Ranked: the worst and best US airlines in 2019
Airline rankings you've got to see

From flight cancellations to baggage failures, there's a lot that can go wrong with your airline when travelling. To help you out before you book the Air Travel Consumer Report by The US Department of Transportation has ranked US domestic airlines from best to worst. The report reveals the worst airlines based on four categories: flight cancellations, mishandled baggage, overbooked flights and complaints. Read on to find out which airlines are flying high and those that aren't.
Part 1: Cancellations

One of the worst feelings when travelling is looking up at the departures board and seeing the word "cancelled" next to your flight. Part one of the report looks at the number of flight cancellations for each airline during July 2019 starting with the airlines that cancelled the least flights to the worst offenders.
Fewest cancellations: 17th Hawaiian Airlines

Cancellations: 16th Allegiant Air

Cancellations: 15th Delta Air Lines

Delta was not far behind Allegiant Air, but it's worth noting the carrier has far more scheduled flights with 90,812 in July 2019 alone. Only 0.4% of their services were cancelled.
Cancellations: 14th Alaska Airlines

Cancellations: 13th United Airlines

Cancellations: 12th Southwest Airlines

Cancellations: 11th SkyWest Airlines

Cancellations: 10th JetBlue Airways

Cancellations: 9th Spirit Airlines

Cancellations: 8th Frontier Airlines

Cancellations: 7th American Airlines

Cancellations: 6th Mesa Airlines

If you're travelling through Phoenix, Dallas Fort Worth or Louisville airports you'll know Mesa as American Eagle, while the airline operates as the United Express brand at Washington Dulles and Houston. It saw 3.2% of its 20,122 flights scheduled in July stay on the runway, up on the 1.9% from last year.
Cancellations: 5th PSA Airlines

With headquarters in Dayton, Ohio, PSA is a brand owned by American Airlines flying as American Eagle. It saw 3.4% of services cancelled in July, with passengers on 846 flights facing the misery of rebooking.
Cancellations: 4th Endeavor Air

A subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, you might know them as Delta Connection, flying around the country from hubs at Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, and New York. Endeavor comes in fourth on our list of the worst cancellation offenders, also with 3.4% of their 22,312 flights staying on the tarmac.
3rd worst cancellations: Envoy Air

2nd worst cancellations: Republic Airways

Worst cancellations: ExpressJet Airlines

Part 2: Mishandled bags

Fewest mishandled bags: 17th Allegiant Air

Mishandled bags: 16th Frontier Airlines

Mishandled bags: 15th Hawaiian Airlines

Mishandled bags: 14th Alaska Airlines

For every 1,000 bags onboard Alaska Airlines's flights, 4.32 had issues that were reported. It's worth noting that Alaska Airlines got 2.1 million items of luggage onto its planes in July 2019 alone.
Mishandled bags: 13th Southwest Airlines

Southwest saw 53,660 mishandled baggage reports, slightly higher than the 49,484 in 2018. That means 4.69 bags had issues for every 1,000 handled by the carrier. However, do note the airline dealt with the biggest number of luggage items of any on the list – a staggering 11.4 million bags.
Mishandled bags: 12th Endeavor Air

Mishandled bags: 11th Delta Air Lines

Mishandled bags: 10th Spirit Airlines

Mishandled bags: 9th SkyWest Airlines

Mishandled bags: 8th JetBlue Airways

Mishandled bags: 7th ExpressJet Airlines

Mishandled bags: 6th United Airlines

Mishandled bags: 5th PSA Airlines

Mishandled bags: 4th Mesa Airlines

3rd worst for mishandled bags: American Airlines

2nd worst for mishandled bags: Republic Airways

Worst for mishandled bags: Envoy Air

Part 3: Overbooking

Fewest overbookings: 17th Hawaiian Airlines

Trusty Hawaiian Airlines is first on the list with the lowest rate of people denied boarding. It saw 0.00 involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers, with nobody turned away. And they handled 5.3 million (presumably happy) customers.
Overbooking: 16th Endeavor Air

Overbooking: 15th Delta Air Lines

In 2018 only 22 people were denied boarding with Delta, but during the same period this year the company has beaten its excellent track record in this area – there was only one person who couldn't board with the airline from January to July 2019.
Overbooking: 14th ExpressJet Airlines

Overbooking: 13th United Airlines

Overbooking: 12th JetBlue Airways

Overbooking: 11th Spirit Airlines

Overbooking: 10th Alaska Airlines

Overbooking: 9th SkyWest Airlines

Overbooking: 8th Republic Airways

Overbooking: 7th Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines takes the seventh spot with a 0.32 involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 customers, seeing 2,525 passengers unable to take to the skies. Do note that the airline's results were partly caused by the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX planes, after two flights crashed in October 2018 and March 2019. And Southwest Airlines also handled 79.5 million passengers from January to June 2019, the most of all the airlines in this section of the report.
Overbooking: 6th Frontier Airlines

Overbooking: 5th American Airlines

Although American didn’t have the highest involuntary denied boarding rate at 0.73 per 10,000 customers, they did turn away 5,022 people, the highest number of all the airlines listed here. However, like Southwest Airlines, it too was affected by the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX planes which has negatively impacted the results here.
Overbooking: 4th Allegiant Air

3rd worst for overbooking: PSA Airlines

2nd worst for overbooking: Mesa Airlines

Worst for overbooking: Envoy Air

Part 4: Customer complaints

Lowest customer complaints: 17th Southwest Airlines

Customer complaints: 16th Alaska Airlines

Alaska is next with the second-lowest, only 17 formally logged complaints in total, with 0.50 grievances per 100,000 passengers. Alaska has also seen a slight drop in their complaints from 2018, when they had 24 complaints in total and a rate of 0.70 per 100,000 passengers.
Customer complaints: 15th Endeavor Air

Customer complaints: 14th SkyWest Airlines

Customer complaints: 13th Delta Air Lines

Delta was still one of the best performers despite 102 gripes. Of these 23 were baggage complaints and 33 were flight issues, with a complaint rate of 0.65 per 100,000 passengers.
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Customer complaints: 12th PSA Airlines

Customer complaints: 11th Hawaiian Airlines

Customer complaints: 10th Republic Airways

Republic Airways (partner of American, Delta and United) has seen an increase in the rate of complaints, 0.78 per 100,000 passengers in July 2019, higher than the 0.60 figure from 2018. But in reality Republic only had 13 complaints, 12 of them were flight-related.
Customer complaints: 9th Allegiant Air

Customer complaints: 8th Mesa Airlines

Mesa (you might know them as American Eagle or United Express) is the eighth worst performer with a 1.37 complaint rate per 100,000 passengers. It was on the receiving end of 19 formal complaints in total in July 2019, the majority (16) were flight issues.
Customer complaints: 7th JetBlue Airways

Customer complaints: 6th ExpressJet Airlines

Customer complaints: 5th United Airlines

Customer complaints: 4th Envoy Air

Envoy Air (part of American Airlines) takes the fourth spot with a complaint rate of 2.42 per 100,000 passengers. It generated 34 complaints, 28 being flight-related and 2 being about over-sales.
3rd worst for customer complaints: American Airlines

2nd worst for customer complaints: Frontier Airlines

Worst for customer complaints: Spirit Airlines

This year Spirit has leapfrogged Frontier to claim the dubious crown of the airline with the highest complaints rate, 3.64 per 100,000 passengers in July 2019. That's a slight increase from the 3.55 in 2018. Spirit saw 117 complaints overall with 20 about boarding issues and 56 over flight problems.
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