I don’t work for United or Delta, but I can tell you that United has been negotiating its contract for over a year longer than Delta.
Delta opened negotiations in April 2019.
United began talks in March 2018.
More importantly, Delta pilots entered mediation in January 2020. That means they have been in mediation for more than 2.5 years. Typically, though the pandemic occurring in the interim likely throws the typical time table off, that would be when the possibility of a release from mediation might begin to become realistic. What that means is that they are beginning to build significant leverage under the RLA in addition to the same sorts of leverage that United pilots have as a result of the pilot shortage.
United pilots, on the other hand, never filed for mediation. That means United pilots are, at a minimum, two to three years out from having the same sort of leverage as the Delta pilots have now.
After more than four years of negotiations and all of the leverage that the pilot shortage supposedly offers to pilot groups, United ALPA produced what is almost uniformly being described as a turd by its own pilots.
It remains to be seen what Delta pilots will produce when they announce their TA. However, given the additional leverage they have created for themselves, it’s likely to be a more attractive deal than what United has come up with so far.
I have written extensively on this United forum since the release of the TA about why entering into mediation sooner rather than later is important in terms of cultivating leverage. You can search my username for posts on the subject if you want more extensive information about why United ALPA not filing for mediation after all this time is such a tragic mistake. But, in short, it has robbed your pilot group of leverage they easily could have had. That will likely cost you guys dearly in terms of the time value of money and the final product that ends up being ratified.