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Welcome

Friends,

I’m continuing with our ‘reasons to love airlines’ segment, and talking about Delta. To be sure, I like airlines and really like Delta’s attention to detail on a brand level.

Are they perfect? No. But they do sell a quality airline product, and not just in their premium cabins.

963 words—let’s get going.

Links

This will be so fun to try in flight (if you are an AvGeek like me).

While a touch dramatic and not totally my style, this is an interesting take on travel.

My experience on Amtrak has been largely unreliable, but their new cars look nice.

Wild passenger refund story; I cannot believe the $28 million dollar charge ran.

Story

Every summer until I was 10, my family would fly Delta from DFW to Montana, which was admittedly a very special thing to get to do.

But alas, I was a human child.

So for as nice as it was of my parent’s and our extended family to take me on an all expense paid vacation every summer, I mostly remember (insofar as the flying was concerned) being bored by the 727s that we’d fly between Dallas and Bozeman via Salt Lake City.

Delta was the way from Dallas to Bozeman—at the time they were the only airline connecting the two places. Northwest flew to Bozeman from Minnesota and Horizon from Seattle, but coming from Texas in the early 90s it was Delta or Delta.

So we flew Delta.

The airline has changed a lot since then, and in the process they also bought Northwest. Almost universally, they are better—which is really saying something.

Delta is my first choice among US airlines, and for good reason. Between the majors, they are materially the best (their dinosaur 767-300 fleet notwithstanding). Is Delta Singapore Airlines? No. For whatever claims are made—they are more hat than cattle when it comes to being a truly ‘premium’ airline.

But thanks to JetBlue, an expensive rip-off named Song, and some legitimately good leadership in Atlanta—Delta runs the best operation of the major US carriers by far. And that is not just in the front of the plane: their quality extends across every cabin.

In my opinion, Delta most-delivers the (major) airline product most worth paying for in the USA. So, here are four reasons to consider them on your next trip, or to be extra grateful if you are already a frequent flier of theirs.

1. Entertainment—Delta has TVs in every seat across every cabin on their mainline fleet, outside of the 717s. This is remarkable, made only more so by free wifi for SkyMiles members. Their interiors are also just better kept, and their brand is coherent through the experience—something United is catching up on and American materially lags. While they’ve slipped post-pandemic, their operation has historically been very reliable. It is no wonder people pay more to fly Delta.

2. Delta One Lounges—Delta recently debuted likely the best airport lounges in North America at JFK and LAX, with more to come. They are open exclusively to passengers on long haul business class itineraries and their top Delta 360 frequent fliers traveling in first class on any itinerary.

3. People—Personally, I find Delta people to be the most pro-active and customer centric among the large US airlines. Is this universally the case? No. And every airline has great people—but Delta’s team might be the most consummately professional.

4. Medallion Program—While SkyMiles are not terribly rewarding insofar as redemptions go (see my note below), Delta recognizes frequent fliers meaningfully well. They do a great job of making their Medallion members at every level of the program ‘feel’ special—and in my experience this is surprisingly differentiating.

The gaping hole in Delta’s outfit is their actual mileage program—and how (on balance) not rewarding it is. Can you find value? Absolutely. But it is much harder than with American and United. And that means something.

Their global partnerships also pale in comparison: SkyTeam is not as competitive as Star Alliance (United) or OneWorld (American). It is by no means awful, but things like reciprocal lounge access and award redemptions are relatively weak.

They are almost the opposite of American: they recognize loyalty exceptionally well and have built a quality product on top but they do not reward loyalty with aspirational value (insofar as point redemptions are concerned). Their balance sheet would indicate this is commercially viable and strategically shrewd, so it is hard to argue with.

If I lived in a Delta hub, would I be excited to fly Delta all the time? Absolutely. But I’d be tempted to continue (as I currently do) to credit my Delta flying to Air France KLM’s FlyingBlue program, which is materially more rewarding—because Delta does a great job recognizing partner elite flyers, too.

Big Picture: Delta has a lot of positives and they are broadly perceived to be a premium US airline. The reality might be a touch more ordinary, but they are still my first choice of carrier (all else being equal) in the USA. I also have tremendous respect for their current leadership team in Atlanta.

Happy flying.

Remember, this life you are living has meaning. Thank you for reading. I am grateful you are here and would love to hear from you. If you'd like to write me a note, simply reply to this email. Otherwise I'll see you in the next one.

Be well today. -Tommy

P.S. If I can ever help you plan your next travel adventure (slash help make your points go farther), I’d be delighted. You can schedule time together here.