A list of the best U.S-based airlines are revealed in a new report byThePointsGuy.com.
The website incorporated these 10 objectives to determine which airline is the best. The weight of each objective is in parenthesis: airfare (25 percent), route networks (15 percent), bag/change fees (10 percent), cabin comfort (10 percent), customer satisfaction (10 percent), frequent flyer programs (10 percent), on-time arrivals (10 percent), lost baggage (5 percent), domestic lounges (3 percent) and involuntary bumps (2 percent).
The site restricted the study to airlines that most people would have a chance of flying, and all data was reported during the 2016 calendar. After the scores were tallied, they were converted to a 1 to 10 scale.
The results are as follows:
1. Alaska Airlines
2. United Airlines
3. Virgin America
4. Jet Blue
5. American Airlines
6. Southwest Airlines
7. Delta Airlines
8. Hawaiian Airlines
9. Frontier Airlines
10. Spirit Airlines
Although Alaska and Virgin America completed their merger December 2016, they were still separate at the time of the study.
Alaska Airlines came out on top. It ranked No. 1 in the frequent flyer program category and placed second in customer satisfaction and on-time arrivals.
United came in second overall. It also ranks second in the comfortable cabins and lounges categories.
Spirit came in last due to its last-place rankings for cabin comfort and customer satisfaction.