Delta Airlines Ranked America's Best Airline in Prestige Survey – With Alaska Second and Allegiant Third – While JetBlue Ranked WORST for Delays and Cancellations

It's a competitive list to reach the top, but the best – and worst – airlines in the industry have been ranked and revealed.

Although airlines have generally reduced their cancellations and improved arrival times, passenger feedback cited baggage handling and tarmac delays as some of their complaints.

The report, released by the Wall Street Journal, assessed on-time arrivals, flight cancellations, extreme delays, baggage handling, tarmac delays, accidental collisions and complaints from nine major U.S. airlines.

The airlines included Delta, Alaska, Allegiant, Southwest, American, United, Spirit, Frontier and JetBlue.

Topping the list was Delta Airlines, with JetBlue coming in last.

Pulse, a data platform owned by aviation company Anuvu, provided the data on the airline's on-time arrivals, flight cancellations and extreme delays, while other data was provided by the Transport Department.

Delta Airlines is the best U.S. airline to fly with for the third year in a row, according to WSJ's 16th annual aviation report. In all assessed categories they scored no lower than fifth place.

Delta had the best on-time arrival rate at 85 percent, compared to 81.7 percent in 2022.

Despite the airline's number one position, some irate customers have recently taken to social media to complain about policy changes at Delta Sky Club airport lounges.

The changes, which came into effect on January 1, 2024, mean that those who pay a $695 annual fee for an American Express Platinum card will no longer be able to enter the lounge if they had booked basic economy tickets.

The airline announced its policy changes last year in response to record numbers of visitors to Delta Sky Club airport lounges.

Following Delta were Alaska Airlines and Allegiant Air, which rose two places to third thanks to fewer cancellations.

According to the report, 77.6 percent of flights land on time, meaning only 75 percent of flights arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival.

After Delta, Alaska is the only other airline to achieve an 80 percent on-time arrival rate.

JetBlue was the worst on the ground for on-time arrivals, with a rate of 66.4 percent.

Matt Sparks, senior vice president of operations at Delta, told the WSJ that the airline's top ratings are due to their employees.

However, Delta didn't score as well in flight cancellations, coming in at fifth place, despite reducing its cancellation rate to 1.2 percent from almost 2 percent, which Sparks said still has room for improvement .

“If we finish fifth it means we're letting our customers down,” he admitted.

By the end of the year, however, Delta improved, with a 90 percent drop in flight cancellations from October through December compared to the first part of the year.

According to Sparks, the cancellation rate equates to 1,850 fewer flight cancellations per month.

United Airlines fell from fourth place to sixth place. They also ranked second in cancellation rates and baggage handling, although, like Delta, they improved toward the end of the year, according to a United executive.

Although number two, Alaska beats Delta as the best airline. The airline has the lowest cancellation rate overall at less than 1 percent, below the average of 1.3 percent.

Overall, airline cancellation rates fell 2.6 percent in 2022, with the WSJ noting that the 2023 rankings do not take into account the recent incident where Alaska Airline grounded their Boeing 737 MAX 9 after a near disaster earlier in January.

Alaska's disappointment was baggage handling, where it finished seventh. If they had scored higher, they could have overtaken Delta.

“We are committed to improving our baggage performance and raising it to the level of reliability we provide in every other category of our business,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

Budget airline Allegiant scored well because it did not involuntarily bump passengers off their flights and ensured that their flights took off.

Allegiant improved its flight cancellation rate, from canceling four percent of its flights in 2022 to less than one percent in 2023.

However, despite improvements, they still finished sixth overall, with a lower ranking for on-time arrivals and delays longer than 45 minutes.

Southwest Airlines had a disappointing year with the fewest complaints in 2022, but had a higher complaint rate than any airline except Frontier and Spirit. However, the WSJ pointed out that there was a delay in data reporting in some categories.

Still, the airline “learned lessons” from late 2022 and “ensured 2023 was a year of progress,” Southwest Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson said in a statement.

Travelers were less happy with Frontier, which averaged 38.5 complaints per 100,000 passengers, or four times the average of the nine airlines.

According to Department of Transportation data, nearly 33 percent of complaints from Frontier flyers were related to flight issues, while 18.4 percent involved refunds. Tariffs were the third most common reason for complaining.

JetBlue finished last in four categories: on-time arrival, 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, are major factors behind many of the customer complaints.

“We have the highest exposure to New York of any airline, which still makes comparisons with other airlines difficult,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.