Delta airlines

I flew Delta from SEA to CDG and the experience was wonderful. Good meals, lots of snacks and treats, friendly service. I used to think Delta was kind of a joke, but they've cleaned their act up. I'd recommend Delta over Icelandair any day.

Hi, I had a wonderful experience with Delta airlines during my stay in the U.S. They are cheap, reliable and always on time, as any other airline the room space in the economy class can be a bit tight. I wish you safe travels!

I have flown over a hundred segments on Delta this year, including a few international, I think they are one of the top airlines, no complaints.

I have flown domestically and internationally on Delta and have high praise for them. Also, the app is awesome.
Edited to add: I actually like changing planes in Atlanta provided I allow extra time. I usually have enough time to walk between terminals instead of taking the train.

sally, we've flown Delta to Europe at least 4 times in the last decade. If you're choices are between the big three US carriers - United, American, and Delta, then I'd say it doesn't matter which - its all about the connecting airports (if you have to connect), and the convenience schedules.

I avoid Delta, other things being equal, because they're trying to muscle Alaska Airlines out of their Seattle hub. But that's not your problem unless you want to keep service up and down the west coast competitive.

Nothing wrong with Delta flights themselves, they code share with Air France and KLM. If the price and schedule are right, go for it. Then give Alaska a try next time you fly north or south. ;-)

We always fly Delta to Italy and France --- that's "always" for 20 years. We once flew Icelandair to England and that was OK.

Few people from California fly Delta because it involves a domestic transfer to reach Europe. But they are fine to fly.

Thanks a lot. Good tip about allowing enough connection time in Atlanta.

Delta is always my preferred choice if I can make it work for our trip. And when we did have a major problem (engine repairs and a cancelled flight), they definitely made it right by reimbursing us for our flights and giving us vouchers. I was impressed and will always fly them when it makes sense.

We live in coastal Georgia and regularly fly Delta (also we are sky miles members).

We have flown all three major US airlines, Delta, United and American and prefer them in that order.

Prior to booking flights anywhere, particularly overseas, I always check with kayak.com and matrix air.
Then I purchase the tickets directly from the airline.

When I retired in 2010, our first flight to Europe, we flew US Airways (now merged with American). US Airways was a couple of hundred dollars lower than Delta. Also, we later flew US Airways and it rated about on par with Delta. However, it is now a part of American. When I check Kayak now, all three airlines usually have about the same fares.

I few years ago, I had some miles on American to use, so we flew them instead of Delta. American limited our seat selection to the center of the aircraft and the seating choices were poor. Delta doesn't do that.

When we have flown to Asia, once we flew to China on United. Had to go through O'hare airport in Chicago. Hate that airport. Had to go through security in changing terminals and it was a zoo. We almost missed our flight to China. Atlanta Airport is easy to use and transfers there are no problem. Also, for our trip to Japan, Delta had a direct flight to Narita airport.

For foreign carriers, we very much like Air France, in case that airline has the best deal. For Asia, also Korean Airlines is great. Both of those airlines are within the Delta Skmiles network.

Over the past four years or so Delta has been my preferred airline over United and American, especially when I can transfer in Detroit. I like the connecting options with Delta better, I feel like I have had better entertainment options and I haven’t had any problems with them. Last month I was on Delta and connected in Atlanta on the way to Munich, and I was actually impressed by how easy it was. I had previously been avoiding Atlanta transfers.

We flew Delta to Italy this year connecting in Atlanta. It was the only reasonable flight we could find with one stop. Looong layover at ATL. Paid for a lounge, The Club at ATL. Filthy place, overcrowded, food I would not touch. To compensate, maybe the best airport restaurant ever, One Flew South. The planes were cleanish, on time, the food tolerable. We flew Comfort +. Dedicated bin space but you had better be among the first in that scrum to board or it’s full. Be sure and use Seat Guru to look at your seats before you choose as some planes, some seats have a video box in the space your feet go. I’d ultimately base your decision on price, ease of connections. This year we are flying United because of that. I think the legacy airlines are pretty much interchangeable.

Our three most recent European flights were on combinations of Delta, KLM, and Air France. We try to fly Delta's PDX-AMS route, as both airports are pleasant and traveler-friendly. We also have traveled with my parents (in their 80's). We requested gate-to-gate and boarding assistance in advance; general airport and Delta staff were very helpful.

I'm a big fan of Delta. About 10 years ago, I tired of US Air, and tried American, United, and Delta. I ended up with Delta and have loved it. Eighty segments this year, including 8-10 transatlantic flights. No complaints.

No airline is perfect, of course, but Delta generally runs on time and has friendly staff. I generally like their partners, too -- KLM and Air France.

Delta has a hub in Minneapolis/St Paul (MSP), and that is a great airport to connect in if you have a choice, except in winter.

