With a trip to New York to see friends… thought the perfect opportunity to compare how the Legacy Airlines handle the valuable route of Los Angeles to New York. Usually I would take Jet Blue since they have a flight back to Burbank, which is much easier to get back to The Fussy Flyer (TFF) World Headquarters. But it’s been a while since I have flown much on any of the major carriers, so it was time for the first ever TFF Smackdown.
Figured I would leave Delta, since they were doing a Terminal shift a few days after I left, and that would be unfair to them for a smackdown in the middle of largest terminal change at LAX history. Return via United, to see if EWR was a viable option when staying in New York. And now that the Trip Reports are filed, there is a clear winner, Delta. And Delta won by leaps and bounds on every level except for Boarding, which was extremely poorly executed. But other than that, from quality and friendliness of the Crew, to the Cabin appearance and Ground Crew… Delta performed beyond compare.
Here are the Reports:
Delta Airlines DL407 – LAX Los Angeles ✈ JFK John F Kennedy Intl Coach
United Airlines UA1165 – EWR Newark ✈ LAX Los Angeles Economy
And, JFK is a better airport for New York City, if only because there are so many optional ways to get to JFK, as hellish as they may be. EWR actually had a road closure limiting access from Manhattan, delaying the trip an additional 40 minutes. Not good unless you are taking Blade to the terminal.
This experience left me sad for United. It was just not a cheery flying experience. The crew was there to do their job, but with a general lack of pride or pleasure. I do hope that United gets a chance to turn this around. They really need to upgrade the fleet and moral. Flying is fun, but there was little fun on UA1165 that day.
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