United is the clear winner.
It’s amazing how many idiots troll the Delta forum, a bunch of unhappy CA hating morons. I would be miserable working along side them and with only 10 years before I retire, I’m done dealing with ignorant children.

Realize you got a 20 pilot sample amongst 15,000. IMO there won't be much difference in the kinds of people you fly with at UA or DL, especially at a LAX base. Folks with very similar backgrounds just hired at one vs the other. You'll have a great final 10 years. Congrats and best of luck.

Does United pay Direct contribution during LTD all the way until retirement?

Nope and that has to be fixed. I am shocked that the pilot group seems to be fine with the substandard LTD coverage we have (even with the last increase).

I think it’s a matter of education on what other CBAs feature.

Haven’t you been here for only a few months? Most pilots want improved LTD and know that there are better plans out there, namely Delta.

OP has probably already chosen but some stuff I would consider:

UAL has always been a West Coast heavy airline. They have significantly more Pacific flying than any other American carrier.

On the other hand, DL has a much more "balanced" network with a much more East Coast Heavy Airline. They owned United on European flying pre-pandemic. That has changed post pandemic.

If all your family and friends live in LAX and there are no plans to change that, it's really a toss up. You'll eventually figure out the reason LAX doesn't have as much WB flying as SFO is because LAX is a gridlock airport for all major US carriers.

No one owns LAX the way that United pretty much owns SFO (when AA pulled out) and DL/AK own Seattle(when United pulled out).

I would have chosen DL in a heartbeat 5 years ago, but things have changed and there is "growth" in the works for United(look up the United Next plan for background). That means much quicker seniority movement at United vs DL in the near term.
While DL is hiring significantly too, DL has probably hired 5000 pilots in the 5-6 years pre-pandemic. UAL hired probably 2500 5-6 years pre-pandemic. DL grew to a 15000 pilot airline pre-pandemic.
UAL is at roughly 12500 active pilots right now looking to grow to over 15000, so that's 2500 pilots that if hired now could easily be junior to you on top of those hired to replace retirees.

DL has typically crushed UAL on profit sharing pre-pandemic. While it's only one quarter, for the first time I can remember, UAL beat DAL last quarter. That could be an outlier, who knows. That means DL pilots probably averaged 30k per pilot profit sharing versus roughly 15k per pilot at United. That's a big difference. I wouldn't make a decision based upon "variable compensation" of which you have no control, but it's a piece of data that is "nice to know".

And your point is? A lot of the pilots on line seems to be mystified or downright shocked when they hear how bad our LTD (among other things) lags. Not complaining, just thinking it’s a matter of education.

Oh the LCC I came from also had better LTD

My point is your survey size is pretty small, and I think rather inaccurate.

I hope you’re correct.

Unfortunately I can't agree. In my experience Delta pilots tend to be a different breed. I realize that my experience is anecdotal but through out the years I have never met a more arrogant and unpleasant group of pilots than Delta pilots. Not to say that it's the majority but the percentage of "sky gods" is certainly higher at Delta. I have observed more than a few friends change into "world's best pilots" after less than a year at the Mothership.

​​​​​​Having said that... Pick the airline that will allow you to live in base. Also, the industry is so dynamic that you just never know what the right choice is untill you retire. I remember people leaving Legacies to go to Southwest after 9/11 because that really was the right choice at the time and now the opposite is happening.