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Fed-up flier shares why Delta Airlines has gotten so bad, even for ultra-elite passengers with diamond status like him

Read the original at Daily Mail ↗
Cite

Swaroop, A. (2026, October 1). Fed-up flier shares why Delta Airlines has gotten so bad, even for ultra-elite passengers with diamond status like him. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16175665/Fed-flier-Delta-Airlines-bad-elite-passengers-diamond-status.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Daily Mail · collected 2026-10-01 · by Ananya Swaroop

Quick Summary

Josh Kaplan, a founder of an AI distribution platform and longtime Delta Airlines Diamond member, expressed his frustration with the airline on X (formerly Twitter). He announced that this year might be his last flying Delta due to issues like poor Wi-Fi connectivity—working properly only about 20% of the time—and long lines at the Sky Club despite having elite status. Kaplan also criticized the lack of seat upgrades even when using a global upgrade certificate and noted high ticket prices, indicating that the benefits no longer justify his loyalty.
Written by AI on 2026-10-01, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Josh Kaplan, founder of a Los Angeles-based AI-powered distribution platform and Delta Diamond member for ten years, vented his frustration on X about Delta Airlines' deteriorating service. He announced that this year would be his last flying with Delta due to issues such as long lines at the Sky Club regardless of membership tier. Kaplan cited Elon Musk's recent criticism of Delta's Wi-Fi service, which Musk described as isolating an AI from internet access. Delta's Diamond status offers exclusive benefits like enhanced mileage earnings and priority boarding, but Kaplan felt these perks were no longer worth it given the poor overall experience. His tweet highlights growing discontent among ultra-elite passengers with airlines' declining quality of service.

Written for “Delta Airlines Passenger Experience” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Delta Airlines Passenger Experience
Economy/Business · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
26
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
8%
2 of 26 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
69/100
Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Economy/Business
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-01 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Daily Mail · 9207 article(s) · 22 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 22 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Ananya Swaroop
71 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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Also by Ananya Swaroop
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 71 articles by Ananya Swaroop →

Topics

Delta Delta Airlines Delta Diamond Kaplan Los Angeles

Subjects

Delta ORG · 13× Kaplan PERSON · 7× Amazon ORG · 3× Musk PERSON · 3× Delta Airlines ORG · 2× Los Angeles GPE · 2× Delta Diamond ORG · 1× Elon Musk PERSON · 1× Josh Kaplan PERSON · 1× Sky Club ORG · 1×

Narrative

John Kaplan was frustrated how Delta Airlines had treated its ultra-elite passengers, and explained why he won't be an exclusive Delta member for much longer Kaplan took to X to express his anger as he tagged the Delta team and noted down a list of problems he has faced while flying with Delta The tech boss also said that the lines outside the Delta Sky Club are always long, no matter which tier members hold In his tweet, Kaplan jotted down a few reasons why he won't be flying with Delta anymore.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-01
🔮 An ultra-elite Delta Airlines member expressed his frustration with the airline's deteriorating service, sharing that he might not fly with them ever again.

Claims (26 extracted, 2 hedged)

An ultra-elite Delta Airlines member expressed his frustration with the airline's deteriorating service, sharing that he might not fly with them ever again. uncertain
he → express → them
Josh Kaplan, founder of a Los Angeles-based AI-powered distribution platform, took to X to express his disappointment with the service he's encountered as of late. asserted
he → base → service
His tweet came after Elon Musk took a jibe at the airline’s Wi-Fi service. asserted
Musk → come → service
'Best way to sandbox an AI is to put it on a Delta flight – it will have no chance of accessing the Internet,' Musk wrote on his X platform. asserted
Musk → sandbox → platform
Echoing the sentiment, Kaplan wrote an angry message to the Delta team, listing all the issues he's experienced with the airline. asserted
he → echo → airline
The streak is broken,’ he wrote. asserted
he → break → ?
Delta describes the Diamond Medallion status as its ‘highest loyalty tier.’ asserted
Delta → describe → tier
Members get exclusive benefits including enhanced mileage earnings, Sky Club membership, priority boarding and more. asserted
Members → get → earnings
John Kaplan was frustrated how Delta Airlines had treated its ultra-elite passengers, and explained why he won't be an exclusive Delta member for much longer Kaplan took to X to express his anger as he tagged the Delta team and noted down a list of problems he has faced while flying with Delta The tech boss also said that the lines outside the Delta Sky Club are always long, no matter which tier members hold In his tweet, Kaplan jotted down a few reasons why he won't be flying with Delta anymore. asserted
he → frustrate → Delta
He noted that even after using the member-exclusive global upgrade certificate, he never got upgraded to Delta One, which is another luxurious service provided by the airline. ‘For a status that requires a pretty absurd amount of loyalty/spend, the actual benefits just don’t feel very beneficial anymore,’ Kaplan wrote. asserted
Kaplan → note → spend
He pointed out that the lounges had always been inaccessible for most of the year. asserted
lounges → point → year
Kaplan added that in addition to there being a long line outside, the airline's in-flight WiFi offering is disappointing. asserted
offering → add → flight
Anecdotally, I’d say it works properly on maybe 20 percent of my flights. asserted
it → say → flights
The California tech boss said that since he flies a lot and catches up on work during his flights, the bad internet service is the ‘most frustrating part.’ asserted
service → say → flights
Kaplan shared the photos from one of his trips, expressing his frustration that Delta Airlines' member-exclusive services are not that great The businessman also pointed out that Wi-Fi on Delta flights is pretty bad. asserted
Fi → share → flights
He shared that the tickets for a main cabin seat from Los Angeles to New York is so expensive and that is another reason why he will not be using the airline's services anymore Kaplan's complaints weren't over yet. asserted
complaints → share → services
His posts, which have since gone viral, were followed by him explaining his disappointment with Delta's onboarding service. asserted
which → go → service
‘Half the plane seems to congregate around the gate before their zone is called,’ he said. asserted
he → seem → gate
‘When an earlier zone gets called, you have to fight your way through a wall of Zone 5+ passengers standing there like stones in a river diverting the stream. asserted
you → call → stream
I’ve actively chosen them when there were cheaper or more convenient options because I thought the loyalty went both ways. asserted
loyalty → choose → them
At this point, I’m just not sure what I’m being loyal to,' he added. asserted
he → ’m → what
The Daily Mail reached out to Delta for comment. asserted
Mail → reach → comment
Back in March, the airline announced that it had inked a deal with Amazon’s Leo to provide in-flight Wi-Fi on 500 of its planes starting in 2028, prompting the SpaceX boss to speak out about it. asserted
it → announce → it
Musk took to X in May to hit out at the airline, saying Delta wanted to make its onboard Wi-Fi service ‘painful, difficult and expensive for their customers.’ Delta CEO, Ed Bastian, responded to the criticism at the time. uncertain
CEO → take → time
'Amazon brings a lot more than just satellite technology,' he told Bloomberg. asserted
he → bring → Bloomberg
'They bring great retailing capability and Amazon Prime and video gaming technologies, which Starlink does not have.’ asserted
Starlink → bring → which
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