The most effective airways within the US for 2025

“What’s the perfect airline?”

It is one of many questions we get requested essentially the most right here at TPG.

On one hand, it may be a tough one to reply. In any case, every of us has our personal private journey preferences and wishes and may weigh every thing from how reasonably priced an airline is to how family-friendly its insurance policies are.

However we additionally imagine there’s an goal, data-driven strategy to determine the perfect U.S. airline.

Annually, we analyze a slew of statistics, information and outcomes to rank the ten largest U.S. carriers from greatest to worst.

Our hope: to arm vacationers with the perfect info in deciding which airline to fly with.

The 2025 winner: Delta Air Strains for the seventh straight yr.

Simply because it has every year since 2019, Delta topped all different U.S. airways once we in contrast every throughout an enormous array of metrics from 4 key classes.

To come back to our rating, we tallied up how typically the key airways had flight delays and cancellations and calculated which carriers had the best charge of mishandling checked baggage and mobility units.

We regarded on the variety of cities they served within the U.S. and internationally.

Moreover, our crew of specialists evaluated carriers on a few of the components frequent vacationers worth most: the worth of an airline’s frequent flyer miles, the scope and price of its lounge portfolio, how its household seating insurance policies stack up and whether or not it has Wi-Fi — and whether or not that web service is free for patrons.

After months of crunching the numbers, this is how the complete outcomes panned out.

General rankings and key takeaways

Delta’s seventh straight victory

If there is a theme in Delta’s seventh straight yr of topping our airline rankings, it is that consistency issues.

Delta did not dominate in each class. The truth is, there have been loads of areas the place different airways scored greater, from affordability to how far its SkyMiles go in comparison with different airways’ award foreign money.

What put Delta excessive in 2025 was its power throughout all the classes we analyzed, from the persistently sturdy, on-time airline operation it runs to the expertise prospects have on the airport and of their seats.

Different high takeaways from this yr’s outcomes:

• United Airways climbed to second place on this yr’s rankings. United improved in two key classes versus a yr prior: total reliability and passenger expertise, the place it completed third total. The Chicago-based provider as soon as once more led our loyalty rankings, lifted by its Premier elite standing advantages and exhaustive associate community via the Star Alliance — and this does not even embody the just lately introduced “Blue Sky” settlement with JetBlue that is set to begin rolling out later this yr.
• Two different airways made beneficial properties in our 2025 rankings: Southwest Airways and Hawaiian Airways. Notably, Southwest jumped two spots from final yr to 3rd place in our rankings after turning within the {industry}’s lowest cancellation charge in 2024. It additionally maintained its lead on price and attain, thanks, partly, to the shortage of add-on charges it charged prospects in 2024. However subsequent yr could possibly be a really completely different story, given Southwest simply launched checked bag charges and, in latest months, tightened up a few of its most customer-friendly insurance policies. Will these adjustments trigger the airline to lose floor in subsequent yr’s rankings? Time will inform.
• American Airways noticed the largest year-over-year decline within the rankings. The truth is, it fell three spots to seventh total, topping solely a trio of finances airways. That fall got here because the airline has trailed high rivals Delta and United in profitability of late and seemingly been in catch-up mode to these carriers relating to high-end choices like business-class seats, cabin options and lounges. American’s new Flagship Suites ought to assist, however the airline additionally scored poorly on its dealing with of luggage and mobility units.
• Extremely-low-cost carriers Allegiant Air, Spirit Airways and Frontier Airways once more occupied the underside tier of our rankings. They have been hindered by their myriad of add-on charges, loyalty applications that did not measure up and fewer onboard options and facilities than their bigger rivals. Might alternative lie forward? These airways try, unveiling every thing from first-class seats and a loyalty glow-up at Frontier to new product choices at Spirit and a fast-growing fleet of brand-new planes at Allegiant.

Finest US airways for reliability

Since attending to your vacation spot safely and on time are (in that order) two of essentially the most elementary components of journey, reliability carries the strongest weight of our 4 classes: 30% of the general rankings.

Airways confronted a tall job in 2024 when airports stuffed up with record-setting crowds, together with what proved, on the time, to be every of the ten busiest days ever at U.S. airports.

Our reliability rankings consider:

• Timeliness: How regularly a flight on the airline was delayed
• Cancellations: How regularly a flight on the airline was canceled
• Bumps/involuntary denied boardings: How regularly an airline bumped a traveler towards their will on an oversold flight
• Baggage: How regularly an airline mishandled a bit of checked baggage
• Wheelchairs/scooters: How regularly an airline mishandled a mobility gadget

Delta’s reliability power in comparison with its friends in 2024 got here regardless of a tough week final July, throughout which the airline canceled hundreds of flights over a number of days as a consequence of a world IT outage at cybersecurity agency Crowdstrike.

