SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) – Price isn’t everything, a new analysis ranking the best U.S. airlines for 2024 found.
The study, published Thursday by finance company WalletHub, looked at the nine largest airlines plus one regional carrier, SkyWest. It compared the carriers based on not only affordability but also safety, comfort and more.
Delta Air Lines was ranked the most reliable for having the lowest rate of canceled and delayed flights, mishandled luggage and denied boardings, according to WalletHub.
Delta also tied with JetBlue Airways for being the most comfortable. They scored the most points for in-flight experience, including free Wi-Fi, snacks and beverages as well as extra legroom.
Spirit Airlines nabbed the spot for “Most Affordable Airline,” with flights costing about 5.23 cents per mile in 2024. Frontier Airlines ranked second at just over six cents a mile.
Spirit also topped the list in terms of safety, followed by Alaska Airlines and Frontier. This was based on a low number of incidents and accidents per 100,000 flight operations.
Wallethub used data from the U.S. Department of Transportation to create its scoring framework. The study allocated points based on three major categories: baggage and departures, in-flight comfort and cost, and safety. For example, WalletHub collected the number of reported flight cancellations by each airline, excluding anything related to weather, security and the National Aviation System.
It also looked at the number of flights delayed by more than 15 minutes and divided that by the number of regularly scheduled flights to get the delayed flight percentage for each airline.
Other metrics included Wi-Fi availability, complimentary refreshments and operational mishaps. You can find more details about how the airlines were scored here.
Alaska Airlines was ranked “Best Airline Overall” with a score of 68.07 out of 100, followed by SkyWest (65.69) and Spirit (61.56). Frontier and Southwest Airlines scored the lowest on the list at 43.57 and 36.03 respectively.