Am I the only one who's relatively optimistic about the new DL lounge at LAX? I've personally found the food offerings in *A declining and those in the DL lounges getting better , and neither are really "meal worthy" compared to outside offerings(and as discussed, I rather enjoy heading to In-N-Out for a stretch and a bit of plane spotting if I have a spare hour and would prefer getting my meal that way). The outside deck at DL JFK is quite nice, as is the one in ATL, and they seem to be promising one at LAX. They've lifted their shower game as well. In fact, most of their "flagship" lounges are pretty nice - well beyond compare of any of the other US domestics. As someone who's not really much of a drinker, I generally am pretty happy with their offerings there, but have to admit just wish they'd put some self-serve options up.
DL seem to be upping their game in the lounge department. I love the *A lounge when it's quiet and there's space, and I tend to romanticise it based on these experiences, but the last few times it's been packed and it doesn't do well with a lot of people. But I don't get the doom and gloom about the impending DL lounge on this and other threads.