However inside days, the airline obtained again to operating the on-time operation it is traditionally been celebrated for.

Positive factors by Hawaiian and Southwest on this yr’s total rankings have been due, largely, to large bounce backs in operational efficiency.

2024 noticed Hawaiian regain its hallmark reliability, a yr after the tragic wildfires in Maui made cancellations unavoidable.

For Southwest’s half, its industry-leading cancellation charge was 17% higher than 2023 and helped quell recollections of its high-profile vacation meltdown in 2022.

Industrywide, the cancellation charge ticked up in 2024 from 2023 however was worlds higher than 2022, when chaotic scenes at airports have been rampant.

Supply: U.S. Division of Transportation information

Here is how the general reliability class rankings shook out:

1. Delta Air Strains

2. Hawaiian Airways

3. Allegiant Air

4. Southwest Airways

5. United Airways

6. JetBlue

7. Alaska Airways

8. Spirit Airways

9. American Airways

10. Frontier Airways

American and Alaska, the 2 lowest-ranked community carriers within the reliability class, have been hindered, partly, by decrease marks when it got here to mishandled baggage, wheelchairs and scooters.

American additionally completed close to the underside of the pack when it got here to dealing with mobility units. The provider’s dealing with of wheelchairs was a part of what drew a lawsuit from the Biden administration final yr.

Spirit ranked lowest in that metric, misplacing a mean of two wheelchairs and scooters for each 100 it dealt with in 2024, in accordance with DOT information.

Frontier improved its total rating by 12% over final yr’s report however maintained its perennial last-place end when it got here to reliability.

It additionally had an astonishingly excessive charge of passengers bumped in comparison with its rivals.

Supply: DOT information

To be clear: Getting bumped on Frontier stays statistically unlikely, at 0.02% of passengers who boarded flights during the last two years. But, throughout that point, a passenger boarding a flight on Frontier was 25,000 instances extra prone to be bumped than on Delta.

Finest US airways for the journey expertise

Our expertise class evaluates airways on a number of components that may make an enormous distinction in how pleasurable a visit is with a specific airline.

On this class, we examined:

• Cabin options: What you may expertise on board, together with Wi-Fi, seat pitch/width and inflight leisure
• Lounges: How widespread (and quite a few) an airline’s lounges are and the way reasonably priced they’re to entry
• Household: How nicely an airline caters to households touring with kids
• Buyer satisfaction: The speed at which passengers complain to the DOT in regards to the provider

Alaska Airways topped our outcomes targeted on the journey expertise this yr, which have been weighted at 1 / 4 of the general rankings.

The Seattle-based provider edged out Delta right here, delivering the perfect marks of any airline when it got here to family-friendly insurance policies, which evaluated options like assured seats collectively, free lounge entry for youngsters and early boarding for vacationers with children.

Alaska trailed solely Southwest when it got here to the bottom charge of buyer complaints filed with the DOT.

Moreover, it topped our metrics targeted on the worth you’d get, on common, via a paid annual lounge membership: For $795, an Alaska Airways Lounge+ enrollment will get you entry to 61 home golf equipment, together with Alaska’s branded lounges, American Airways Admirals Golf equipment and a handful of United Membership amenities, amongst others.

We must always be aware, all three of the above airways — and their rivals — provide complimentary methods to achieve lounge entry via sure cobranded bank cards.

Learn extra: Finest bank cards for lounge entry

Lounges stay entrance and middle in airways’ battle to win prospects, and 2024 introduced us a few of the swankiest golf equipment but within the U.S. — most notably Delta’s all-new assortment of business-class-only Delta One Lounge amenities that debuted in New York, Los Angeles and Boston.

Nonetheless, overcrowding stays a hurdle all through the {industry}, at the same time as extra golf equipment — and larger ones — have popped up. We have already seen Delta, United and Capital One tighten entry guidelines this yr, and it is a secure wager extra such adjustments could possibly be coming.

Onboard expertise

One different side of the journey expertise the place Alaska was not a number one airline: financial system cabin options. JetBlue led the way in which there, helped by continued power in its core product that options its signature seatback screens, free Wi-Fi and extra beneficiant legroom.

Nonetheless, Delta and United have been an in depth second and third, due to an onboard arms race, of kinds, involving important investments in inflight leisure, Bluetooth connectivity and free Wi-Fi.

Here is how airways fared within the full journey expertise class rankings:

1. Alaska

2. Delta

3. United

4. Hawaiian

5. American

6. JetBlue

7. Southwest

8. Allegiant

9. Spirit

10. Frontier

Wanting forward, we count on to see improved scores throughout the board for the journey expertise airways provide. That is as a result of carriers are making important investments in onboard tech, slashing or completely chopping Wi-Fi charges and upgrading planes with higher seats and premium merchandise.

