Here is something I came across on the SkyWest message board.

For years regional/"commuter" pilots have been snubbed by the supposedly superior Capt. Sullys of the major air carriers.

Delta Airlines in days gone by was a premier carrier by whom you could set your watch. Their flight attendants were great, their pilots were very professional if unfriendly towards "commuter" pilots, and passengers would talk very warmly about their loyalty to good ole DAL.

Well my fellow SkyWest Pilots we have now surpassed Delta in at least passenger service and on time performance. My crew and I were on a DH back from MSP yesterday on a Delta MD-88, which after some issues with our "tickets" we got to board the flight to go home.

Passengers were not happy with DAL yesterday as this Mad Dog's APU was kaput, and there was no ground support for air conditioning available so there was ZERO airflow in the airplane. So there we sat for about 30-40 minutes while bags were loaded sweat dripping off everyone. Not one announcement from the cockpit about the situation. The Flight Attendants did explain and apologize, but with no airflow to abate the growing humidity the apologies fell flat when the FAs then announce the prices for food, and headsets to watch TV or to logon to the Wifi, $7.95 per flight. Oh and NO CASH, only credit cards.

Once the engines were started there was not much in the way of A/C either during a creep taxi for T/O. The airplane did cool down after we got airborne, although the odor of evaporating sweat hung heavy in the air for the entire flight.

The delay in MSP was not going to make us very late though and we in fact did reach the gate in SLC only 10 minutes late. This is were the cockpit really shined. The "Delta" Captain missed the stop at the jetway by 3 feet and we sat for about 10-15 while a ground crew could round up a tug to push the airplane back so deplaning could begin. Now folks were missing connections after being subjected to a miserable boarding in MSP, and a botched docking at the arrival gate.

So congratulations to SkyWest for putting out a better overall product than mainline. I know from experience that SkyWest pilots do a better job at operating flights that this crew did. I have yet to leave or arrive on time while on a DH on Delta for quite sometime, or for that matter on United either. So keep up the god work!