Delta or United?

[Snowmoo]

Mrs Moo is travelling SYD-LAX next month. She wants to know what would be the better airline between

Delta and United?

I've heard some bad reports about United. However I'm sure there are some good one as well from some happy campers.

 

[philflyer]

Mmm... i suspect the service would be quite similar. I would actually go to their sites and check out the aircraft to wee which has the better entertainment systems. From memory United does not have personal screens in economy on their old 747s. Little things like that make a big difference on a long trip.

 

[docjames]

For my money in Y, i'd be taking Delta. Their Y offering on the 772LR is superior to UA's on the 744.

Having said that, i'd acutally be going QF or VA if price comparable.

If i had status with either, i'd go with that. Status with UA seems to get you into a "Y+" (extra leg room) seat fairly readily. No idea if Delta is similar (do they even have Y+ ? I suspect not).

 

[Snowmoo]

QF don't have a comparable fare, otherwise she'd definitely be going QF.

She is getting $1250 return for Syd to DC via SFO which cannot be matched by Qantas.

 

[maninblack]

Delta. New planes, seats, superior personal AVOD IFE. And at that price, whose arguing :?:

 

[NM]

Delta. New planes, seats, superior personal AVOD IFE. And at that price, whose arguing :?:

And don't under-value the free booze on DL

 

[maninblack]

And don't under-value the free booze on DL

Yep. Added to that Delta will be working to impress on their new route. They are in it to get market share. Remember they are one of the worlds oldest airlines and one of the biggest and not badly run either I believe.

 

[dajop]

Yep. Added to that Delta will be working to impress on their new route. They are in it to get market share.

Yeh, got to wonder how long UA are going to last. Maybe their loyal elites, and travellers who know no better will sustain them. But for the uniformed , or unprivileged (as in non-elite), if the price was the same, you'd be crazy to take a main screen only equipped 14 hour flight over the various options offered by QF, VA, DL & NZ, unless you were specifically chasing * aliiance mileage.

 

[clifford]

Yeh, got to wonder how long UA are going to last. Maybe their loyal elites, and travellers who know no better will sustain them. But for the uniformed , or unprivileged (as in non-elite), if the price was the same, you'd be crazy to take a main screen only equipped 14 hour flight over the various options offered by QF, VA, DL & NZ, unless you were specifically chasing * aliiance mileage.

Well if it were me (probably no help to the OP), it would be UA. Free E+ or exit row, free drinks (got certs), triple RDM and double EQM miles in July, free lounge access, etc, etc.

UA have decided to try hard to keep their FF's on this route, and as I have no allegiance to DL whatsoever, there is no reason at all for me to fly them. Pity UA is not using its 777's on this route, as they are far superior to those old 747's.

 

[maninblack]

Yeh, got to wonder how long UA are going to last. Maybe their loyal elites, and travellers who know no better will sustain them. But for the uniformed , or unprivileged (as in non-elite), if the price was the same, you'd be crazy to take a main screen only equipped 14 hour flight over the various options offered by QF, VA, DL & NZ, unless you were specifically chasing * aliiance mileage.

Agreed. UA have had a lot of US corporate and government related business but that will have dried up a great deal in recent times. Their new J and F product looks pretty good but you would not think that will be enough. They are a bit of a relic and if you are chasing *A miles there is always NZ especially out of MEL where the service via AKL is pretty much as quick as the UA service via SYD.

 

[stryker]

if you are chasing *A miles there is always NZ especially out of MEL where the service via AKL is pretty much as quick as the UA service via SYD.

NZ is very stingy with miles, so you'd be short changing yourself.

I guess you're perhaps not very familiar with Star.

 

[maninblack]

NZ is very stingy with miles, so you'd be short changing yourself.

I guess you're perhaps not very familiar with Star.

You are correct. I have been traveling on *A carriers quite a bit lately but never really looked at the miles on offer. I have never been a miles chaser even in QFF where my "loyalty" has been for many years. I would still take NZ in Y for few miles than UA in Y for many :!: Especially as NZ fares are currently lower than UA. But each traveler has their own rationale.

 

[dajop]

NZ is very stingy with miles, so you'd be short changing yourself.

That depends on the fare and cabin being flown. If flying in J (or C to use correct * terminology) they are quite generous on their own program and reasonable if awarded to partner airlines.

In economy they are not terrific for the lowest fare category (low mileage on NZ only program) for higher Y fares they can be credited to others * alliance programs.

 

[NYCguy]

Agreed. UA have had a lot of US corporate and government related business but that will have dried up a great deal in recent times. Their new J and F product looks pretty good but you would not think that will be enough. They are a bit of a relic and if you are chasing *A miles there is always NZ especially out of MEL where the service via AKL is pretty much as quick as the UA service via SYD.

