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The Best and Worst Airlines of 2019 Report is Out…No Surprises
It’s that time of year again, and once again Delta takes top spot while both United and American fall last, again. How does Allegiant and Spirit score better than American? I don’t consider either of those real contenders…so let’s just pretend they are not on the report. However, to compare the top to the bottom just look at flight cancellations. Delta averaged only 36 a day in 2019; American averaged 159 a day. Not that we ever check luggage as consultants, but another huge difference is in mishandled baggage. Delta averaged 1,345 late or lost bags each day; American mishandled more than twice as many.
Here is a quick look at results…
Because I’m a huge Delta loyal fan, I’ll just share a few awesome numbers with you. Delta improved its on-time arrival rate to 83.4%, up from 82.9% in 2018, according to masFlight. Delta airline canceled just 0.7% of its flights in 2019, including regional partners, down from 0.9% in 2018. Southwest, American and United all canceled more than 2% of their flights last year, and the industry average was 1.85% in 2019.
Having tried JetBlue about 10 years ago I am all to aware of cancelations. They continue to not let folks down being one of the highest in daily cancelations. Delta on the other hand had 281 days with zero cancellations last year, 30 more than in 2018. Factoring in regional partners, the total number of days when 100% of flights were completed was 165, up from 143 in 2018.
The #1 reason I will never ever fly American. In 2019 American Airlines started each day with about 50 planes out of service for mechanical reasons. Normally the airline has about 30 aircraft needing repairs even after overnight work by mechanics. Being short 20 airplanes a day means the airline had to cancel about 80 flights for maintenance. That is just crazy!!
The Scorecard doesn’t measure factors like seat comfort, gate agent and flight attendant service, add-on fees, frequent-flier programs, upgrades or route convenience, except when complaints show up at the Transportation Department. For that we’ll need to wait for the JD Power’s North America Airline Satisfaction Study. Alaska Airlines often take the #1 spot with Delta every single year in #2. So really this report is more about dependability vs customer service.
I have to ask, why are people flying American? I see complaints on Facebook every single day. I am really thankful I don’t live in an American hub city. Direct or not, I would take Spirit over American if it came down to it. Share your comments below.
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