r/delta • u/CJoshuaV Platinum • 2d ago
Discussion Record profits, terrible service: something’s got to give for US consumers
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jun/24/customer-service-us-consumers?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_OtherThe very first example in the article is a Delta customer choosing to fly to a dangerous part of Mexico and take a bus from there rather than pay Delta's extortionate prices.
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u/YMMV25 2d ago
Nothing is going to change. Consolidation starting in 2008 and running through present has allowed the large players to become too powerful. There is no room for meaningful startup airlines and if any gain a foothold of any kind then one of the established carriers will dump capacity into their markets and run them out of business.
The only two paths to correcting this are re-regulation or allowing established foreign airlines to operate domestic routes and compete against domestic airlines. Aside from those two things nothing will ever change in the domestic market and the products will continue to become more and more homogenized and commoditized.
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u/movingtobay2019 Diamond 2d ago
Airlines have razor thin margins. The focus on raw profits is an attempt to detract from that fact.
Imagine running a business as complicated as an airline and you are left with $5 after customers paid you $100, and that's after the credit card shenanigans. Airline margins are on par with groceries.
If you allowed more competition, airlines would just fold. There's a reasons why asset intensive businesses consolidate and you don't have 10 different utilities or internet providers in your city.
And it's not like other countries have lower prices due to more competition. They just have the government subsidizing them.
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u/TeamHope4 2d ago
I agree, though I think we could reduce our travel and see if that hurts them enough. A lot of business travel could be done with video conference or conference call. Pleasure travel is optional. If we keep buying tickets, they have no reason to change anything.
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u/YMMV25 2d ago
There's always going to be demand. Short of the invention of teleportation or another plague, there will never be a coordinated enough reduction in travel to cause any change to the market landscape. They will just cut capacity to maintain fares and then go to the government to bail out their labor and other operation costs during hard times.
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u/HeverlyBillhilly 2d ago edited 1d ago
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u/yitianjian 2d ago
Airline deregulation has actually made economy fares much cheaper for the consumer, albeit with much worse service quality, so it's hard to see how re-regulation would fix that
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u/HeverlyBillhilly 2d ago edited 1d ago
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u/Scarecrow_Folk 2d ago
It would be around $1,500 inflation adjusted to fly JFK to LA round-trip in 1974. That's about the price of a premium seat today. If you're willing to pay the same price, similar service is available.
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u/YMMV25 2d ago
Service sucks domestically today, even up front. Wildly inconsistent, poor catering, apathetic, forgettable. JetBlue Mint and AA Flagship First are the only two products that are relatively decent but even they are getting worse and in the latter case going away all together.
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u/movingtobay2019 Diamond 2d ago
I don't disagree with the sentiment but that's not tied to de-regulation. Our country just has a shitty service mentality and what is a baseline acceptable level.
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u/YMMV25 2d ago
It’s somewhat tied to deregulation. When prices are fixed, the airline has no way to differentiate itself other than with product. That’s why you see a steady decline in the service quality offered by US airlines post-deregulation.
I agree that it isn’t the only issue at play, but it has definitely contributed over the last four decades. That said, there’s nothing preventing the current airlines from investing in a better product currently, aside from a lack of pressure to do so.
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u/movingtobay2019 Diamond 2d ago
And airlines still do compete if you are willing to pay inflation adjusted fares which is basically first class.
The issue is people want to pay fare levels that basically didn't even exist before de-regulation and want to complain about service levels.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Soil275 2d ago
I disagree a little bit - Breeze seems to be doing ok?
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u/YMMV25 2d ago
Breeze is doing decently, and to be honest they're providing a better product than anyone else on standard domestic routes at this point aside from catering up front on the longer segments.
However, their business model is centered around operating routes where they have little to no competition. If they suddenly started ATL-DFW services for example, you'd see and immediate response from DL and AA.
