2026 Best Airline Rankings
The Points Guy’s best airline rankings are officially in.
They studied 8 US airlines based on four factors and data collected from the Department of Transportation:
Reliability (30%)
Loyalty (25%)
Cost & Reach (25%)
Experience (20%)
United, American, Delta, Southwest, Alaska, JetBlue, Allegiant, and Frontier were all up against each other.
The 2025 winner?
Delta Airlines for the 8th year in a row.
The airline had the best on-time flight percentage at nearly 80% - combined with a strong lounge network and overall flying experience.
Some other interesting facts from the report?
One piece of data that stood out to us is that Americans paid $7.4 Billion in checked bag fees last year:
We recently covered an article about how you can avoid checked bag fees - so check that out if you’re still paying those in 2026.
Southwest Airlines was the best airline for the cost and reach category, something weighing heavy on travelers’ minds this year.
Frontier had the most affordable ticket prices last year - while Delta ranked as the least affordable airline.
How about loyalty, specifically points and miles value?
American Airlines AAdvantage slightly edged out Alaska Atmos Rewards in terms of cents per point:
Delta SkyPesos (sorry, SkyMiles) did not even crack the top five, as they were valued at 1.20 CPP.
Even though Delta was at the bottom of some categories, their flying experience and reliability led them to being number one overall.
United finished second and Southwest rounded out the top three.
You can read the full TPG 2026 Airline Report in more detail here.