What I Like Least About American, Delta, And United

There’s no denying that the “big three” US carriers aren’t always popular with consumers. I’ve written posts dedicated to the things that I like about American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. After all, there’s no perfect airline, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses.

On a slightly less positive note, in this post I wanted to share what I like least about each of the “big three” US carriers. Most of my points are intended to be more big picture, though in a couple of cases I’ll share specific shortcomings of the experience offered by each airline. I’ll provide my take, and then I’m curious to hear what OMAAT readers think.

What I like least about American Airlines

There are two things I like least about American — the lack of a strategy, and the carrier’s international route network.

First and foremost, American lacks a strategy. Executives at the airline claim that the carrier’s product is its schedule, and indeed, American has an extensive domestic route network. But that’s about the extent of it. While both Delta and United are trying to be premium airlines and improve the passenger experience, American seems to be trying to compete with ultra low cost carriers more than anything else.

All of that is great, except for the fact that the airline has high labor costs and has tens of billions of dollars in debt. It’s weird, because the airline selectively invests in being premium, but then also makes the decision to rip TVs out of narrow body aircraft.

Obviously this lack of a strategy also isn’t good for employee morale, as people don’t actually know what kind of a product they’re supposed to be delivering. What’s the mission that American employees are supposed to get behind? “Our schedule is our product?” It’s not clear how employees fit into that, short of running a punctual operation.

I feel like there’s value in having some semi-consistent strategy. For example, United has committed to becoming a more premium airline, increasing the number of premium seats across the fleet, and modernizing cabins.

Second of all, American is the largest airline in the world by some metrics, yet almost unarguably has the blandest international route network of the “big three” US carriers.

It’s borderline depressing to compare the route networks of American and United. While United flies to places ranging from Cape Town, to Singapore, to Tahiti, American seems content just being a massive domestic airline, with a limited long haul international network.

What I like least about Delta Air Lines

There are three things that I like least about Delta — hubris, the SkyMiles program, and Boeing 767s.

First of all, let’s talk about hubris. I think Delta is better than American and United in terms of customer service. Most Delta employees genuinely seem to like their jobs, and they know how to take care of customers. They’re also invested in the success of the company, thanks to the size of profit sharing payouts.

However, I can’t help but feel like the company lacks humility. Delta is slightly better than the competition. Delta management not only knows that, but in my opinion management thinks they’re better by a bigger margin than they actually are.

Now, funny enough, in my post about things Delta does well, I talked about how the airline has a clear vision of being premium, and I pointed out how Delta so strongly marketing itself as premium is probably a good thing for the company’s bottom line. But still, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s a bit off-putting for the airline to be so full of itself.

Next up is Delta SkyMiles. While American AAdvantage and United MileagePlus are far from perfect, personally I find SkyMiles to offer the least value for those looking for aspirational redemptions. While I can appreciate the simplicity of SkyMiles, and that Delta has basically turned its miles into a currency worth a cent each, the lack of aspirational redemption opportunities makes me have almost no interest in the program.

Hey, I’m not saying the reality of Delta SkyMiles is necessarily bad for the carrier’s bottom line, but as a consumer, I sure don’t love it.

Lastly, Delta’s Boeing 767 fleet is a major disadvantage. For the most part, Delta has older planes than American, but maintains them well. The exception is Boeing 767s, which are Delta’s most common wide body aircraft. Delta has 65 Boeing 767s, which is more aircraft than Delta’s entire Airbus A350-900 and Airbus A330-900neo fleet.

In my opinion, these offer the worst wide body business class experience that you’ll find on any of the “big three” US carriers. Now, admittedly not all planes are created equal. Delta’s 767-300s are much worse than the 767-400s, but even the 767-400 seats are really narrow. I think just about anyone (except one person) would agree that there’s a night and day difference between the business class product on Delta’s 767-300s and United’s 767-300s.

What I like least about United Airlines

There are two things that I like least about United — that service could be better, and Wi-Fi.

Let’s start with service. I think United is actually the US airline most trending in the right direction. The airline has an amazing route network, and is investing in its onboard experience and in premium capacity. In many ways I’d argue that United is a more compelling airline nowadays than Delta, with one major catch — service.

If you ask me, United is in the same league as American when it comes to service, and not in the same league as Delta. Following the Dr. Dao incident, former United CEO Oscar Munoz spent a lot of his time talking about how United had some customer service renaissance under his leadership.

While it’s true that people aren’t being dragged off United flights, United’s alleged radical customer service transformation simply doesn’t match my experience. Like every other airline, there are good apples and bad apples. But in my experience the customer experience that United offers in no way rivals what you’ll find at Delta.

Don’t get me wrong, United has some really lovely flight attendants (especially some of the ones that have been there forever), but to suggest that the culture has evolved significantly and that United employees are consistently friendly simply puzzles me. That largely might just come down to the carrier’s profit sharing arrangement — employees aren’t as aligned with the company’s success as Delta’s employees.

If United could get on Delta’s level when it comes to customer service, that would be a game changer. But it’s also not easy to change a company’s culture in that way.

Second of all, for an airline so focused on the premium business traveler, the current state of United’s Wi-Fi offering is awful. American and Delta are simply in a different league when it comes to the speed and reliability of high speed Wi-Fi, while United has a lot of catching up to do there. While I know this is something that United is working on, the airline still has a long way to go.

Bottom line

After writing posts about all of the good things about the “big three” US carriers, I figured it was only fair to share my major criticisms of the airlines as well. I’m not saying any of the above are the single biggest problems at the airlines, though when I think of the negatives of the above three airlines, those are the first things that come to mind.

I’m curious to hear how OMAAT readers feel — do you disagree with any of my takes? What do you like least about each of the “big three” US carriers?