It’s a competitive list to get to the top, but the best – and worst – airlines in the business have been ranked and revealed.
While overall, airlines reduced their cancellations and improved arrival time, feedback from passengers listed baggage handling and tarmac delays as some of their gripes.
The report, released by the Wall Street Journal, assessed the on-time arrivals, flight cancellations, extreme delays, baggage handling, tarmac delays, involuntary bumping and complaints of nine major American airlines.
The airlines included Delta, Alaska, Allegiant, Southwest, American, United, Spirit, Frontier and JetBlue.
It’s a competitive list to get to the top, but the best – and worst- airlines in the business have been ranked and revealed
While overall, airlines reduced their cancellations and improved arrival time, feedback from passengers listed the baggage handling and tarmac delays as some of their gripes
Topping the list was Delta Airlines, with JetBlue coming in last.
Pulse, a data platform from aviation company Anuvu, supplied the data for the airline’s on-time arrivals, flight cancellations and extreme delays, while other data was provided by the Transportation Department.
According to WSJ’s 16th annual airline report, Delta Airlines is the best American airline to fly with, for the third time in a row. They didn’t score lower than fifth overall in all categories assessed.
Delta had the best on-time arrival rate at 85 per cent, which was up from 81.7 per cent in 2022.
However, despite the airline’s number-one ranking, some irate customers have taken to social media recently to complain about policy changes made to the Delta Sky Club airport lounges.
The changes, which came into effect January 1, 2024, mean those paying an annual fee of $695 for an American Express Platinum card can no longer enter the lounge if they had booked basic economy tickets.
The airline announced its policy changes last year in response to a record number of visitors to its Delta Sky Club airport lounges.
Following Delta was Alaska Airlines and Allegiant Air, who jumped two spots to the third spot, thanks to fewer cancellations.
According to the report, 77.6 per cent of flights land on time, which means only 75 per cent of flights arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival.
After Delta, Alaska is the only other airline that reached 80 per cent for on-time arrivals.
JetBlue was was worst on ground for their on-time arrivals, with a rate of 66.4 per cent.
They assessed the on-time arrivals, flight cancellations, extreme delays, baggage handling, tarmac delays, involuntary bumping and complaints of nine major American airlines
Alaska Airlines were ranked second overall, with the grounding of their Boeing 737 MAX 9 after a near-disaster in January not counting towards the rankings
Matt Sparks, senior vice president of operations at Delta, told the WSJ the airline’s top ratings could be attributed to their employees.
However, Delta didn’t rank as well for flight cancellations, coming in at fifth, despite reducing their cancelations to 1.2 per cent of flights from close to two per cent, which Sparks said the carrier could still improve on.
‘If we’re finishing fifth, that means we’re letting our customers down,’ he admitted.
However, Delta improved towards the end of the year, with a 90 per cent reduction in flight cancellations from October through December, when compared to the first part of the year.
According to Sparks, the cancelation rate is the equivalent to 1,850 fewer flight cancellations a month.
American carriers ranked: The best and worst airlines
Pulse, a data platform from aviation company Anuvu, supplied the data for the airline’s on-time arrivals, flight cancellations, and extreme delays, while other data was provided by the Transportation Department.
Overall:
1. Delta
2. Alaska
3. Allegiant
4. Southwest
5. American
6. United
7. Spirit
8. Frontier
9. JetBlue
United Airlines fell to sixth overall from fourth. They also came in second last for cancellation rate and baggage handling, however much like Delta, a United executive said they improved towards the end of the year.
Although number two, Alaska is gaining on Delta for the best airline. The airline has the lowest cancellation rate overall at under 1 per cent, under the 1.3 per cent average.
Overall, airlines were down for cancelation rates 2.6 per cent in 2022, with the WSJ noting that the 2023 rankings haven’t taken into account of the recent incident with Alaska Airline’s grounding their Boeing 737 MAX 9 after a near-disaster earlier in January.
Alaska’s let down was in baggage handling, where it ranked seventh. If they had ranked higher they could have overtaken Delta.
‘We are committed to improving our baggage performance and raising it to the level of reliability we offer in every other category of our operation,’ a spokesman said in a statement.
Budget airline Allegiant ranked well for not involuntarily bumping passengers from their flights and by making sure their flights took off.
Allegiant improved their flight cancelation rate, going from canceling four per cent of its flights in 2022 to below one per cent in 2023.
However, despite improvements, they still ended up sixth overall, ranking lower for on-time arrivals and delays longer than 45 minutes.
Southwest Airlines had a disappointing year, having the fewest complaints in 2022 but had a higher complaint rate than any airline other than Frontier and Spirit. However, the WSJ pointed out there was a data reporting lag in some categories.
None the less, the airline has ‘taken lessons’ from the end of 2022 and ‘made sure that 2023 was a year of progress,’ as per Southwest chief operating officer Andrew Watterson in a statement.
Travelers were less happy Frontier, which had an average of 38.5 complaints per 100,000 passengers, or four times the average rate across the nine airlines.
Nearly 33 per cent of Frontier flyers complaints were to do with flight problems, according to the Department of Transport data, while 18.4 per cent dealt with refunds. Fares made up the third-most common reason to complain.
JetBlue finished last in four categories: on-time arrivals, canceled flights, delays longer than 45 minutes and tarmac delays.
Their spokesperson said the airline’s proximity to New York and associated airspace challenges, including weather disruptions and air-traffic control issues, as major factors behind many of the customer complaints.
‘We have the highest level of exposure to New York of any airline, and that continues to make an apples-to-apples comparison with other carriers difficult,’ a spokeswoman said in a statement.
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