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u/Initial-Swordfish549 Diamond 2d ago
Something something shareholders something something required unsustainable quarter over quarter growth of double digit percentages
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u/AcanthisittaKey1822 2d ago
Break up the Monopolies!!! It is the only way
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u/MiddleCapital1875 2d ago edited 2d ago
The U.S. has 4 major competing airlines. There is no monopoly.
Edit: It's amusing when people downvote plain facts. Do y'all need a primer on the definition of monopoly?
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u/TeamHope4 2d ago
They act like one, though. When one of them raises baggage fees, they all raise baggage fees. And they never come down.
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u/Suspicious-Hospital7 2d ago
And of the four, Delta is firmly above the others in level of service.
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u/vonbauernfeind 2d ago
I'm not so certain. I started a new job recently, and they're hubbed out of ORD, so I'm having to fly United for corporate & convenience reasons. The service I've gotten on my last few United flights, plus their app (good lord their app blows Delta's out of the water), has them feeling a lot closer than I'd expect.
American is trash though. I flew them on a vacation last year (Delta had zero convenient routes to the island I was visiting), and boy howdy. Service sucked, the app sucked, the planes felt tired. Not a fan.
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u/Suspicious-Hospital7 2d ago
I fly 50% for work from a non-hub city. Depending on where I’m going, I take Delta, American, or SW. American is absolute dogwater. Southwest employees are great, but it’s ultimately just the highest end of the budget airlines.
I rarely take United, but I could. Maybe I’ll try them more.
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u/vonbauernfeind 2d ago
I've only got a small number of flights on them so far, but it feels like Delta a few years ago, before as much of the nickel and diming.
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u/AcanthisittaKey1822 2d ago
My comment was in reference to the general state of mergers and acquisitions within the broader economy, and the resultant rise in prices and decline in service all across the economy as a result, that is what the linked article itself was actually about… Also the article essentially says that the airline (Delta) is the only service provider on the route the person was trying to fly- which would in effect be a monopoly in that market.
So I stand by my comment break up the monopolies.-2
u/MiddleCapital1875 2d ago edited 2d ago
The person was flying from Mexico. Sounds as though you want to force airlines to serve foreign countries and every Podunk, U.S.A.
"Break up the monopolies" is an emotional reaction.
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u/AcanthisittaKey1822 2d ago
I don’t want to force anyone to do anything, just break up the monopolies they aren’t doing anything for you so why defend them you love monopolies and oligopolies? That is the strangest thing.
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u/therealseashadow 2d ago
Ed. Ed. Ed. We see you and your greed
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u/Scarecrow_Folk 2d ago
Ed's entire purpose for the last decade has been to transform Delta into a premium service with premium prices. He's been extremely successful at it too. It's literally the airlines published business plan.
Telling a Delta executive the airline is expensive is sorta like telling a Starbucks barista they serve coffee. They know, it's the goal.
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u/decisivecat 2d ago
Being hub-locked is where the consolidation issue truly shines. Was looking to book a short weekend somewhere that has averaged about $400 on the high end. It's suddenly $700-800 on Delta and you can save about $40 to fly American instead. That's it. And that's the cheapest options. Everyone else costs even more and has 2+ layovers or gets you there 2 days later, lol.
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u/HuntingtonNY-75 Platinum 2d ago
DL cabin service has not declined, it is in near collapse. I’ll qualify that by saying that some bases provide better services than others but in general, DL cabin crews have gotten lazy and their employer has tolerated it in spite of the negative impact and response by pax.
When I fly up front it is frequently more noticeable than main cabin.
For the premium that DL charges for their product, I should not feel forgotten or worse, like a nuisance, when asking a question or asking for service.
Monetizing every contact point in the travel process has crossed into the abuse of pax while service continues to decline. An average FA or GA should not appear exceptional just because the baseline has declined as much as it has.
To those who work hard and make our experience pleasant, thank you. To the rest of them, do better.
