Delta Airlines

At Value Parking, we’re always striving to be the best Newark Airport parking for our customers. Recently, we came across Airfarewatchdog.com’s report of the best U.S. airlines and thought we’d share:

Airfarewatchdog.com is a website that was created by George Hobica, a travel journalist that specializes in consumer issues. It’s part of the Smarter Travel Media network (a network of budget travel sites) and recently began conducting its own airline surveys. This year marks its third annual “Best U.S. Airlines” list.

The website ranks each airline according to what matters most to consumers: fewest canceled flights, on-time arrivals, fewest mishandled bags, amount of denied boardings, and customer satisfaction. Each airline is scored in every category, then the scores are combined together to rank the overall winners.

This year, Delta Airlines clenched the top spot (moving up from 6th last year), while United was at the bottom. Delta ranked first for fewest canceled flights, second for on-time arrivals, and third for customer satisfaction. United, on the other hand, was last in customer satisfaction and amount of denied boardings.

Other airlines that were evaluated were Alaska Airlines, Virgin America, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines (including AirTran), JetBlue Airways, and American Airlines (including US Airways). Here’s how they stacked up by category:

Fewest Canceled Flights

Delta – 0.11%
Alaska – 0.13%
Virgin America – 0.18%
Frontier – 0.63%
Southwest – 0.75%, AirTran – 0.22% (avg. 0.71%)
United – 1.31%
American – 2.33%, US Airways – 1.01% (avg. 1.76%)
JetBlue – 2.42%

On-Time Arrivals

Alaska – 89.67%
Delta – 84.41%
Virgin America – 81.77%
American – 76.78%, US Airways – 82.11% (avg. 79.10%)
JetBlue – 77.32%
United – 76.39%
Frontier – 73.42%
Southwest – 71.82%, AirTran – 83.86% (avg. 72.68%)

Fewest Mishandled Bags

Virgin America – 1.04
Frontier – 1.65
JetBlue – 1.79
Delta – 1.93
Alaska – 2.42
United – 3.37
American – 3.74, US Airways – 3.72 (avg. 3.73)
Southwest – 3.83, AirTran – 4.91 (avg. 3.89)

Amount of Denied Boardings

JetBlue – 3.58
Virgin America – 17.13
Alaska – 56.56
American – 68.63, US Airways – 80.06 (avg. 73.58)
Delta – 74.06
Frontier – 119.07
Southwest – 120.45, AirTran – 293.37 (avg. 135.96)
United – 245.61

Customer Satisfaction

JetBlue – 79
Southwest – 78, AirTran – 70 (avg. 74)
Delta – 71
Alaska – 70
Frontier – 70
Virgin America – 70
American – 66, US Airways – 66 (avg. 66)
United – 60

Overall

1st: Delta
2nd: Virgin America
3rd: Alaska
4th: JetBlue
5th: Frontier
6th: Southwest, AirTran
7th: American, US Airways
8th: United

For 2013’s rankings, click here, and for 2012’s rankings, click here.