The Best Airlines in America

Wall Street Journal designates Southwest as No. 1 among major US carriers
Posted Jan 23, 2026 2:07 PM CST
The Best Airlines in America
A Southwest Airlines airplane lands at Midway International Airport on Nov. 6 in Chicago.   (AP Photo/Erin Hooley, file)

The Wall Street Journal is out with its annual airline rankings, examining the nine major carriers in the US (not counting Hawaiian Airlines, due to its "regional focus") using seven metrics: on-time arrivals, cancellations, 45-minute-plus delays, luggage handling, delays on the tarmac, involuntary bumping from flights, and "passenger submissions" (usually gripes). The paper notes that Southwest, which last appeared at the top of the list in 2020, won this year's rankings "by a wide margin," booting Delta from the top spot it held for four years. Here's how the others landed:

  1. Southwest
  2. Allegiant
  3. Delta
  4. Alaska
  5. Spirit
  6. United
  7. JetBlue
  8. American and Frontier (tie)
More on the results here.

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