Overview
- The WSJ ranked nine major U.S. carriers using seven equally weighted operational metrics covering punctuality, cancellations, long delays, baggage handling, tarmac delays, involuntary bumping and DOT passenger submissions.
- Allegiant finished second overall with the lowest cancellation rate at 0.55% and the fewest mishandled bags and involuntary bumps, though its delays tended to run longer.
- Delta, first for the past four years, slipped to third despite leading in on-time arrivals, as cancellations, tarmac delays and DOT complaints rose and the July 2024 CrowdStrike-related outage weighed on results.
- American and Frontier tied for last; American posted the highest cancellation rate at 2.2%, and Frontier ranked last in four of seven categories after a turbulent year.
- Other highlights included Spirit jumping to fifth as the most improved and United recording the worst baggage-handling rate at 7.07 per 1,000, while industry on-time performance averaged about 76.45% with no carrier reaching 80%.