I didn't say it was always about being the cheapest either. Cheap can mean a lot of things besides acquisition costs of course, but whatever.

The defensive comment was in reference to the "shut up and color you stupid pilot" vibe about anyone disagreeing with you not having the cranial capacity to "count beans". That's how it came across, but again whatever.

This order in question likely isn't even for DL or possibly for any US airline, who knows. Who cares. The regionals are going to get whatever planes they are going to get. While I admit the E170-190 series has a nicer cabin with longer range, lower landing mins in some cases and shorter field performance, the fact remains that all of that…all of it…is 100% irrelevant on the vast majority of routes its used on. On those few routes where it truly is a difference maker, DL has plenty of them in the fleet to allocate to those few routes and then some.

The 757 is a superior plane too. But they don't make it anymore. Seems like cost really is the most important factor. The E175 is a nicer tube than the CRJ900. And no one cares. At least no one cares enough to change airlines over it.