‘Meh, I wouldn’t go as far as saying DL owned United in terms of European flying. The two have always been neck to neck with Delta having a slight edge European flying.

I agree with Delta being more of a East coast airline and United being a west coast heavy airline.

Delta domestic network is more balance, however SK is trying to right that ship with United Next (need a contract to support it though)…

Perhaps "owned" is not the proper term...

However, I've been here 15 years and DL has always had more Europe feed than us. Not by like 20% or anything, but they have always had a slight edge. United got an edge in Europe coming out of the pandemic and I expect that lead to widen unless DL re-invests in some more WB aircraft.
DL is France heavy due to their alliance with AF.
AA is UK heavy with BA alliance.
UA is Germany heavy with Lufthansa alliance.

I’d bet my 5% that the XLRs end up doing some interesting Europe flying when they come online. 800 miles more range than the 75 with better economics, lots of neat more obscure European possibilities out there.

DL guy here.

Pre-pandemic high was 14.7 total. Active pilots floated around in the low 13K range.

Just this month we finally got back to 14.7 total pilots, with 13.5 active.

DL dude here. Don’t get too wrapped up in culture, pay, and airplanes. Those things change over time. Demographics are destiny. The number and age of pilots hired before you does not change. Delta has hired more than United in the last 8 years.

For some data/context on Delta I highly suggest going to WidgetSeniority.com and signing up for a free “prospective hire” account. Then look at the “Career Progression” section. This will show up where you will stand on the seniority list at retirement if the current airline size stays static.

For example: I will retire at 13.6%-ish at Delta which means I would not be senior enough to hold A330 or A350 Captain with the current fleet mix. I’m fine foregoing Widebody Captain - are you?

I do not know where to find similar data for United.

Easy there. Yes, Ltd is very important, but those of us who’ve been in this industry for more than a minute understand that Scope is section 1 for a reason. If there’s no job, there’s nothing left to protect.

At the end of their first year 737 FO’s end up about the same seniority as me 30ish percent. This is due to most new hires constantly bidding out.
They can also sit reserve and be Captain.
If I compare my December Christmas schedule to those who are the same seniority in Houston or Denver. I would say your work quality of life schedule is WAY better in LAX.

United had more flights across the Atlantic then other airline last summer.

Including UPS or Fed Ex?

Easily.

At FedEx we fly to only a handful of destinations across the Atlantic from the US. STN, CDG, LGG, CGN, MXP, DXB and maybe a few others. Most of our cargo "connects" in CDG before/after its Atlantic crossing.

We may have the most wide body aircraft of any US airline, but we aren't as big as most people think we are. We're just barely going to hit 6,000 on the seniority list for the first time ever by the end of the year. We didn't even break 5000 until 2020.

So in 2021 I have no doubt that United operated more flights across the pond than we did. And UPS is even smaller.