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I'll trade you my own anecdotal experience: Delta is by far the most professional and comfortable airline I've flown with. The difference in quality when compa

I'll trade you my own anecdotal experience: Delta is by far the most professional and comfortable airline I've flown with. The difference in quality when comparing Delta to other airlines is stark enough to me that I will book with them, even if the flight is slightly more expensive or less convenient.

gkanai 10y ago
Do you fly internationally at all? Because almost all US airlines pale in comparison to the top carriers like Singapore, ANA, Emirates, etc.
- inferiorhuman 10y ago
  Almost all airlines pale in comparison to Asian budget carriers. I've flown (from best service to worst): Scoot, ANA, and United recently (all on 787-9s). One of the Scoot flights had some sort of medical emergency. Who knows what happened, but from what I could tell the guy lived. The closest we got to a medical emergency on the United flights was the food.
  - monksy 10y ago
    That being said. United provides a better service than Delta and the worst being Lufthansa.
    - inferiorhuman 10y ago
      Not in my experience.
mindslight 10y ago
All airlines suck, because they don't bother trying to avoid turning their problems into your problems good and hard. I've generally had better experiences with Southwest than other domestic airlines, and that includes spending the night in an airport because Southwest canceled my flight due to "snow" when nary a flake was seen at the destination. Delta, I don't even know why they bother publishing a schedule. But I'm sure our relative experiences are completely dependent on specific airports and time of day. (I have flown Singapore once and the actual flight service was fantastic. But I'm not going to drop my guard over one uneventful data point, and even they haven't pushed back against the molesters)
- ajmurmann 10y ago
  Did you have the same bad experiences with major European or Asian carriers? In my experience those are far superior.
  - mindslight 10y ago
    I don't have enough experiences. I should have qualified my lead-in statement as "domestic airlines". After taking the Singapore flight, I did joke about flying across the US via Asia just for the better service. But (thankfully) I still have no idea how they handle problems. I want to believe that there are still businesses that believe in customer service and doing the right thing, and not just for customers who have paid an out-of-touch price. But part of me thinks it's just a matter of time until "market efficiency" gets to them as well.
    - ajmurmann 10y ago
      I'm not sure where the market efficiency will lead us in this case. I personally am happy to pay ~20% more to fly with a non-US carrier. However, they are making that really hard. First off availability is an issue. How many different fights leave from SFO to Tokyo Haneda (I don't like Narita) on a Friday morning? Then you have these alliances where you book one airline and it gets swapped out for a different carrier. I've in the past booked a particular flight because it was operated by Air Canada and they switched it to United(?). We were flying via Canada to avoid this and still it happened. The market is not as perfect as buying soda off a shelf. I believe that if it was ahs foreign carriers were showed domestically US carriers might be in big trouble. But maybe I underestimate how much price matters to most people.
- throwanem 10y ago
  Sorry - the molesters? Not a word one customarily sees associated with air travel. Will you elaborate? Edit: And this is what I get for checking HN before I've had my first cup of coffee. Of course you refer to TSA.
cylinder 10y ago
I guess you're only comparing to American airlines. That's a pretty low baseline
- hueving 10y ago
  I fly Delta all the time (including internationally). I hear this anecdote that the US airlines are so much worse, so I have to ask. How are foreign airlines that much better? My delta flights are almost always on time and are usually a little early. The only big delays I've experienced are because of weather, which all airlines experience. The international meals are fine, as in, I wouldnt pay any more money to get a better meal.
  - refurb 10y ago
    My experience is that US domestic flights are terrible, but US international flights are much better. Not as good as non-US carriers, but pretty good overall.
  - ekianjo 10y ago
    Good service is not just about being on time. If thats the only thing you care for, you have low expectations.
    - eyelidlessness 10y ago
      As another anecdote, I went from seldom flights to fairly regular, and the only US airline that has not made me feel like garbage is Delta. I don't particularly care about arriving "on time" except in extreme circumstances. I care about being comfortable and treated well. And while Delta like every other airline does its share of shoving people into uncomfortable seats for long periods of time with little sustenance, they have by far made that more tolerable than any other US airline I've tried. To the point I almost always book on their website rather than any other option.
    - hueving 10y ago
      Can you give an example of some things that are better on other airlines? "good service" is a pretty vaugue phrase.
s-phi-nl 10y ago
To add some data to this discussion, in 2015 FiveThirtyEight found that Delta flights typically took 4 minutes less compared to other airlines, whereas Southwest flights typically took 1 minute more. This takes delays and cancellations into account. You can see the analysis at http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/flights/ http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/flights/. The explanation, linked to at the top of that page, is at http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-we-found-the-fastest-flights/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-we-found-the-fastest....
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
ekianjo 10y ago
I have flown Delta several times in international flights. Business class. Their service was always piss poor compared to ANA, Lufthansa or even Air France. United was certainly better than Delta while still inferior to the others I mentioned. Delta ranks as the very last airline I would choose.
- dmoy 10y ago
  Among domestic American airlines though we don't have much better choice. It's all relative.
- monksy 10y ago
  > Leftouthansa Just pray to god that something doesn't go wrong with the flight. If it does.. it's your fault.
- cstross 10y ago
  Datum point: With Air France, the breakpoint is making Gold Status in Flying Blue (their frequent flyer scheme). Irregular traveller or Silver or below? If there's a problem with your journey, you own it. Gold and above? If you encounter a hiccup, they own it, and if you show the folks in the business lounge your card they'll go out of their way to fix things for you. (I was once flying economy on a Delta seat paid for by someone else, and the Delta flight was late enough coming in that I was going to miss my onward connection. But I had Gold Status to fall back on: AF picked up the ball, bumped me a class, and re-routed me on one of their own flights so that I got to my destination, a bit later than planned but the same day, rather than being dumped in Detroit overnight.)
cstross 10y ago
I'm British, a KLM/Air France frequent flyer, and visit the US a lot (so I end up on a lot of Delta code-shares -- flights booked via KLM/AF but operated by Delta). Delta are the best of the "big three" US carriers in terms of customer service, and considerably better than American or United. On their intercontinental services they <em>try</em> to measure up to their non-US carrier alliance partners. Nevertheless, they're in third place relative to KLM or Air France as far as the passenger experience goes. Relevant bit: I was on an AF trans-Atlantic flight a couple of years ago when a passenger a couple of rows behind me became unwell, and the passenger at the other side of my center aisle turned out to be a doctor on her way to a conference. Rubbernecking discreetly, I observed the cabin crew prioritizing the sick passenger's wellbeing and fetching the doctor the emergency kit and all the support she needed. Anecdata is not data and all that, but what I saw was what you'd hope to see in such a situation, not the fiasco described in the OP.

