Alaska Airlines has come out as the best U.S. airline in a new study – with only regional carrier SkyWest coming close to its all-around quality.
WalletHub, who published the study, vouches for Alaska Airlines’ on-time performance and even its safety, despite the infamous incident on Ontario-bound Alaska Airlines flight 1282 where a door panel blew out mid-flight at 16,000 feet.
All 171 passengers and six crew members survived after an emergency landing back in Portland, Oregon, but that hasn’t stopped three passengers on that flight from filing a $1 billion lawsuit against Alaska Airlines and Boeing, the company that made the 737 Max 9 plane.
The next best national airline was Spirit, which unsurprisingly ranked as the best option for budget flyers, with no other carrier coming close to rivaling it.
Spirit is for folks who don’t care about legroom and are satisfied with the only in-flight entertainment being a phone or a book.
WalletHub ranked Alaska Airlines as the best U.S. airlines despite recent safety hazards
A doorplug blew out midair on an Alaska Airlines flight on January 5, 2024 in Portland, Oregon
An Alaska SkyWest Embraer E175LR aircraft approaches San Diego International Airport for a landing on a flight from San Francisco on March 12, 2024
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 awaits inspection at the airline’s hangar at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
More surprisingly, Spirit was deemed the safest airline, with the runner-up, ironically, being Alaska Airlines.
Delta and JetBlue were fourth and sixth on the list, respectively, and they led the pack when it comes to in-flight entertainment, Wi-Fi offerings, legroom and complimentary snacks and beverages.
And Delta, despite coming in fourth, was deemed the most reliable airline by WalletHub, since it has ‘the lowest rate of cancelations, delays, mishandled luggage and denied boardings.’
United Airlines emerged as a solid middle-of-the-pack option, slightly edging out JetBlue.
Rounding out the bottom of the list was Hawaiian Airlines, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
Hawaiian Airlines has had its fair share of mishaps, which dragged down its score.
At least 20 people – including children – were injured during severe turbulence on a December 2022 Hawaiian flight to Arizona. Many were thrown out of their seats and some were knocked unconscious.
A Spirit Airlines Airbus A319 landing on February 19, 2016 in Los Angeles
American Airlines ranked eighth out of ten domestic and regional airlines studied by WalletHub
Still, Hawaiian is one airline that’s not likely to deny passengers boarding.
Frontier, which came in at ninth, is the other budget airline on the list. Given its overwhelming tendency to deny boarding, delay flights and cancel them all together, Spirit appears to be the king of cheap air travel.
And after JetBlue terminated its $3.8 billion merger with Spirit in March 2024 after running into heavy antitrust restrictions, airports are likely to be littered with the yellow-skinned planes for the foreseeable future.
Finally, Southwest Airlines came in last, a stunning fall from grace after it was ranked second only to Delta in 2023.
Southwest was among the worst when it came to mishandled baggage, but its safety score was what tanked the airline.
WalletHub looked at aviation deaths and injuries from 2018 to 2023 for this study, and Southwest had two flights – one in 2018 and one in 2020 – that resulted in deaths.
A Southwest Airlines airplane taxies from a gate at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on October 11, 2021
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 airliner backs away from the terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on March 25, 2024
In 2018, a Southwest flight leaving from New York made an emergency landing in Philadelphia after debris from the plane smashed a window, pushing a passenger partially out into the open-air at 32,500 feet.
Jennifer Riordan, 43, a mother of two and a banking executive, was the one sucked out the window. She died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, neck and torso.
Then in 2020, a Southwest plane landing at an airport in Austin, Texas, struck an individual on the runway, killing them.
While Southwest’s on-time performance is usually decent, passengers eager to get home for the holidays in December 2022 suffered massive delays all over the countries. In some cases, people were left stranded for days or had to make hideously long car-rides to get to their families.
Southwest agreed to pay a $140 million penalty for the holiday meltdown of 2022.
