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Last week we released our annual rankings of the best and worst US airlines for 2018. As with all of our TPG reports, we based our criteria and results entirely on objective data, using numbers gleamed from sources ranging from the Department of Transportation to financial reports to airline websites. Here’s what our own results looked like for 2018:
For the second year in a row, Alaska Airlines took the top spot — and for the second year in a row, no one really complained. However, unlike last year when United came in at #2, this year Southwest and Delta jumped ahead to snag the second and third spots respectively, a result that generated a great deal less controversy than United did coming in second in our last study.
If there was any portion of the list that readers took issue with, it was the airlines down toward the bottom, as JetBlue at #9 and Hawaiian at #9 rubbed some people the wrong way. Both airlines were hampered by the smaller size of their respective route networks, but also suffered by scoring low in additional criteria as well — Hawaiian in airfare, JetBlue in on-time arrivals, as well as other areas.
As always, readers who don’t like the weightings of our criteria can adjust the numbers to their own liking using the interactive tool in our story. So if cost doesn’t matter as much to you, you could reduce that from the default of 25% of the score to 15% and see which airlines take top honors in that scenario.
But perhaps you’re not interested in the hard numbers and just have a favorite airline of your own. If that’s the case, we’d like to hear which one it is. Visit our Facebook page (or use the embedded poll below) to choose what you personally think is the best US airline.
You only get one vote, so choose wisely, and we’ll publish the full results in a forthcoming post.
Featured photo by Chris Sattlberger/Getty Images
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Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
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