gkanai 10y ago

Do you fly internationally at all? Because almost all US airlines pale in comparison to the top carriers like Singapore, ANA, Emirates, etc.

inferiorhuman 10y ago
Almost all airlines pale in comparison to Asian budget carriers. I've flown (from best service to worst): Scoot, ANA, and United recently (all on 787-9s). One of the Scoot flights had some sort of medical emergency. Who knows what happened, but from what I could tell the guy lived. The closest we got to a medical emergency on the United flights was the food.
- monksy 10y ago
  That being said. United provides a better service than Delta and the worst being Lufthansa.
  - inferiorhuman 10y ago
    Not in my experience.

mindslight 10y ago

All airlines suck, because they don't bother trying to avoid turning their problems into your problems good and hard. I've generally had better experiences with Southwest than other domestic airlines, and that includes spending the night in an airport because Southwest canceled my flight due to "snow" when nary a flake was seen at the destination. Delta, I don't even know why they bother publishing a schedule. But I'm sure our relative experiences are completely dependent on specific airports and time of day. (I have flown Singapore once and the actual flight service was fantastic. But I'm not going to drop my guard over one uneventful data point, and even they haven't pushed back against the molesters)

ajmurmann 10y ago
Did you have the same bad experiences with major European or Asian carriers? In my experience those are far superior.
- mindslight 10y ago
  I don't have enough experiences. I should have qualified my lead-in statement as "domestic airlines". After taking the Singapore flight, I did joke about flying across the US via Asia just for the better service. But (thankfully) I still have no idea how they handle problems. I want to believe that there are still businesses that believe in customer service and doing the right thing, and not just for customers who have paid an out-of-touch price. But part of me thinks it's just a matter of time until "market efficiency" gets to them as well.
  - ajmurmann 10y ago
    I'm not sure where the market efficiency will lead us in this case. I personally am happy to pay ~20% more to fly with a non-US carrier. However, they are making that really hard. First off availability is an issue. How many different fights leave from SFO to Tokyo Haneda (I don't like Narita) on a Friday morning? Then you have these alliances where you book one airline and it gets swapped out for a different carrier. I've in the past booked a particular flight because it was operated by Air Canada and they switched it to United(?). We were flying via Canada to avoid this and still it happened. The market is not as perfect as buying soda off a shelf. I believe that if it was ahs foreign carriers were showed domestically US carriers might be in big trouble. But maybe I underestimate how much price matters to most people.
throwanem 10y ago
Sorry - the molesters? Not a word one customarily sees associated with air travel. Will you elaborate? Edit: And this is what I get for checking HN before I've had my first cup of coffee. Of course you refer to TSA.