Few people from California fly Delta because it involves a domestic transfer to reach Europe. But they are fine to fly,

First, I'd love to see a source for this.

Second, LAX-CDG, DL118/119. Flies year-round, though not every day in winter.

Third, I'm from California, and fly Delta all the time, including to Europe, and sometimes with a domestic transfer. Not everyone is beholden to non-stops to Europe.

And, add me to those who prefer Delta when compared to AA or UA. In coach, no chance of getting a shoulder-scrunching 787 or 10 abreast 777. In business, less to no advantage in the hard product, but I still find that on average the crews on Delta are friendlier. Plus, Delta usually has better on-time and completion percentages than UA or AA.

Delta has the most nonstop flights both internationally and domestically out of NYC (JFK & LGA) so I fly them the most on business & leisure travel. I despise flights that are not nonstop so I do what I can to avoid them.

When weather forecasts look bad in winter, they will often allow pax to change itineraries 2-3 days in advance waiving the change fees if flying in or out of those bad weather regions.

I am a disabled passenger and Delta is outstanding regarding its service. I typically fly Delta Comfort and am pleased with it. I’m even more pleased when I’m upgraded on domestic flights to first class 72 hours ahead of my flight.

I'd love to see a source for this.

The source is this forum. From what I read here Californians fly European airlines, or especially United from SFO and especially American from LAX. I wasn’t aware of the Delta LAX flights, they must be newer. I’m with you on the airplane configurations, Delta’s 2-4-2 seating is much preferred.

I’m wondering if Delta offers nonstops from more US cites than United or American, 10 I think (LAX, Seattle, Portland, SLC, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Detroit, Boston, JFK, Atlanta).

Yeah, well Delta has been flying from LAX since 1961. And, believe it or not, there are many airports in California that are not SFO or LAX. Real airports, real airlines, including Delta. Here in Sacramento they even have multiple non-stops daily to MSP!

Researching, the LAX Europe flights on Delta started just over a year ago,

Answering my question, United flies to Europe from 7 cities (SFO, LAX, Denver, Houston, Chicago, Newark, Dulles). American looks like 8 (LAX, Dallas, Chicago, Charlotte, Raleigh, Philadelphia, JFK, Miami).,

Anyway Sally will have to forgo available nonstop flights to fly Delta to Europe from the Bay Area.

The source is this forum.

Ah, shoot, thought you had some actual statistical data we could have a look at.

Having said that--I have not looked at SFO's statistics, but since it's a UA fortress hub I would say your assumption is accurate. However, LAX is a different, much more competitive, animal. Looking at figures YTD through 10-31-19 for percentage of total passengers flown by airline, you get these as the top 3...

AA 19.25%
DL 17.48%
UA 14.33%

Unfortunately for us, (or fortunately, for those whose eyes are rolling at all of this!) LAWA does not tease out international departures by region, but Delta is only 1.2% behind AA in international passengers flown over the same time period as above (and 2% ahead of UA.)

Data for above available here.

And, as others have noted, there are many other airports in California. I life closer to (and prefer flying out of) Orange County. My favorite way to get to my favorite country is on Delta, SNA>ATL>FCO.

Sally: an additional note, Delta Europe flights have free cocktails in coach, on United and American cocktails are pay items in coach.

Huge fan of Delta. Especially appreciate the routes out of SeaTac, particularly the Schiphol layovers vs. JFK, or CDG. Always a great experience.

I avoid Delta, other things being equal, because they're trying to
muscle Alaska Airlines out of their Seattle hub.

Doesn't it increase competition and lower prices when two large airlines have a hub at an airport instead of the airport being a fortress hub for just one airline?

We mostly fly Delta or their partners because my husband is Diamond. They just lost his luggage for the first time and it was delivered to our house the next morning. In June, I flew Delta to Athens. Because I took the cheaper flight later in the day home from Athens, I knew I would have to spend the night in Atlanta and fly to Birmingham the next morning. My friends who flew out of Athens on American 5 hours before me had their flight cancelled from Philadelphia and got back to Birmingham the next morning later than me. I had spent the night in a hotel whereas they slept in cots in the airport. I think American cancelled 1500 flights that month.

Doesn't it increase competition and lower prices when two large airlines have a hub at an airport instead of the airport being a fortress hub for just one airline?

It is rather difficult to feel badly for Alaska in this case, as they are doing twice the business of Delta at SEA, and almost half of all passengers (at least as of 2018).

Data available here

My last two trips to Europe have been on Delta in cattle class.

My experience is that the folks on the phone were very nice and easy to work with. I call in for reservations vs online as I was flying with my elderly father and the folks on the phone are Asher to set everything up with then the online system. As the will arrange a wheel chair and assign the best seats possible in the class we bought (sorry to whomever got bumped out of said seats in 2018...).
So my view may be a bit off as we get on first and get as good of seems as we can in our class.
But the crews are friendly. And the give you a ton of drinks and a good amount of food (can’t speak about alcohol as I don’t drink and my dad doesn’t drink on aircraft).