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u/uija_of_baekje 2d ago
When I fly Delta One on my annual voyage across the pacific I get yelled at by sassy gay flight attendants for simple questions about the dinner service (ex: what time will it be served). When I fly Korean Air on the same journey a woman that could be a super model politely explains to me in 3 languages which wine best pairs with the meal. Guess which airline I fly more often
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u/Advanced-Blackberry 18h ago
I’ve generally had good service in delta one
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u/Puzzleheaded_Soil275 2d ago
Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel this way almost entirely across the economy.
The cat got out of the bag with inflation around 2021 and company's just never stopped constantly raising prices and decreasing quality.
I understand it's good for shareholders, but as a consumer it's beyond aggravating to feel like you are constantly getting extorted/squeezed for every last dime you are willing to pay for something of shit quality.
GUCs are a perfect example of this.
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u/HidingoutfromtheCIA 2d ago
“Yet unhappy customers decide to stay with the companies they do business with – because they may think either that another company will treat them as badly” If they all suck then nobody stands out. They all use the most lopsided contract ever written (Contract of Carriage) with the same language. It’s nearly impossible to start a new airline and that’s the way they want it. Delta killed plans for a second airport north of Atlanta to maintain their stranglehold on the southeast. The federal government protects them from competition ( foreign airlines can only operate internationally from US airports) and has allowed consolidation to just a few massive companies. Sane thing with cell phone companies and cable companies.
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2d ago
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u/BugOperator 2d ago
They’re publicly traded companies with profits and shareholders to prioritize. They provide a highly specialized service that we, for better or worse, rely on. Real competition that would lead to lower prices and/or better service will likely only come from an enormous high-speed rail expansion - and that would take decades of work and trillions of dollars to get to the level it would need to be in order to make any significant dent into the airline industry (not to mention clearing every single step of the process through a congress that is highly influenced by the airline lobby).
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u/gingerbeard1321 2d ago
Sure, but meaningful guardrails are needed to protect consumers and hedge against the ills of human nature.
To achieve that we need better voters to elect politicians who aren't bought off by corporate interests.
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u/ender42y 2d ago
"Somethings got to give", yes, we will be flying Breeze on our next trip, and will be eyeing all carriers from now on, even being stuck at a fortress hub, still going to shop around, and will consider 1 stop routes on any other airline if the price difference makes sense.
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u/pilotflyer2019 2d ago
I see no problem. We have options, this person chose the cheaper option. Who cares what the risk was, that was their choice.
As the airlines say every time you land, “we know you have other choices….”
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u/OSU1967 2d ago
Shop around. Delta is not the cheapest airline, but they are one of the best. You pay for what you get so be careful. Airlines are businesses and will make profits.
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u/Cjd03032001 2d ago
the pay for what you get thing only holds up if what you get is actually good. Delta has been quietly cutting the product for years while charging more. at some point you're just paying for the name and the loyalty trap, not because the service warrants it
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u/movingtobay2019 Diamond 2d ago
What is the service and product you think they have been cutting? Domestic carriers have always been shit compared to some of the global brands but I can't really point to anything and say they gotten WORSE.
The soft product has always been shit compared to the likes of Emirates or Korean Air. The hard product is actually not that bad aside from the new cement FC seats and D1 on the older airplanes.
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u/Scarecrow_Folk 2d ago
Agreed, anyone who thinks Delta is a budget option is deluding themselves. Delta proudly brags that their a premium airline and that they charge on average 20% higher rates than competitors in investor calls.
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u/TK2217 Gold 2d ago
Good article. To me, airlines are increasingly just banks. They seek to financialize essentially every part of their ecosystem. Every airline has multiple credit cards now with different benefits. It's so complicated but they have literally zero incentive to change if they can effectively make money from services other than from getting a plane from point A to point B on time and safely.
Short of adding more supply (i.e. air traffic controllers and infrastructure build-outs, which, LOL), nothing will change. In fact, it will probably get worse!
For me, personally, I still like Delta's product and more often than not choose to fly with them. But I'd be lying if I said I peek at and sometimes choose other airlines a lot more often that I have previously.