cylinder 10y ago

I guess you're only comparing to American airlines. That's a pretty low baseline

hueving 10y ago
I fly Delta all the time (including internationally). I hear this anecdote that the US airlines are so much worse, so I have to ask. How are foreign airlines that much better? My delta flights are almost always on time and are usually a little early. The only big delays I've experienced are because of weather, which all airlines experience. The international meals are fine, as in, I wouldnt pay any more money to get a better meal.
- refurb 10y ago
  My experience is that US domestic flights are terrible, but US international flights are much better. Not as good as non-US carriers, but pretty good overall.
- ekianjo 10y ago
  Good service is not just about being on time. If thats the only thing you care for, you have low expectations.
  - eyelidlessness 10y ago
    As another anecdote, I went from seldom flights to fairly regular, and the only US airline that has not made me feel like garbage is Delta. I don't particularly care about arriving "on time" except in extreme circumstances. I care about being comfortable and treated well. And while Delta like every other airline does its share of shoving people into uncomfortable seats for long periods of time with little sustenance, they have by far made that more tolerable than any other US airline I've tried. To the point I almost always book on their website rather than any other option.
  - hueving 10y ago
    Can you give an example of some things that are better on other airlines? "good service" is a pretty vaugue phrase.

s-phi-nl 10y ago

To add some data to this discussion, in 2015 FiveThirtyEight found that Delta flights typically took 4 minutes less compared to other airlines, whereas Southwest flights typically took 1 minute more. This takes delays and cancellations into account. You can see the analysis at http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/flights/ http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/flights/. The explanation, linked to at the top of that page, is at http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-we-found-the-fastest-flights/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-we-found-the-fastest....

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

ekianjo 10y ago

I have flown Delta several times in international flights. Business class. Their service was always piss poor compared to ANA, Lufthansa or even Air France. United was certainly better than Delta while still inferior to the others I mentioned. Delta ranks as the very last airline I would choose.

dmoy 10y ago
Among domestic American airlines though we don't have much better choice. It's all relative.
monksy 10y ago
> Leftouthansa Just pray to god that something doesn't go wrong with the flight. If it does.. it's your fault.
cstross 10y ago
Datum point: With Air France, the breakpoint is making Gold Status in Flying Blue (their frequent flyer scheme). Irregular traveller or Silver or below? If there's a problem with your journey, you own it. Gold and above? If you encounter a hiccup, they own it, and if you show the folks in the business lounge your card they'll go out of their way to fix things for you. (I was once flying economy on a Delta seat paid for by someone else, and the Delta flight was late enough coming in that I was going to miss my onward connection. But I had Gold Status to fall back on: AF picked up the ball, bumped me a class, and re-routed me on one of their own flights so that I got to my destination, a bit later than planned but the same day, rather than being dumped in Detroit overnight.)

cstross 10y ago

I'm British, a KLM/Air France frequent flyer, and visit the US a lot (so I end up on a lot of Delta code-shares -- flights booked via KLM/AF but operated by Delta). Delta are the best of the "big three" US carriers in terms of customer service, and considerably better than American or United. On their intercontinental services they <em>try</em> to measure up to their non-US carrier alliance partners. Nevertheless, they're in third place relative to KLM or Air France as far as the passenger experience goes. Relevant bit: I was on an AF trans-Atlantic flight a couple of years ago when a passenger a couple of rows behind me became unwell, and the passenger at the other side of my center aisle turned out to be a doctor on her way to a conference. Rubbernecking discreetly, I observed the cabin crew prioritizing the sick passenger's wellbeing and fetching the doctor the emergency kit and all the support she needed. Anecdata is not data and all that, but what I saw was what you'd hope to see in such a situation, not the fiasco described in the OP.