United vs delta vs American

[fizz13]

Hi everybody,
please could you advise me on these airlines, is one better than the other, do any of them have a bad rep? I am looking to book flights for August and am coming from London, England, so i do not want to be stuck in the air 10+ hours with bad service. thanks for any advice you can give me, price is around the same for all of them,

 

[jemiaule]

My favorite arline used to be American but now I am shifting towards Delta being my favorite. My last few trips I have flown Delta and have found the interior of the planes to being cleaner and in much better condition and the food more palatable (as much as airline can be).

The entertainment systems on some of the Delta flights are nicer too. They are individual monitors mounted to the seat in front of you. Each person can watch what they want not a general movie that is being shown to everyone. They have a good variety of movies and TV shows to choose from plus games as well.

I have not found the flight attendants to be any better orworse than on American. People are people and somet times you get a really freindly crew, other times you get ones who want to do their jobs then chat in the galley.

All that said I do not have any problems with American; I am just finding I prefer Delta. I still fly American, but usually only when they have a cheaper airfare than Delta.

It has been ages since I have flown United. I cannot recall much about them other than I was competely unimpressed with them and have never had the desire to fly with them again. For all I know they could be wonderful now.

 

[ElmerTinaRh]

I made reservations in February with Delta to fly to Orlando in May. Delta has already changed my flights twice. They never informed me of the changes. When they do make changes you have to call to confirm your new flight information. The last change they cancelled my flight coming home. I had to call to pick a new flight. If you do have to call expect at least a 30 minute hold time. Yesterday I was disconnected twice. The third time I called I asked to talk to a manager and the man that took my call was very good and stayed on the line until a manager actually took the call. Hopefully I will be able to get to Disney and home without anymore problems. Delta had the cheapest flight of all the airlines.

 

[dougsmom98]

We like Delta, but will fly with anyone who has the cheapest flights. American Airlines lost my luggage twice on the same trip. When we checked into the hotel and told them that our luggage was lost and that we were expecting it to be delivered sometime the next day, they guy at the desk asked us who we flew with and we told him American Airlines and he rolled his eyes and said that they have customers who get their luggage lost with them all the time. Two of my friends have had things stolen from their luggage while flying with American too. It was their own fault for putting things worth taking in there but it still happened.

 

[mmessler]

Hi everybody,
please could you advise me on these airlines, is one better than the other, do any of them have a bad rep? I am looking to book flights for August and am coming from London, England, so i do not want to be stuck in the air 10+ hours with bad service. thanks for any advice you can give me, price is around the same for all of them,

I've used all three, haven't had any problems with any of them. I book so far ahead, I almost expect minor flight schedule changes, but I've never had my flights change drastically, I think the most was about a half hour difference. Thankfully I've never had to deal with missing luggage either, though I was a little nervous once when my friend's bag came off first and mine ended up coming off last. Some of the Delta planes do have those individual monitors in the seatbacks, which are cool. I liked watching the flight progress, where we were in the air. Actually, the only problems with any of those airlines was with the check-in counter personnel for Delta in Hartford (BDL), and that was only once. Maybe I caught the man on a bad day, but he was terribly rude.

 

[Jestocost]

All three are U.S. "legacy" carriers and will be fairly similar in the level of service they provide and their relative stability. United and Delta have been or still are in bankruptcy, although this is not expected to be a significant issue for travelers in the near term. American is the only US legacy carrier not to have filed bankruptcy at some point (although they did purchase oft bankrupt TWA several years ago).

There may be some differences in terms of the airports that you will fly into and clear customs, and that may be a consideration, although I would expect that all three fly from England into JFK (NY). For United and American the other primary possibility is O'Hare (Chicago) and for Delta it is Hartsfield (Atlanta). Those aren't the only possibilities, however.

Given all of that, my feeling is that any of those three should be basically the same, so you should base your decision on price and/or schedule exclusively.

 

[bavaria]

United emerged from bankruptcy protection quite a while ago, and did so by focussing on the business traveller. This means that travellers like me who fly almost weekly have become extremely loyal due to the benefits and service we receive.

It also means that leisure infrequent travellers may not like United as much.

United/TED does not preboard children.

There is an Economy Plus section with significantly more legroom; only elites have access; all others need to pay or may be lucky enough to be 'upgraded' at the airport.

