the Delta MD11s with ext range were a DAL mod. the ER that MD produced worked a little better. Not sure what your point is because the Delta Mod tended to put the initial cg forward until the aux was burned off. I have extensive experience with the DAL birds as we used one for a backup on our LAD flights and I flew them often when ours was in hvy check.
PS: the a/c in Pudong had no relation to the DAL fleet so.......what?