A common excuse for our fractional financial performance compared to delta is their merger is 2 years, give or take, more mature than ours. So what was Delta’s profit margin/performance @ merger year 8-9?

Oh. My. God. I laughed so hard!

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Yup. Not sure what that other lady was smoking.

Common excuse? Lol. Try the management delta.

I’m sure Delta having something like four times less union represented employees has something to do with it.

Delta had 8 less years of Tilton

Good to see your heart is in the right place. I am proud of our union brothers and sisters at United.

Look at the landing fees Delta pays and you will find most of the cash advantage. Follow that up with being able to charge more money and having better management and you will find the rest.

But feel free to blame the FAs and CSRs

United’s administrative (non operating) costs are higher than Delta. We outsource everything it seems, but yet still have large departments with managing and senior directors to manage the outsourcing. I’ve never seen such a bloated management structure in my life.

Years ago I was present during a civil trial where an industry expert witness was testifying about Delta’s apparent heigher costs. Delta looked bad on paper until you got into the details.

They had more staffing and costs in some departments, but turns out, they built their own aircraft tugs, forged their own compressor blades for their own JT-8 engines, etc....

United on the other hand does very little in-house, but still has higher cost structure. A good example is the Flex spendings accounts for health care. It is outsourced to Hewitt, who in turns outsources most of it to the Phillipines.... which is why it’s such a crappy deal btw. Yet there is an Managing director and staff in Chicago.

And yes, Delta’s BOD was wise to make the merged DL/NW H.Q in Atlanta where everything costs less than MSP.

UC board chose to keep the HQ in one of the highest cost cities, and most politically corrupt, in the nation.

It all adds up. And yes, DL being in Atlanta does afford them less union involvement. Do you really care? Are your yard man, plumber, barber, baker, butcher, house painter.......union members?

When comparing UAL to DAL, don't forget that virtually ALL of DAL's ground staff (above and below the wing) except for MX is "outsourced" to DGS (DAL Global Services). DGS employees are non-union and a majority are part-time.

Not only is it a lower actual cost of labor, but it also ends up in a separate entry from labor (pilots, FAs, Mechs) on the financial report. Meanwhile, all the UA hubs and most of the large stations are staffed by mainline employees.

One can compare UAL to DAL, but it's not apples-to-apples without moving some items around on the spreadsheet. But yes, DAL is still lower.