Delta ranked first among nine U.S. airlines in The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) 15th annual airline ratings. This marks the second consecutive year the airline has topped the list. Alaska Airlines was the runner-up, followed by Southwest Airlines (despite the late-year collapse).
JetBlue Airways finished last for the second consecutive year, one notch below Frontier Airlines and two positions behind merger partner Spirit Airlines.
The WSJ uses the following metrics to rank airlines: flight cancellations, on-time arrivals, delays, involuntary bumps, baggage handling, and complaints.
However, even the top-performing airlines fared worse than in previous years.
Delta maintained its crown because it managed to navigate the issues better than its competitors, but it was far from perfect. The airline claimed first place in three of the seven categories analyzed. In 2021, it won in five categories.
In terms of punctuality, it scored 81.7% and outperformed all competitors, but it dropped from 87.9% in 2021 and 83.4% in 2019, the last normal year for the industry.
Delta canceled nearly 31,000 flights, more than three times the number it canceled in 2021. Yet, it still had the lowest cancellation rate among major airlines.
Flight cancellations were the biggest issue for airline passengers in 2022. The number of cancellations among major U.S. airlines increased by 69% in 2022.
JetBlue earned the title no airline wants – the worst-performing U.S. carrier – because it posted relatively weak numbers in nearly every category.
The New York-based airline, praised by passengers for its onboard amenities including free Wi-Fi, DirecTV, and trendy snacks, had the highest rate of delays of over two hours on the tarmac. Its on-time rate was second to last at 63.6%. JetBlue canceled 3.3% of its scheduled flights.
JetBlue attributes much of the airline’s ongoing operational issues to its heavy concentration of flights in the New York metropolitan area and neighboring Northeastern states. Three out of four of the airline’s flights are in this overcrowded region. No other airline comes close to this exposure, it says.
Source: The Wall Street Journal