Last year, we revealed the best U.S. airlines of 2014, so we thought we’d compare this year’s rankings to last year’s to see if anything has changed. Like last year, we used the ratings from Airfarewatchdog.com, a consumer issues website created by travel journalist George Hobica.
Each year, U.S. airlines are graded on elements that are important to consumers, such as delayed flights, denied boardings, customer satisfaction, and more. Each category rating is combined to form an overall “best score.”
While Delta Air Lines claimed the top spot last year, the airline fell to number three this year and Alaska Airlines took first place. Alaska Airlines scored the best for fewest canceled flights and most on-time arrivals, and came in third for customer satisfaction.
United Airlines, on the other hand, came in last place (again), scoring poorly on mishandled bags and denied boardings. Other airlines included in this year’s survey were Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Virgin America, Southwest Airlines, American/US Airways, and JetBlue. Here are the scores for 2015, broken down:
Fewest Canceled Flights
Alaska – 0.70% canceled
Frontier – 1.56%
Delta – 1.89%
Spirit – 2.16%
Virgin America – 2.62%,
United – 2.64%
Southwest – 2.74%
American – 4.12%, US Airways – 3.98% (avg. 1.76%)
JetBlue – 5.80%
On-Time Arrivals
Alaska – 84.82% on-time
Delta – 82.18%
Virgin America – 79.36%
Southwest – 78.36%,
American – 74.86%, US Airways – 76.04%
United – 74.56%
Spirit – 68.52%
JetBlue – 66.08%
Frontier – 63.31%
Fewest Mishandled Bags
Virgin America – 0.94 mishandled
JetBlue – 1.93
Spirit – 2.31
Frontier – 2.56
Delta – 2.74
Alaska – 3.28
Southwest – 3.74
United – 4.60
American – 5.10, US Airways – 4.62
Amount of Denied Boardings
JetBlue – 4.08 denied
Delta – 7.14
Virgin America – 10.01
Alaska – 27.75
Spirit – 39.73
American – 38.24, US Airways – 53.22
United – 51.83
Southwest – 57.24
Frontier – 141.12
Customer Satisfaction
JetBlue – 81/100
Southwest – 78
Alaska – 75
Virgin America – 73
Delta – 71
American/US Airways – 66
United – 60
Frontier – 58
Spirit – 54
Overall
1st: Alaska
2nd: Virgin America
3rd: Delta
4th: JetBlue
5th: Southwest
6th: Frontier
7th: Spirit
8th: American/US Airways
9th: United
