Overview
- The Wall Street Journal’s 18th annual scorecard ranked nine U.S. carriers using seven equally weighted metrics covering punctuality, cancellations, long delays, baggage, tarmac delays, involuntary bumping and DOT passenger submissions.
- Southwest returned to No. 1 for the first time since 2020 with the fewest customer complaints and tarmac delays and a 0.84% cancellation rate.
- Allegiant finished second with the lowest cancellation rate at 0.55% plus the fewest lost bags and involuntary bumps, though its delays tended to run longer.
- Delta fell to third despite leading on-time arrivals, with higher cancellations, tarmac delays and DOT complaints tied to its 2024 CrowdStrike-related outage.
- American and Frontier tied for last, United posted the worst mishandled-bag rate at 7.07 per 1,000, and Spirit climbed to fifth as the most improved despite bankruptcy.