America’s best and worst airlines for 2025 – Business News
Southwest Airlines has been topped the best airline within the nation, knocking Delta Air Lines off its perch for the primary time because the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, in keeping with a new research.
The Wall Street Journal’s 18th annual airline scorecard cited Southwest’s industry-low quantity of buyer complaints and tarmac delays, together with robust on-time arrival charges, in placing the Dallas-based service on the high of the listing.
Budget service Allegiant Air completed second total, buoyed by the bottom cancellation price amongst main airlines.
A Southwest Airlines jet on the tarmac. The service topped the Wall Street Journal’s 2025 airline rankings after main the industry in phrases of buyer complaints and tarmac-delay efficiency. Getty Images
The Las Vegas-based airline additionally ranked first for the fewest mishandled baggage and the bottom price of passengers involuntarily bumped from flights.
Allegiant fell short of the highest spot largely as a result of of weaker on-time efficiency and a larger incidence of excessive delays. The airline says these delays mirror a deliberate strategy of holding flights somewhat than canceling them outright — a transfer it argues helps keep away from stranding passengers.
For the fifth straight yr, Allegiant logged the fewest mishandled baggage and the bottom price of involuntary bumping, in keeping with the Journal.
Delta, which topped the rankings final yr and had held first place for 4 consecutive years, slipped to 3rd within the 2025 standings.
The Atlanta-based airline was hit exhausting by a wave of flight cancellations triggered by a huge CrowdStrike software program outage in July 2024 that crippled Microsoft Windows systems worldwide.
American Airlines tied for final place after posting the best cancellation price within the Journal’s 2025 scorecard. Getty Images
Because The Journal’s 2024 scorecard solely included knowledge via May of that yr, the disruption wasn’t mirrored in final yr’s rankings. The fallout — together with a surge in buyer complaints — was captured within the 2025 outcomes.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian has mentioned the CrowdStrike incident value the airline about $500 million.
Delta informed The Journal it goals to reclaim the highest spot subsequent yr, saying: “Delta people set the bar high for airline performance as part of our drive for continuous improvement.”
Budget service Allegiant completed second total, buoyed by the bottom cancellation price amongst main US airlines. AP
Alaska Airlines, which continued to post robust reliability metrics even because it labored via the complicated integration of Hawaiian Airlines, completed in fourth place.
It ranked among the many best in phrases of on-time arrivals and excessive delays, however slipped out of the highest three spots as a result of it didn’t dominate any single class and posted middling ends in baggage handling and buyer complaints.
Spirit Airlines completed fifth, marking the most important year-over-year enchancment amongst main carriers regardless of ongoing financial turmoil.
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The ultra-low-cost airline sharply decreased cancellations and boosted on-time efficiency, climbing a number of spots in each classes, although persistent complaints and operational inconsistencies stored it from cracking the highest tier.
Sixth-place United Airlines delivered stable on-time and cancellation efficiency however was dragged down by the worst baggage-handling document of any airline within the rankings.
JetBlue Airways landed in seventh place because it continued a multi-year turnaround effort aimed toward restoring profitability.
“We’ve made meaningful progress on operational reliability following deliberate investments to address our heavy exposure to air traffic control staffing shortages and congestion in Northeast airspace,” a JetBlue spokesperson informed The Post.
“Despite a challenging operating environment in 2025, we improved reliability across every category compared with 2024 and closed the gap with our competitors. As a result, our customer satisfaction scores have risen by double digits to an industry-leading position.”
Frontier shared final place within the rankings after touchdown close to the underside in 4 of seven efficiency classes. AP
The company rep mentioned that JetBlue is “on track for even stronger results this year, but the final quarter was impacted by several external events, including the Airbus flight control computer recall affecting our all-Airbus fleet, the hurricane in Jamaica where we are the largest carrier, and the federal government shutdown.”
“We’re continuing to invest in reliability in 2026 as we work to further close the gap with the rest of the industry.”
Near the underside, American Airlines tied for final place after posting the best cancellation price amongst main US carriers.
The airline struggled throughout practically each metric, rating no larger than sixth in any class as climate disruptions, staffing challenges and community complexity battered reliability all year long.
American was tied for final with Frontier Airlines, which ranked at or close to the underside in 4 of the seven classes measured.
The Post has sought remark from the airlines.
