If you've got air travel on the horizon, browse this list of the best—and worst—airlines in the United States before booking your flight
Planning a Trip? Avoid Booking a Flight on This Airline That Was Just Voted Worst in the U.S.
Published on Dec. 05, 2024
If there’s one thing many of us dread more than being asked to pick up a loved one from the airport, it’s booking a flight. With so many airlines to choose from it can be overwhelming to decide which one to fly and when. While your instinct might be to look for the itinerary with the lowest price, AirHelp’s 2024 ranking of the best and worst airlines in the United States and around the world might suggest otherwise.
Before you book your next flight, you’ll definitely want to see how several of the country’s most popular airlines stack up against one another and those around the world. Keep reading to find out which U.S.-based carriers rank the best and worst, and how these rankings were calculated.
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How were the airlines ranked?
Each year, AirHelp ranks more than 100 of the world’s most popular airlines, selected from more than 800 airlines worldwide. The company averaged three factors—on-time performance, customer opinion and claim processing—to determine each airline’s overall score. Then it ranked airlines from highest to lowest. In 2024, AirHelp gathered data between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31.
On-time performance
AirHelp has its own database of flight data that is used to calculate the percentage of flights from each airline that were on time. (Flights that arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time are considered on time.) AirHelp also cross-references its data with government agencies and other trustworthy sources to ensure accuracy.
Customer opinion
AirHelp asked customers of each airline to take surveys to help assess the quality of service, collecting more than 20,000 surveys in the process. Travelers from over 50 countries rated the cabin crew, aircraft comfort, aircraft cleanliness, food offerings and onboard entertainment for airlines they’d flown relatively recently based on a rating scale of “very bad” to “very good.” Each answer received a numeric value, and the average of these values determined each airline’s final score.
Claim processing
The way an airline deals with delays and lost luggage was equally important in AirHelp’s ranking. To score each airline, AirHelp determined that there are four key factors to consider:
- How likely an airline is to pay out compensation for a valid claim
- Whether claims are resolved quickly or require additional effort
- The total volume of claims an airline is processing
- Both past and current claim processing behaviors
Ultimately, the higher an airline scored on each of these criteria, the higher its overall score and rank.
What is the best airline in the U.S.?
Out of the 109 airlines from around the world that AirHelp included in its ranking of the world’s best airlines, United Airlines came in third place, making it the best airline in the United States. (Brussels Airlines took the top spot, followed by Qatar Airways.)
What earned United Airlines such a high spot on this competitive lift? While the airline received an overall AirHelp score of 8.04 out of 10, it received an 8.5 for claim processing, which helped boost its scores for on-time performance and customer opinion (both coming in at 7.8).
What is the worst airline in the U.S.?
Not all U.S.-based carriers fared quite as well as United Airlines in AirHelp’s 2024 global airlines ranking. JetBlue took 90th place, with an overall score of 5.18. Even though the airline received a 7.4 for on-time performance and an impressive 8.1 for customer opinion, its claim processing score of zero tanked its overall ranking. Yes, you read that right—JetBlue earned exactly zero points for claim processing. So if you have a JetBlue flight booked any time soon, hopefully you don’t need to file a claim for lost luggage or a canceled flight.
It should be noted that AirHelp did not review several U.S.-based budget airlines, including Southwest, Spirit, Frontier, Allegiant, Hawaiian and Sun Country.
The full ranking of the best and worst airlines in the United States
Here’s AirHelp’s full ranking of the best and worst U.S.-based airlines of 2024:
- United Airlines (8.04 overall)
- American Airlines (8.04 overall)
- Delta Air Lines (7.31 overall)
- Alaska Airlines (5.23 overall)
- JetBlue (5.18 overall)
While United Airlines and American Airlines jumped up a handful of spots from AirHelp’s 2023 ranking, other U.S.-based airlines didn’t fare quite as well. Delta fell six spots, which may be the result of a massive tech outage the airline experienced in July, while Alaska and JetBlue dropped by 34 and 31 spots, respectively. If you’re starting to think about planning your next trip, you might want to take AirHelp’s scores into consideration.
Sources:
- AirHelp: “The world’s best airlines 2024”
