Comparing In-Flight: Delta and United

Today we look at the actual in-flight experience. No gate agents, ground service, clubs, etc. - just the moment from foot in the door of the plane to foot out the door.

Factor	Delta	United
Fleet	Mix of Airbus and Boeing.	Mix of Airbus and Boeing.
Advantage: United. One reason: United has no DC-9s. Enough said.
Entertainment	Domestic: most 757 / 738 and all 767 with Delta on Demand. All free in First. In Economy, live TV, all music and some games free, movies and most games at a cost. Other equipment (short-haul) with overhead entertainment. Legacy Northwest equipment being updated. International: Delta on Demand in all cabins for 767-400, 777, A330, 757. In BusinessElite on 767-300ER and 747, coming to coach cabin over by mid-2013. Overhead currently in back of 767-300ER and 747.	Domestic: Overhead and conventional audio channels only. p.s.: personal video players in first and business (not installed - portable). International: First: 747/767 Premium On Demand, 777 Personal Video Tape System Business: 747/767 Premium On Demand, 777 Looping Multiple Channels Economy: 747 Overhead, 767/777 Looping Multiple Channels
Advantage: Delta. A harder call than you would think. For domestic, Delta wins hands-down, with satellite TV and many options on a great number of flights – although one must consider the large number of legacy Northwest aircraft that need to be updated. In the International arena, it’s a much tougher call, but Northwest’s large A330 fleet has brought more on-demand into the mix, which is generally lacking at UA.
Seating	All leather, just like daddy likes it. International Premium: BusinessElite varies from cradle to flat-bed, with all seating to be flat-bed by mid-2013.	Mostly nasty cloth, full of everybody else's fluids. International Premium: Fairly consistent, 3-cabin, flat-bed seating.
Advantage: Draw. United has more to offer on the international routes, but significantly less on the domestic. Unless you are a 3-cabin purist, Delta wins this once the international cabin conversions are complete.
Wi-Fi Availability	Entire domestic fleet outfitted by Summer 2010. As of this post, only DC-9s and 753s are incomplete. Caveat - international aircraft (except ex-TWA 752s) flying domestic routes do not have Wi-Fi.	p.s. aircraft (JFK - LAX / SFO) only.
Advantage: Delta. No matter what you think of the cost or speed, DL has it covered, and UA simply does not.
Power	Business Elite: A330, 747-400, 757, 767-300ER, 767-400ER, and 777. First: All 767-300, some 737 and 757. Economy: First ten rows of A330, 767-400ER and 777. First ten rows of some 757s. USB ports (for charging mobile devices) in all Delta on Demand economy seats of 737, 757, 767 aircraft. All AC power features conventional outlets.	First / Business - Empower: 777. First - Empower: some A320 and 757. All - Conventional: p.s. aircraft. First / Business - Conventional: three-cabin 767 and 747.
Advantage: Delta. A tough call, since the power on both brands is inadequate, especially on long - haul domestic and international aircraft for the economy class. Delta gives more choices, though, and needing an empower adapter is no good. You would have thought they could have put more power in as they were remodeling aircraft.
Telephone	None	Satellite service on 747, 767, and 777.
Advantage: United. Maybe people just don't care about this anymore. If your Bluetooth headset reaches the bathroom and you have a VPN connection on wifi, great. On the other hand, if you're going over the water or you don't want to break the rules, that occasional time when you need to use the phone can actually make a difference. Good work, United.
Food	Domestic Premium: Meals and snacks that vary depending on flight distance. International Premium: Multi course meals, blah blah blah. Domestic Economy: Snacks or food for purchase, generally good. International Economy: The same garbage meals that everyone has gotten for the past 30+ years.	Domestic Premium: Meals and snacks that vary depending on flight distance. International Premium: Multi course meals, blah blah blah. Domestic Economy: Snacks or food for purchase, generally good. International Economy: The same garbage meals that everyone has gotten for the past 30+ years.
Advantage: Draw. I’ve had this discussion on the podcast a million times. The bottom line is that everything here is essentially the same between carriers. The only argument to be had is the quality of the food in the premium cabins, and that argument is *extremely* arbitrary. If you like hot nuts, United wins, and you can suck it.
Beverages	Always free in First and Business. Charge in Economy, except where international flights are 6+ hours, when beer and wine are free.	Always free in First and Business. Charge in Economy, except for Transpacific flights and intra-Asia flight.
Advantage: Draw. Way too much opinion is involved here. On legitimately long international flights, Delta gives you the cheap stuff in Economy, no matter what the destination. With United, the destinations are more limited, but you get the full bar on the house in Economy.
Staff	Generally good. Especially good out of JFK, SLC, CVG and LAX. Mixed bag out of ATL. Can be very surly at other stations.	Generally bad. SEA is a known issue. IAD and ORD crews are also known to be jerks. The SFO crowd is generally good, though
Advantage: Delta. Are there bad people at Delta? Yes, more than a few. United, though, is known for its labor issue, and they have no problem ignoring passengers, or treating passengers like garbage. Delta in-flight soars when it comes to treatment of all Elite level passengers, whether Delta-based or from another SkyTeam airline. United in-flight could care less about you unless you are 1K or Global Services, and even then, it’s patchy service on a whole. Most UA flight attendants, in my experience, are much more concerned with doing the minimum required work under their union contract than they are with taking care of customers.