Look no additional than American’s latest announcement that it’s going to be a part of Delta, United and JetBlue in providing free web searching for its loyalty members in 2026.

Finest US airways for price and attain

What number of locations can an airline take you — and the way a lot will a visit hit your pockets?

That is the main focus of our “price and attain” class, which counted for 20% of our total rankings.

On this part, we analyzed a couple of components:

• Route community: What number of home airports an airline served, on common, domestically (weighted 80%) and internationally (weighted 20%)
• Affordability: How far (in distance) you’ll be able to fly for the cash you are paying, based mostly on monetary information from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics
• Ancillary charges: How a lot a typical passenger pays in bag and alter/cancellation charges

Southwest led the way in which on this class, due to its huge home community and — sarcastically — the minuscule add-on charges it charged prospects in 2024 in comparison with its rivals.

However Southwest could not get the identical elevate on this class subsequent yr and past after ending its long-standing “baggage fly free” coverage subsequent month and implementing a primary financial system fare.

Value

When it got here to affordability, we judged airways on how a lot they charged passengers, on common, to fly 1,000 miles, utilizing fare income reported by carriers to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics in 2024.

Industrywide, the fee to fly 1,000 miles rose barely in 2024 to $235.27 — up about 1% from 2023, nicely beneath the extent of inflation.

As normal, the finances airways — led by Spirit and Frontier — led the way in which in affordability based mostly on the fare alone.

However as any traveler who has flown aboard low-cost airways is aware of, the bottom fare is just a part of the whole price you pay to fly.

Whereas the “Massive Three” airways (American, Delta and United) collected a whopping $3.9 billion in checked bag charges in 2024, the finances carriers far exceeded their legacy rivals when it comes to the common charges passengers paid per journey.

Attain

After all, price is not the one issue when selecting an airline. The place it might probably take you issues, too.

To judge airways’ route networks, we evaluated what number of cities, on common, they served every month. We checked out home attain and, for the primary time in 2025, factored in worldwide route networks, too — which means airways obtained rewarded for inventive routes like United’s flights to Marrakech, Morocco, and Alaska’s to La Paz, Mexico.

American led the way in which with its expansive home community, in accordance with DOT information. United led with its worldwide attain, as proven in information supplied to TPG from aviation analytics agency Cirium.

One focal point: Although it could appear to be United narrowly beat American on worldwide community, it flew a lot farther total and with far larger planes.

For those who add up what number of whole seats United flew internationally and multiply it by the variety of miles these seats traveled (a key {industry} metric referred to as “accessible seat miles”), you may see that United lapped its closest competitor by tens of billions of accessible seat miles due to its strong flight choices to far-flung locations in Australia, New Zealand, varied African nations and extra.

American, in the meantime, relied closely on its power in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Here is how the complete price and attain class rankings shook out:

1. Southwest

2. American

3. United

4. Delta

5. Spirit

6. Alaska

7. Allegiant

8. Hawaiian

9. JetBlue

10. Frontier

Finest US airways for loyalty

Loyalty, in fact, is a class we pay shut consideration to right here at TPG. Weighted at 25%, we analyzed a couple of components:

• Frequent flyer program: How rewarding an airline’s loyalty program is predicated on TPG’s valuations, elite standing, cobranded bank cards, associate airways and expiration insurance policies
• Award availability: How simple and beneficial it’s to redeem your rewards throughout standard journey instances

Although American Airways AAdvantage miles and Alaska Airways Mileage Plan miles tied as essentially the most beneficial loyalty foreign money of any U.S. airline in our newest month-to-month valuations, it was truly United that received our loyalty class.

Serving to United was its relative power throughout lots of the classes we analyzed.

The provider’s United MileagePlus program had essentially the most incomes and redeeming companions due to its participation within the expansive Star Alliance. It had essentially the most switch companions of any airline except for JetBlue, with which it was tied for having the third most useful loyalty foreign money.

There was outstanding consistency in our loyalty class when in comparison with final yr’s outcomes:

1. United

2. Alaska

3. American

4. Delta

5. JetBlue

6. Southwest

7. Hawaiian

8. Spirit

9. Frontier

10. Allegiant

The one change was Alaska and its Mileage Plan program leapfrogging American’s AAdvantage program.

There are alternatives for extra motion to come back over the following yr, although.

• United just lately made it tougher to earn Premier elite standing.
• Southwest just lately devalued each its incomes and redeeming of Southwest Speedy Rewards factors.
• Alaska and Hawaiian are anticipated to launch a brand new joint loyalty program in August after merging final yr.
• Low-cost carriers are including extra beneficiant perks for frequent flyers, in hopes of attractive extra prospects to their applications. Most notably, some Frontier Miles elite standing tiers just lately gained a companion move, and elite members will quickly be eligible for upgrades to its new first-class seats.