

AA offers the best blend of FFP and product.

WN offers the best product + FFP for purely domestic passengers.

For most passengers, the biggest airline in town should get their business. In competitive markets (NY, DC, LA, ORD, SF, LV, SEA for now) the difference is more about what brand/staff/etc match travel patterns.

Try connecting through EWR and ORD all the time...

Couple weeks ago, my mom's seat was inop in FC so they bumped someone else to the back and gave my mom her seat. The lady was flying with her family and only she got bumped back. My parents and I were in paid seats booked in FC so I'm assuming that the lady who got downgraded was an upgrade.

What is United's policy on who gets downgraded? I'm assuming they will downgrade anyone who got a complimentary upgrade before downgrading someone who paid for FC. Just assuming from the experience couple weeks ago.

I flew on AA last year because United's plane went tech and United rebooked us on AA. The AA flight in FC had no nothing for service for a 4+ hour flight from their hub. We were offered a drink and warmed nuts in FC, while on United, we were offered a snack basket in FC on redeye flights. AA's 737 seat is much more comfortable than United's 737 by a long shot.

That all depends where you live. I am MSP based and DL is often 2x more than Unitec on most routes. UA is usually just a bit higher than AA. So UA is usually the best deal for me. Plus, I actually get upgrades.