No F on NZ - despite the recent downturn in premium cabins, there is still demand for F seats. You can throw in as much hand-made tagliatelle and Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc as you like, yet C is still C, and F is still F;

Many FFs I talk to have an intense dislike of the diagonal seating arrangement in "new" C cabins - this encompasses the obvious airlines like CX, NZ and AC, but also the looming DL services;

UA offers 100% mileage credit for their bargain-basement Y fares, unlike NZ;

UA has a reputation for "bad" service, yet after more than 2 million miles I can honestly count the number of truly terrible UA service experiences I have had on one hand;

I don't think UA will be going anywhere. From what I hear, the recent sale fares have resulted in close to 100% load factors in Y on most services between the USA and Oz. Seems not everybody is hung-up on having 25 000 000 000 000 channels of VOD at every seat.

 

[Dave Noble]

No F on NZ - despite the recent downturn in premium cabins, there is still demand for F seats. You can throw in as much hand-made tagliatelle and Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc as you like, yet C is still C, and F is still F;

But how many in First on UA are actually paying an F fare rather than on some upgrade method?

UA has a reputation for "bad" service, yet after more than 2 million miles I can honestly count the number of truly terrible UA service experiences I have had on one hand;

On a recent trip in C on UA, I found the service reasonable and the full flat seats on the 767 v pleasant and the moving map pretty reasonable. Where UA really fell down was on the meals; v poor offering and was glad I had been to Pret a Manger to get some sandwiches for my inbound flight

UA offers 100% mileage credit for their bargain-basement Y fares, unlike NZ;


I don't think UA will be going anywhere. From what I hear, the recent sale fares have resulted in close to 100% load factors in Y on most services between the USA and Oz. Seems not everybody is hung-up on having 25 000 000 000 000 channels of VOD at every seat.

I suspect that they rely on flyers being hung up on attaining 25 milliard miles rather than having 25 milliard AVOD channels

I also suspect that this is why they feel that they can get away with poor meals et al in their business cabin

I did find their new C seats very good and way better than QF 747 skybeds and if they offered these on the AU flights, they would be a good option if not wanting to eat

Dave

 

[maninblack]

No F on NZ - despite the recent downturn in premium cabins, there is still demand for F seats. You can throw in as much hand-made tagliatelle and Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc as you like, yet C is still C, and F is still F;

Many FFs I talk to have an intense dislike of the diagonal seating arrangement in "new" C cabins - this encompasses the obvious airlines like CX, NZ and AC, but also the looming DL services;

UA offers 100% mileage credit for their bargain-basement Y fares, unlike NZ;

UA has a reputation for "bad" service, yet after more than 2 million miles I can honestly count the number of truly terrible UA service experiences I have had on one hand;

I don't think UA will be going anywhere. From what I hear, the recent sale fares have resulted in close to 100% load factors in Y on most services between the USA and Oz. Seems not everybody is hung-up on having 25 000 000 000 000 channels of VOD at every seat.

All interesting and I take your points but not really relevant to the OP. The OP's wife is flying in Y and does not seem to be interested in the accumulation of miles. As I said, if I had the choice of flying Y on NZ or UA then I know which I would choose.

By the way I flew in F on UA a few years ago and the seat was somewhat diagonal too from memory, not like the NZ J seat though. Service and food was ok. But looking down the back things looked truly miserable.

I don't mind the diagonal seats many airlines are using now. I enjoyed NZ except the flip-over bed arrangement and liked AC (same as DL). The special bonus on AC was getting it on a 763 on one flight. Scoring the new UA seats on 763's would be good too. QF should have redone their 763 international fleet with Skybeds 5 years ago and they would be laughing now, but thats a whole different debate :!:

 

[stryker]

I did find their new C seats very good and way better than QF 747 skybeds and if they offered these on the AU flights, they would be a good option if not wanting to eat
Dave

Well Dave, these seats are now standard on UA's Oz flights (I flew one last week).

They are quite nice, but the main reason I fly UA is the miles.

I mightn't think UA is the best airline in the world, but with the miles I can fly any * airline. Such as LH, AC, NZ, OZ, SQ, TG, etc, etc.

That's basically it.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Delta or United

Both Delta and United have Biz Class return availability to LAX for Sept 2011 on dates that suit me at $4,399 on Best Flights.

Which carrier offers the better product please?

 

[samh004]

Re: Delta or United

I don’t know about the products, though a simple search would probably help, but as you can earn Velocity points with Delta, they seem to be the logical choice.

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Re: Delta or United

I don’t know about the products, though a simple search would probably help, but as you can earn Velocity points with Delta, they seem to be the logical choice.

And / or KF points with United.

Not a big fan of Velocity - they are more than happy to 'theive' your points back off you - wheras KF much more suitable for redemption for China flights.

The question was specifically about the 'quality' of the product.