Delta vs American Airlines: Which One Gets It Right?

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Maybe you’ll remember when I flew to Wyoming back in December, I promised I’d never fly again until I had been vaccinated and had a good reason for flying instead of driving. Well, Alaska beckoned, and I am fully vaccinated, so I answered the call. As a result, I ended up flying to Fairbanks on American Airlines, and then the return trip was with Delta. Masks are still required on both (in fact, on all airlines, so that's not really a point of comparison). But there's a clear winner, and if you’d like to know which one will get my money in the future, keep reading.

I wish there was a direct flight from Atlanta to Fairbanks, but that’s not the case. I had connecting flights in other cities, so all in all, I took 2 flights up and 2 back. Statistically speaking, it’s not a huge sample size, but it’s enough of an experience for me to weigh the good and bad and give a preliminary verdict on the various innovations (or not) in the time of Covid.

I flew northward on American, so let’s start there. They began with a HUGE negative, because I started getting updates on flight delays while I was still on my airport shuttle, about 4 hours before my scheduled flight. At first it was 15 minutes, so not too bad. Then it was 45 minutes, then over an hour. By the time I was through airport security in Atlanta, it had grown to a 2-hour delay, and I was in danger of missing the connecting flight in Chicago. Then they sent a message saying I could book a new flight for free, even suggesting a few options for me. I took the soonest flight available—one connecting in Dallas-Fort Worth, and actually leaving about 30 minutes ahead of my original flight. One click later, and it was all confirmed with new boarding passes and itineraries. A good thing I rebooked, since the flight was canceled 10 minutes later!

At the gate, the gate agents announced that we could check a carry-on bag if we wanted to, due to limited overhead storage, and it would be routed to our final destination. I jumped on that. It’s so nice to have only one bag to care for, instead of two.

Boarding was fine, very orderly. Once at my seat, a father asked if I would switch with him so he could sit with his kids, which were ticketed for either side of me. The results of my late addition to the flight, I guess. I agreed, and it moved me up two rows, and from a middle seat (awful!) to a window seat (score!). The flight attendants signed off on this, and we were golden. No snacks on this first flight, but on the longer flight to Fairbanks, we got a couple of snack services—a non-alcoholic drink of our choosing, and a small bag of pretzels. Nothing fancy, but well timed.

The innovative seat setup for American Airlines is that there’s no longer a touchscreen monitor on the back of the seat in front of you. Instead, they have an extendable “clamp” (not sure how else to describe it) where you can insert your own mobile device, from as small as a phone up to a tablet. I have a Kindle, and it was about as large as the clamp would hold. Connect via their in-flight Wi-Fi, and you can access their entertainment options. I watched most of a movie on the way to Dallas, and after a layover of about 90 minutes there, I was on another flight with a window seat, and I finished the same movie. Then I proceeded to watch 3 more movies on the 6-hour flight from Dallas to Fairbanks. I never felt cramped, and I even had a cute toddler in the seat in front of me who felt like turning around and making faces from time to time. It’s not his fault, though, since I returned the favor.

The only hiccup on the landing was that the flight attendant welcomed us all to Anchorage after we landed, which gave the entire cabin a bit of a pause, but only for a couple of seconds. She realized her mistake, corrected herself, and we all had a nice laugh together.

To recap, the negatives for American Airlines included a late flight that had to be canceled, passengers needing their own device for in-flight entertainment, and a flight attendant who announced the wrong city when we landed. Positives were a free checked bag, a free rebooking, decent snacks, good accommodation for our personal devices, and ending up with window seats despite the last-minute booking.

On to Delta.

As a Georgia guy, I’ve been conditioned to think of Delta as the premier air carrier. In the past few years, Delta has generally been out of my price range. But on this trip, the Fairbanks-Seattle flight was insanely reasonable, so I jumped when I saw the price. And when it came time to book my flight back to Atlanta from Seattle, Delta was the least expensive that didn’t require an overnight stay somewhere (which would’ve just been the same price with the hotel anyway). So I was thrilled to get the chance to do 2 flights with Delta on the way back to their hub in Atlanta.

On the negative side, then, I should say that the lack of room was a huge disappointment—both in terms of leg room and seat width. I know I’m not a small guy, but I’m not huge, either. Both flights with Delta just felt so much more cramped than the ones on American, and I even had an aisle seat for both of my Delta flights. Second, Delta still uses touchscreens for entertainment, which are just fine, provided that you’ve brought your own headphones. With cords, because that’s the only way to listen to the entertainment. Now, if you’ve foolishly been living in the 21st century or somehow left your wired headphones at home, they’ll be glad to sell a pair to you for $2. Otherwise, you can disable your VPN to connect to their open Wi-Fi and watch the entertainment on your phone. No, thank you. I was glad I downloaded a couple of audiobooks to my phone before I left home.

The boarding process in Seattle was also a fuster-cluck. We didn’t begin boarding until about 10 minutes after the supposed start time, despite being cleared to do so with time to spare. And once on the plane, we had to go back to the terminal after pulling away because the passenger manifest did not match the one in the official records. In other words, there was a person on the plane who really shouldn’t have been allowed on the plane. WTF? That took about 30 minutes to sort out, and we finally took off exactly one hour after the scheduled departure time.

In terms of positive experiences, Delta offered a wider variety of snacks: cookies or almonds, or you could get pretzels if you asked for them. They were also willing to sell snack boxes or alcoholic beverages, also if you asked. And when we arrived in Atlanta, it was surprisingly only about 22 minutes later than scheduled. Nevertheless, the announcement was made that the gate agents would be happy to rebook a new flight for you for free, if necessary. They also made an announcement before we deplaned that, in the interest of human compassion, we should stay seated when the doors opened, so the people who needed to make quick connecting flights could get off first. And to my amazement, most of us did.

So let’s recap the Delta experience. On the negative side, the boarding process was sketchy, the leg room and seat width were less than expected, the in-flight entertainment was behind a headphone paywall, and in fact, everything had a price. On the plus side, you could definitely pay for more stuff than on American, except for entertainment options (more movies and TV series available with American). And the flight arrived in less time than expected, and people who still needed to rebook could do so for free, since it was no fault of their own. That’s similar to American Airlines.

I was lucky not to have any further connecting flights in Atlanta. But if the flight had arrived on time (or even early, based on how much less time it took to fly to Atlanta than was listed officially), I could’ve made my airport shuttle back home at 8:15 PM. Instead, I had to wait for the next one, which didn’t leave until 10:15. You ever tried to find food options at ATL after 8:30 PM? There’s only one: Burger King. That’s all I’ll say about that.

In the end, I certainly felt better in most ways on the flights up to Alaska than on the returning flights. And just so you don’t think I’m all hot air, I’ve put my money where my mouth is. Next month, I’m flying to Minneapolis for a few days. I’ve already booked the round trip with American Airlines.

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