My only issue is a fly out of Detroit which is a Delta hub that they have a strangle hold on. So often the cost is a bit high. I have seen people fly from the west coast cheeper then from Detroit and I often can get a ticket from Chicago through Detroit to Europe cheeper then the ticket from Detroit in the exact same aircraft...
So that is a sore point.
That being said some recent survey just listed Detroit Airport as the best overall airport in the country.
and it does have some nicely designed restaurants in the Delta terminal. But I am biased as I was part of the design term for some of those restaurants 🙂
Of course the reality is that air travel is in general getting worse. The airlines are cutting out things and cramming in more seats but I think that is pretty much a constant across all the different airlines.

Thank you very much for all your detailed replies. We have always flown UA and AA but it might be time to try Delta. Thanks!

Is there any reason you are not considering any European airlines?

For your itinerary, British Airways would be a logical choice. They fly direct to London from SFO with either a 747 or A380 ( and a few flights on a 777). For the return to Paris, you would have a short hop to London and connect there to the flight to SFO.

I see a fare of $526 per person in regular Economy (not basic Economy) for random dates in March, flying into London and back from Paris. The long-haul flights are on an A380 which is a very comfortable plane.

Thanks for your reply Lola. Actually no reason that we never took British airways. In the past trips, about half of it, we used UA frequent flier miles but this time, we thought traveling in March which is low season we would just pay for it. I will look into the suggestions of the flights you mentioned. Good suggestion. Thanks again!

I think the legacy airlines are pretty much interchangeable.

This is how I think of it. I am probably not paying enough attention though!!

I get pretty lucky on most of my (very definitely economy) flights and don’t have much to complain about. I do switch carriers all the time though depending on where I need to end up in the States (or start back from), so I don’t have any status with anyone any more. Maybe that would make a difference.

As Atlanta residents this is a no brainer of course. Pretty much everywhere in Western Europe is a non-stop on a aging well 767. Always book early enough to get the window aisle seat pair. Allows us to try and sleep on each other in cattle class.

Exceptions the past two years flying to Athens, Greece and back from Shannon in Ireland. Had to change both times at JFK, gigantic cluster both times (not Delta's Fault, weather and lack of truly adequate runways at JFK). Price sometimes rules, we are changing in Amsterdam (KLM) this year on our way to Italy ($570) - code share with DL. Flew KLM back from Prague a few years ago, an immaculate half loaded MD-11 and great food. We will see if things have changed since then!

Sally:

Between SFO and London there are 6 nonstops/day, 2 each on British Airways, Virgin, and United. From SJC there’s another British Airways nonstop, as well as a Norwegian nonstop from SFO some days. With all those nonstop choices (ask anyone here, 8 nonstop choices in a day is a lot!) it would be hard to justify flying Delta and switching in a hub airport like Seattle or JFK.

Paris there is just one nonstop each, Air France and United, and some days Norwegian. So you have 3 single ticket choices with nonstop flights, Air France and Virgin (they are partners), Norwegian, or United.

In the interest of full disclosure, I will say that we fly British Airways because we get seats in business class (essential for my husband’s bad back) with our miles. Our son who lives with his family in San Francisco flies in economy and prefers Virgin Atlantic. So check their prices too.

I do think Delta tries hard to provide a better customer service experience than their peers. It's not the over the top fawning you get on the Middle East 3, but they give their customer-facing employees a good amount of power to fix things for passengers (and most of them use that power for good) they're less likely to cancel a flight or lose or take too long to deliver a bag to the carousel- I don't think I managed to get a successful '20 minutes or 2500 miles' claim for when you end on a domestic leg since Summer 2018, and their employees often seem to actually like their jobs.

The only negative I'm hearing right now is that their enhanced meal service for international coach routes is pretty slow at this point but they should have the bugs worked out of that in coming months.

Thank you very much for all your detailed answers and suggestions!

I totally agree with the poster that had bad experience going through JFK in NYC.
I have learned the hard way to avoid some airports as much as possible.
In the USA, the worst are, generally in this order:
1) JFK
2) Chicago O'Hare

We traveled to and from Rome on Delta. I thought it would be a KLM flight, but the flights were all Delta. They ended up being just fine- food good, on-time, etc.

Hi, I was checking on Delta. There is actually a non stop flight from San Francisco to London for our dates of the third week of march.

The Virgin Atlantic flights can appear to be Delta flights since they are in the same alliance and they sell each other’s tickets.

I see. Still a good price though from $900 from UA which we were looking into a few days ago to $600 with delta/ virgin. Thanks!

You can buy both Air France and Virgin tickets at Delta.com.

Actually I was wrong before, Delta and Air France own part of Virgin. They are not in the same alliance but for all intents and purposes the tickets book that way.

Thanks Tom.