Fares are usually a little higher than the others.

But all those carriers are safe, clean, and will get you from point A to point B. All carriers in the US meet strict safety guidelines.

If you are not concerned about earning frequent flyer points, go for the one with the best schedule and price for your needs. (and you should factor miles into the equation based on the length of your flight - do any of these airlines partner with an airline you use for other trips?)

The only other area to consider is if you are paying with cash or miles for a business or first seat - those do vary considerably on every airline. I avoid United internationally and aim to use Lufthansa business class for their lie flat beds, which are in First only on United.

 

[Tasmen]

I've got no real experience with Delta. I can say that United lost a bag of mine once (mind you: they made me check it at the gate and STILL lost it) and never found it. It just went *poof* and was eaten by the luggage gremlins. American is my airline of choice if given the option. I've never really had a problem with AA at all.

 

[jennifer03878]

I've used all three, haven't had any problems with any of them. I book so far ahead, I almost expect minor flight schedule changes, but I've never had my flights change drastically, I think the most was about a half hour difference. Thankfully I've never had to deal with missing luggage either, though I was a little nervous once when my friend's bag came off first and mine ended up coming off last. Some of the Delta planes do have those individual monitors in the seatbacks, which are cool. I liked watching the flight progress, where we were in the air. Actually, the only problems with any of those airlines was with the check-in counter personnel for Delta in Hartford (BDL), and that was only once. Maybe I caught the man on a bad day, but he was terribly rude.

Which Delta flight do you get this on?? We are taking Delta out of Boston, MA and ours has no video or audio Have to come up with things for DS9 and DN11 to keep busy for the 3 hour flight (I know it's not that long). I would have loved to have gotten a flight like yours. Last year we took Song (which I know was taken over by Delta) and we had all that and it was great and made the time fly by. We booked the same flight time that we had last year, but it's not the same plane etc.. bummer

Oh well.. My main concern is getting the flight off on time and getting to MCO on time. We have limited time to get from the airport to POP and get checked in before our reservations at Rainforest Cafe (Land at 3:04, reservations at 7.. you never know)

Oh just 24 more days to go

 

[mmessler]

Which Delta flight do you get this on?? We are taking Delta out of Boston, MA and ours has no video or audio Have to come up with things for DS9 and DN11 to keep busy for the 3 hour flight (I know it's not that long). I would have loved to have gotten a flight like yours. Last year we took Song (which I know was taken over by Delta) and we had all that and it was great and made the time fly by. We booked the same flight time that we had last year, but it's not the same plane etc.. bummer

Oh well.. My main concern is getting the flight off on time and getting to MCO on time. We have limited time to get from the airport to POP and get checked in before our reservations at Rainforest Cafe (Land at 3:04, reservations at 7.. you never know)

Oh just 24 more days to go

I'm thinking now it was just when we used Delta Song from BDL. Last time we went regular Delta, we didn't have them, and I assumed it was just bad luck of the draw until I read all the postings here.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Hi everybody,
please could you advise me on these airlines, is one better than the other, do any of them have a bad rep? I am looking to book flights for August and am coming from London, England, so i do not want to be stuck in the air 10+ hours with bad service. thanks for any advice you can give me, price is around the same for all of them,

As Jestocost correctly noted, United, Delta, and American are all U.S. legacy carriers with similar levels of service and similar seating (with minimal legroom except in the Economy Plus section of United, which is better). Bavaria, who has a lot of experience with trans-Atlantic travel, gave a very good reply.

Many of the answers in the thread are based on U.S. domestic service on smaller aircraft, such as MD-80, Airbus A-319, or Boeing 737 aircraft. On such domestic flights, economy class offers only beverage service, with a small bag of pretzels (or something along those lines) if you're lucky.

Trans-Atlantic service is another story. The aircraft are usually larger, such as Boeing 767 or 777 aircraft. There's still meal service in economy, and there is typically in-flight entertainment (although you're better off bringing your own portable DVD player or a laptop with DVD capability or an iPod).

Is British Airways an option?

If your choice is United, Delta, or American, and the pricing is similar, I'd pick the one with the most convenient schedule. I would not hesitate to fly across the Atlantic on any of those three airlines, although I've never flown across the Atlantic on Delta.

I assume that frequent flyer program loyalty is not a consideration for you, else you wouldn't be asking the question.