The Wall Avenue Journal reveals the perfect US airline of 2025 and a shocking shakeup within the rankings.
No one can deny that 2025 was a turbulent yr for air journey in the US. And whereas no single airline operated completely (or anyplace near it), one airline managed to rise above the trade’s acquainted challenges by merely working a extra dependable operation.
On Thursday, The Wall Avenue Journal launched its 18th annual rating of the perfect and worst US airways. Regardless of continued disruptions throughout the trade, together with staffing shortages, expertise failures, climate occasions, and community pressure, the Journal named Southwest Airways the perfect airline in America for 2025.
It marks the primary time Southwest has topped the rankings since 2020 and ends Delta Air Strains’ four-year streak because the trade’s high performer.
The entire listing of 2025 WSJ airline rankings is:
SouthwestAllegiantDeltaAlaskaSpiritUnitedJetBlueAmerican and Frontier
How the Wall Avenue Journal Ranks Airways
The Journal’s airline scorecard isn’t primarily based on passenger surveys or subjective journey experiences. As a substitute, it’s a data-driven analysis constructed round operational efficiency.
For 2025, 9 main US airways have been ranked throughout seven equally weighted metrics:
On time arrivalsFlight cancellationsDelays of 45 minutes or moreMishandled baggageTarmac delaysInvoluntary denied boardingPassenger submissions filed with the US Division of Transportation (DOT)
Every airline is ranked in each class, and the service with the bottom mixed rating throughout all seven metrics is topped the general winner.
Hawaiian Airways was excluded from the 2025 rankings due to its “regional focus.” Its efficiency information might be integrated into Alaska Airways’ outcomes following the airways’ merger in 2026.
Why Some Airways Are Not Included
You may discover that a number of newer or smaller US airways are lacking from the rankings. Carriers resembling Breeze Airways, Avelo Airways, and Solar Nation Airways usually are not evaluated, not due to efficiency, however due to how the scorecard is constructed.
The Wall Avenue Journal limits its evaluation to an outlined group of main US airways that generate sufficient constant, year-round information throughout all seven operational classes. The rankings rely closely on DOT reporting, which solely applies to carriers that meet particular thresholds for scheduled service and income. Airways that don’t report full information throughout each metric are excluded to maintain comparisons constant and immediately comparable.
In brief, the scorecard displays operational efficiency among the many largest US carriers with absolutely comparable datasets, fairly than a complete listing of each airline flying domestically.
Why Southwest is the Finest US Airline of 2025
Southwest didn’t dominate each class, nevertheless it carried out persistently nicely throughout all of them. That stability proved decisive.
In accordance with the Journal, Southwest recorded the fewest buyer complaints and tarmac delays among the many 9 airways ranked. It completed second-best in each on-time arrivals and the cancellation price. Its lowest rating was fourth place in baggage dealing with.
Most notably, Southwest posted a cancellation price of simply 0.84 p.c in 2025, holding it beneath 1 p.c for the second yr in a row. Solely Allegiant Air carried out higher, at 0.55 p.c. By comparability, American Airways canceled 2.2 p.c of its flights, the best price amongst airways on the scorecard.
Southwest’s efficiency comes after years of heavy funding following its operational breakdown through the late 2022 and early 2023 vacation journey interval. Since then, the airline has invested billions in enhancing its techniques, staffing, and processes, even because it navigates vital inside modifications. These included a 15 p.c discount in its company workforce and the introduction of in a single day red-eye flights and Hawaii flights for the primary time within the service’s historical past.
A lot to the touring public’s dismay, Southwest additionally started charging for luggage in Might 2025 and introduced it might start assigned seating in early 2026 (which begins subsequent week on 27 January).
Regardless of the high-profile unfavorable press over the modifications that had outlined Southwest since its inception, the Dallas-based service nonetheless got here out on high.
Southwest Chief Working Officer Andrew Watterson informed the Journal that holding cancellations low requires shut coordination when disruptions start to cascade.
“It’s very simple to cancel a flight. That’s the trail of least resistance,” Watterson stated.
Allegiant and Delta Spherical Out the Prime Three
Allegiant completed second general, buoyed by standout efficiency in three classes. The airline posted the bottom cancellation price, mishandled the fewest luggage, and involuntarily bumped the fewest passengers amongst all carriers ranked.
Its weaker outcomes got here in on-time arrivals and excessive delays. Allegiant has stated these longer delays mirror a deliberate technique of holding flights fairly than canceling them outright, a alternative the airline argues helps keep away from stranding passengers.
Delta slipped to 3rd place after topping the rankings for 4 consecutive years. Whereas the airline once more led the trade in on-time arrivals, its general rating suffered on account of will increase in cancellations, tarmac delays, and passenger complaints.
A lot of that decline traces again to Delta’s summer time 2024 operational meltdown following a CrowdStrike software program outage. As a result of the Journal’s 2024 rankings solely included information by way of Might, the complete affect of that disruption appeared for the primary time within the 2025 outcomes.
Delta informed the Journal it plans to reclaim the highest spot in 2026, saying its workers “set the bar excessive for airline efficiency as a part of our drive for steady enchancment.”
Bother on the Backside of the Rankings
On the different finish of the scorecard, American Airways and Frontier Airways tied for final place out of the 9 carriers ranked.
American’s 2025 efficiency marked a pointy deterioration. Its cancellation price rose from 1.37 p.c in 2024 to 2.2 p.c, the best among the many airways ranked. In no class did American end greater than sixth.
The airline attributed a part of its poor displaying to climate disruptions and congestion at a number of main hubs and stated investments in baggage dealing with and scheduling are already producing enhancements.
Frontier ranked final in 4 of the seven classes and returned to the underside of the rankings for the second yr in a row.
Different Notable Takeaways from the 2025 Scorecard
Past the headline outcomes, the Journal discovered that airline efficiency in 2025 regarded very like the yr earlier than, with a number of exceptions.
Total airline efficiency remained largely flat in contrast with 2024, with no sharp enhancements or declines.Spirit Airways posted the biggest year-over-year enchancment, rising to fifth place regardless of ongoing chapter proceedings and questions on its survival.United Airways posted the worst baggage dealing with price at 7.07 mishandled luggage per 1,000 passengers, nicely above the trade common of 5.11. United ranked sixth.JetBlue Airways ranked seventh, performing comparatively nicely in baggage dealing with however combating delays and reliability.No airline exceeded an 80 p.c on-time arrival price in 2025. The trade common slipped to 76.45 p.c, with the DOT defining on-time as arriving inside quarter-hour of schedule.
Delays. Cancellations. Pissed off vacationers. A pajama “ban.” Air site visitors controller shortages. Excessive-profile accidents and incidents. An ongoing pilot scarcity. A 43-day authorities shutdown. In some ways, 2025 was a yr outlined by disruption and chaos throughout US airspace.
And but, the system held. Greater than 17 million flights moved by way of it, roughly 47,000 on daily basis, making 2025 the busiest yr for US air journey in additional than 15 years. It was not flawless, nevertheless it labored.
With long-awaited air site visitors management modernization now underway and hundreds of recent controllers anticipated to enter the system within the months and years forward, there may be cautious optimism that a few of the pressure might ease. How a lot of a distinction that makes might be mirrored within the 2026 rankings.
For now, the 2025 scorecard gives a transparent verdict. There have been winners and there have been losers, however the information additionally reveals a sobering message. Reliability stays fragile, passenger satisfaction stays uneven, and the margin between success and failure in US aviation continues to be uncomfortably skinny.
