The Wall Street Journal’s annual airline rankings are in with Delta Air Lines at the top and JetBlue Airways at the bottom for the third straight year.
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The Rankings Are In
Every year, the Wall Street Journal collects and evaluates publicly available data sources to rank US carriers from best to worst. Here’s how the carriers fared according to the Journal this year.
| Airlines | Overall Rank | On-Time Arrivals | Cancelled Flights | Extreme Delays | 2-Hour Tarmac Delays | Mishandled Baggage | Involuntary Bumping | Complaints |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta | 1 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
| Alaska | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| Allegiant | 3 | 6 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Southwest | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 7 |
| American | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 3 |
| United | 6 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 3 | 4 |
| Spirit | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 8 |
| Frontier | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 9 |
| JetBlue | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 6 |
Other than Delta and JetBlue, just Alaska has held the same position for all three years, coming in second place.
Surprises
JetBlue has blamed many of these blemishes on its heavy operations at New York JFK, known for congestion with challenging winter conditions as well. But the carrier is almost universally beloved, so its 6th place finish for complaints besting just Southwest, Spirit, and Frontier (in that order) was a shock.
While we’re at it, Southwest who also enjoys a rabid devotion from loyal flyers finished just about Spirit, and Frontier, with even Allegiant performing better.
Also surprising from Southwest, the carrier placed second for mishandled luggage which is incredible considering that “bags fly free” with Southwest and they handle a great deal more luggage than other carriers. Mishandled luggage statistics are based on a ratio per thousand bags, but Southwest has more potential for things to go wrong.
Allegiant will be treated somewhat in the same regard as Hawaiian, by which these statistics are skewed to their favor, and that has landed Allegiant behind Alaska and Delta. In fact, Hawaiian is excluded from these rankings “due to its geographical niche” but in reality, it would score incredibly highly because these metrics were made for network carriers and imperfect weather conditions. Categories like “2-Hour Tarmac Delays” will always hurt Delta, and JetBlue in New York, United and American in Chicago and won’t affect hubs like Honolulu or Punta Gorda. Yet Allegiant remains eligible and Hawaiian is not.
What Does This Tell Us?
On the surface, it tells us that Delta and Alaska continue to run great operations. Delta is also more profitable than its flagship peers and it seems unlikely to be a coincidence. JetBlue, which has been struggling operationally and, more recently, financially has a lot to turn around. The COO for the last three years is soon to be the president and CEO but it seems difficult to picture how the person responsible for operational performance will somehow right the ship having full control of the business.
Spirit, for its sins, is not last on the list even in the complaint category. That would suggest that stories about the Spirit experience may be amplified more than is based on reality.
Allegiant’s rise also suggests that some of these categories should be weighted as they don’t necessarily apply to the whole spectrum of travel in the modern environment. Onboard amenities and experience would most likely raise JetBlue out of last place – it offers the most seat pitch (room) in coach, among the fastest wifi, IFE at every seat, and a business class offering amongst the best of all US carriers.
A metric that would elevate Southwest, Spirit, and Allegiant would be to measure the speed and efficiency of the flight itself. For example, flying from Pittsburgh to Fort Myers Florida is far faster on all three of those carriers (subbing Punta Gorda for Regional Southwest International Airport and Allegiant) which offer nonstop flights vs connecting itineraries that take at least four hours on Delta, United, and American. Certainly, the time it takes to arrive at a destination is important to travelers too, otherwise, hubs like Dallas/Fort Worth wouldn’t be able to command a premium for nonstop flights on American Airlines.
The most telling piece for me is just how far United has fallen.
Conclusion
The Wall Street Journal’s annual rankings still seem to get most of the analysis right, but there is room for improvement. Delta’s performance both in operating flights for passengers and cargo as well as financial performance aligns with their ranking atop the best annual rankings. JetBlue’s struggles may be a little overstated, though attributing delays to the New York market when Delta and United run considerable operations through the same air space (Delta from the same airport) strikes me as disconnected with what other carriers are doing well. Still, the metrics should be updated to reflect what’s important to travelers and avoid metrics that naturally skew any one carrier to the top of the list.
What do you think?
They are all at the Bottom for overcrowding and greed prices .
united clearly needs to up it’s game. if it can.
Alaska certainly wouldn’t be #2 for January. Their operations have been a disaster for the past month. Not entirely their fault, but frustrating nonetheless.
The WSJ clearly knows the world’s #1 PREMIUM airline when they see it. And no one will ever take over that spot…all other airlines are just competing to be second best!
Of course Delta is the best, at least internationally. Outside of the travel blogosphere/FT bubble, most people I know IRL—families, friends, coworkers—their opinion is “AA and UA hot garbage, DL kinda ok I guess”. Yeah, most people don’t care about TATL J points redemptions. Also, that these travel bloggers continue to promote JetBlue as the best thing is evidence of this massive disconnect.
Kudos to Allegiant though. Would like to try them too sometime, they have direct routes that work for me (compared to Spirit/Frontier)
The metrics are skewed– Allegiant is terrible. Find out at your own peril.
Research their past– emergency landing rate, the investigations. Learn how to view their late/cancellation data. Make a backup plan to your flight that doesn’t involve a rental car or a hotel– why? Have you ever tried to rent a car at Punta Gorda airport at 2AM, which is when they cancel the flight? Talk to airport workers at their “hubs” about what happens when there are delays or cancellations.
I’ve done plenty of flying with all the major players– good and bad on all of them. There are bad experiences, like sleeping on the floor at the gate with United, or getting stuck with Southwest for 3 days and missing half a vacation, and then there’s change-your-life, the-police-were-called bad with Allegiant.
If I told my family today that we were going on a trip on allegiant at least one person would start crying an they’d ask why we couldn’t just stay home. As an airline, it shouldn’t exist in my opinion.
All US airlines suck but among all suckers, Delta is the one that sucks least. I am glad I live in a Delta hub.
All ya all can suck on that!
I loathe Delta and JetBlue. I’ve experienced horrible service on every Delta flight I’ve been on, as well as an irrops at MSP where Delta customer service treated me like garbage. They’re on my Only Fly If There Are No Other Options list. B6 I’ve flown once, and that was enough. Uncomfortable flight, very late (yeah, surprise), bad service. And, honestly, Mint sounds like every other domestic First.
Why do people like these airlines?
One issue with B6 is its massive concentration in the north east. Comes a snow storm or air traffic control bogs down, the knock on effect to the rest of the system is catastrophic.
I wonder UA’s relatively poor ranking had something to do with over-scheduling with aging B767 and B777-200 planes.
Ranking US airlines is a joke to anyone who’s ever flown an Asian carrier. Saying Delta is #1 (and I Iike them) is unfortunate actually. It’s a VERY LOW bar.
Must be the first year Atlanta didn’t implode for a week straight after one snowflake fell on it. Talk about “rabid devotion” though, the Cult of Dear Leader bloggers and terminally online fliers who pay a premium to connect twice on a nonstop must be having a good day shouting into their echo chambers.
Disappointed in JetBlue though, they do seem to have gone downhill in the past 5 years. Here’s hoping they get it together.