1. Big picture: U.S. airlines made a significant recovery in 2023, with fewer cancellations and improved on-time arrivals. However, issues with baggage handling and tarmac delays persisted, and passenger complaints remained high.
2. Winners and losers: Delta Air Lines topped the list for the third consecutive year in The Wall Street Journal’s 16th annual airline scorecard. Alaska Airlines came in second, and budget carrier Allegiant Air jumped to third place. JetBlue Airways finished last for the third consecutive year.
3. Metrics: The airlines were ranked based on seven equally weighted operations metrics: on-time arrivals, flight cancellations, extreme delays, baggage handling, tarmac delays, involuntary bumping, and complaints.
4. Delta’s performance: Delta led the industry with an on-time arrival rate of 83% and had the lowest rate of complaints. It also tied for first on involuntary bumping.
5. Alaska’s performance: Alaska had the lowest cancellation rate, at under 1%, but ranked seventh in baggage handling.
6. Allegiant’s performance: Allegiant had the best baggage handling, with 1.72 mishandled bags per 1,000, compared to the average of 6.37. It also did not involuntarily bump any passengers from its flights.
7. Southwest’s performance: Southwest Airlines saw a spike in complaints after its holiday travel meltdown in late 2022 and early 2023. However, the airline’s complaint spike and baggage woes were temporary, preventing it from falling further in the rankings.
8. Frontier’s performance: Frontier had the highest complaint rate, with 38.5 complaints per 100,000 passengers—four times the average rate across the nine carriers surveyed. The most common complaint was about flight issues.
9. JetBlue’s performance: JetBlue finished last in four categories: on-time arrivals, canceled flights, delays longer than 45 minutes, and tarmac delays. The airline attributed its problems to New York City airspace challenges, including weather disruptions and air-traffic control issues.
Why it matters: The airline industry faced significant challenges in 2023, including air-traffic control issues, congested airports, and weather disruptions. Despite these hurdles, major U.S. airlines managed to reduce cancellations and improve on-time arrivals compared to the previous years.
Details:
- Delta’s on-time arrival rate was the industry’s best at 83%, up from 81.7% in 2022. The airline also reduced its flight cancellation rate to 1.2% of flights, from nearly 2%.
- Alaska Airlines, the runner-up, was the only other airline that topped 80% for on-time arrivals. It also had the lowest cancellation rate, at under 1%.
- Budget carrier Allegiant Air jumped to No. 3, boosted by fewer cancellations. It also had the best baggage handling record, mishandling only 1.72 bags per 1,000.
- Southwest Airlines fell to fourth place, while JetBlue Airways remained at the bottom of the rankings for the third consecutive year, largely due to congested skies over its New York City hub.
- The rankings were based on seven equally weighted operations metrics: on-time arrivals, flight cancellations, extreme delays, baggage handling, tarmac delays, involuntary bumping, and complaints.
What they’re saying: “If we’re finishing fifth, that means we’re letting our customers down,” said Matt Sparks, senior vice president of operations at Delta, referring to the airline’s ranking in flight cancellations. He credited the airline’s 100,000 employees for its strong performance.
The big picture: Despite improvements, passenger complaints remained high, and issues with baggage handling and tarmac delays persisted. The industry average for on-time arrivals was 77.6%, meaning barely three of four flights arrive within 15 minutes of schedule.
