Just flew round trip between SF-Detroit via DELTA and here is my experience.

[RandySF]

Flights on time, even on snowy Christmas Eve. Our bags arrived with us each way. Smooth as silk. They costs more than Southwest, but they function.

[multigraincracker]

1. I like to ship my checked bags

ahead of time. Saves a lot of time and headaches.

[Hekate]

16. How do you manage it? and get the bags at the other end? Serious question....

Every time in the past my husband has brought up a similar scheme, on exploration I would discover that I or my host would have to make a separate trip to retrieve my luggage, or, if delivered by a shipping company, my host would have to be at home to receive them — or a separate trip. Also after reading a glowing report about FedEx, I dropped in to the local outlet only to discover that mailing my bags would cost about as much as my ticket.

The reason I say all this is my husband really is charmed by the idea, and someday I’ll get to travel again and I’ll have to hear about this keen idea again. No matter what, I’ll still have to hand-carry my meds and my cpap — but I’d love a viable alternative for the big bag.

[multigraincracker]

23. Fly from Detroit to SD Ca.

I ship it UPS and it's delivered to their apartment. Never a problem.

[Hekate]

24. Iwill explore that. Thank you.

Happy new year.

[mopinko]

25. if you shop on your trips,

used to be a show on npr called ‘the savvy traveler’. had a great idea- wrap your souvenirs in your dirty clothes, and ship them home.
i’ve never done it, but i love the idea.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

2. nice

[Tetrachloride]

3. I miss Northwest Orient.

the red tail.

[HUAJIAO]

5. +++

[dflprincess]

19. Interesting story behind Northwest's red tails:[

(BTW remember the gong they used to play in commercial before they wisely dropped "Orient" from the name?)

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2010/01/01/nwa-history

Patzke said the red tail stemmed from Northwest's time as a military contractor flying to Alaska in World War II. The idea resulted from the challenges of finding downed aircraft, he said.

"Finally somebody had the bright idea of painting the tails red so in the event of an accident they were more readily found," Patzke said. "As time went on, it became the basic logo and symbol of Northwest Airlines to have the red tails on all the aircraft."

[we can do it]

4. Always have good trips with Delta.

American stranded us in Seattle in 2020 in middle of nite, had already checked in for early morning return. Was able to book flight with Delta and get home a couple hours later than planned. Would have had to wait 3 days with American

[debm55]

6. Randy, glad to see you made it to Michigan to visit your daughter and are safely back home. Happy

New Year to you and your family.

[Joinfortmill]

7. 👍

[Meadowoak]

8. I've always had a good experience with Delta.

[alfredo]

9. Southwest was undermanned. That could be at the heart of the problems

Cheap bastards

[ShazzieB]

12. Not just understaffed.

From what I've read and seen on TV, their computer technology is a pathetically outdated mess. Like trying to run a complicated business like an airline with blackboards, chalk, and an abacus or two.

[alfredo]

18. The Abacus might be above their pay grade

[ShazzieB]

28. LOLOL!

Yeah, you cold be right about that. Counting on their fingers might be closer to the truth.

[Hekate]

17. An excellent critique by a pilot was posted here....

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217506418

It was years and years of greedy CEOs.

[thenelm1]

10. A lesson in "you get what you pay for?" n/t

[Demobrat]

11. Anything But United.

I swore never again after the 4th time they stranded me and stuck to it. They just don’t care.

[marmar]

13. Delta is the gold standard (in the US anyway) for how an airline should operate

[sarcasmo]

14. Functioning is priceless.

[denvine]

15. Glad you had a wonderful experience.

I've also had great experiences with Delta. I truly believe they are the best. I'm sure they have also had bad days but it seems less so and they seem to handle it better.

[Demsrule86]

20. Really because Delta dumped me in South Carolina when all the airports shut down in August

2021. I spent two nights in a motel in a very questionable area (the only one I could get) with a fabulous IHOP nearby. It was terrible and they comped and paid for nothing...they also lost my luggage for hours...only to find it and put it with other bags and inform me I must have 'missed' it. The bag was purple and impossible to miss. I still get angry every time I think of it and would never Trust Delta. You were lucky.

[llmart]

21. Similar experience here.

I flew Delta on Tuesday before Thanksgiving and fully expected to have lines and lines. I didn't check a bag and checked in online beforehand. When I walked into the McNamara I was able to walk right up to the security lines with only one or two people in front of me. It was an extremely good flight and the plane was almost brand new! Much roomier than in the past and clean as a whistle.

[Tree Lady]

22. I just flew Delta first time from

Oregon to Texas few weeks ago. Great service, flights on time, seats comfy, gave extra snacks and drinks in coach. I was impressed will fly with them again.

[Liberal In Texas]

26. I've had a horrible experience with Delta.

I suppose all situations can vary greatly, but I'll never fly with them again if I can possibly avoid them.

It was a time when I was flying with my 90 year old mother to be with my brother as he was moved into hospice. One of the things that was really terrible was the aircraft had seats so small and close together it was very hard to get my mother in and out. Also, they didn't allow enough time to make the connection with a woman in a wheelchair even though a porter literally ran from one gate in the terminal to the other pushing the wheelchair. When we got to the gate they had closed the doors and refused to open them even though the missed connection was their fault. (The weather was fine and the first flight was on time and the terminal not particularly busy.) We got to wait for 4 hours for next plane to get to our destination. Nobody at the first gate bothered to call the second to tell them to wait for us. I guess it would have been too much trouble.

Conversely, I've always had excellent service from Southwest. I suspect something has gone terribly wrong with their system and have no doubt after this the suits at Southwest will figure out what went wrong and get things back on track. The Southwest employees have also been friendly and helpful unlike the indifferent Delta staff that I ran into on that trip.

[drmeow]

27. I used to manage travel

for a project I was on - and every major carrier had at least one horror story and every one had at least one glowing story attached to it. I don't fly Southwest cause 1) they are solely domestic and the bulk of my travel is international, 2) I try to stick with one airline for frequent flyer mile purposes, and 3) across all the airline business practices that annoy me, the ones from Southwest do so the most.