Ask ten travelers which airline they trust most and you’ll get ten different answers, usually shaped by one bad connection or one flawless flight. Federal data gives a steadier picture, though even that depends on which number you pick.
On time arrivals, cancellations, bag handling and complaints don’t always point to the same carrier. Here’s how the 2025 and 2026 figures sort out, airline by airline.
Hawaiian Airlines Leads One Closely Watched Ranking
AirAdvisor named Hawaiian Airlines the most reliable US airline for 2026, the second year running, citing the best on time performance and the lowest diverted flight rate.[1] The company’s table shows roughly four in five Hawaiian flights arriving on time, with a very small share cancelled.
A separate look at August 2025 through July 2026 agrees on the punctuality side. Hawaiian led US airlines at 81.9 percent on time, while JetBlue trailed at 72.3 percent.[2] One caution: another 2026 ranking notes that Alaska Airlines now operates with the Hawaiian certificate combined[3], so Hawaiian’s standalone figures may be harder to track going forward.
Delta Keeps Winning on Punctuality
Delta has held the punctuality crown for years. Cirium said Delta kept its title as the most on time US airline in 2024, despite a CrowdStrike outage that forced roughly 7,000 cancellations over five days.[4] Its on time rate that year was 83.5 percent.[4]
The pattern held in the next year’s federal figures. Delta led major carriers with a 79.26 percent on time arrival rate in DOT’s full year 2025 data.[5] A tracker built on BTS data updated in October 2026 also puts Delta first among major carriers for departures within 15 minutes of schedule.[6]
Cancellations Are Delta’s Weak Spot This Year
Punctuality isn’t the whole story, and Delta’s early 2026 shows why. One analysis of DOT data for January through June 2026 found that Delta cancelled 2.35 percent of flights, about 19,150 in all, up from 1.22 percent in the first half of 2025.[7]
That helps explain why Delta can lead one list and slip on another. When a carrier is rarely late but cancels more than before, the ranking depends on how heavily each metric is weighted.
Southwest and Allegiant Excel When It Comes to Staying Put
For travelers who mostly fear a cancelled flight, Southwest and Allegiant look strong. Southwest had the lowest cancellation rate among large carriers at 0.85 percent in 2025, while Allegiant had the lowest overall at 0.47 percent.[5]
Allegiant also does well with luggage. It topped two of four reliability categories, cancellations and bag mishandling, but its on time rate sits below average.[1] Southwest, for its part, had the best denied boarding rate of 2025.[1]
Regional Carriers Post the Best Punctuality and Some of the Worst Cancellations
Regional airlines flying under major brands often top on time charts. As of October 2026, one BTS based ranking lists Endeavor Air as the most on time US airline at 85 percent.[8] Republic Airways follows closely at 84 percent.[8]
Their cancellation numbers tell a different tale. PSA Airlines had the highest cancellation rate in a study of June 2025 through May 2026, at 4.34 percent.[9] Since most travelers book the mainline brand, these regional results tend to get buried inside a bigger airline’s averages.
JetBlue Struggles Most on Combined Disruptions
When delays and cancellations are added together, JetBlue lands at the bottom. A study of more than 7 million domestic flights found 29.29 percent of JetBlue’s flights were cancelled or at least 15 minutes late, with a 2.50 percent cancellation rate and a 27.57 percent delay rate.[9] That works out to nearly three in every ten flights disrupted.
Punctuality has been the persistent problem. JetBlue’s 2025 on time arrival rate was 72.3 percent, and it slipped to 70.5 percent from January through May 2026.[10] There was a bright spot in May, though, when 81 percent of its flights arrived on time and just 0.2 percent of departures were cancelled.[10]
Frontier Gets the Last Place Label in Several Rankings
Frontier shows up as the weakest carrier in more than one 2026 ranking. One BTS based list names Frontier the least reliable US airline at 72 percent on time.[8] It also finished last for punctuality in 2025 and received the lowest economy satisfaction score in J.D. Power’s 2026 study.[10]
Another analysis of DOT’s January to June 2026 report ranked it worst across six measures. Refunds were its biggest complaint category, with 863 complaints, ahead of 796 about delays and cancellations.[7]
American Airlines Cancels More Than Most
American’s trouble is mostly about flights that never leave the gate. In 2025 its network cancelled 2.36 percent of scheduled flights, the highest among reporting airline networks.[10] Its branded regional partners Envoy, PSA and Republic ran a combined cancellation rate of 2.89 percent.[5]
The early 2026 numbers were worse still. American scrapped 3.32 percent of scheduled flights from January to June 2026, some 33,720 in total, against an industry rate of 2.23 percent.[7] A late January winter storm that hit five of its nine hubs was the worst stretch.[7]
Spirit’s Numbers Before It Stopped Flying
Spirit complicates every 2026 ranking. One dataset marks it as having ceased operations in May 2026[11], so it no longer appears in the latest comparisons.
Its figures before that were poor. From January until it stopped flying, just 59.84 percent of its flights arrived on time and 7.47 percent were cancelled.[7] On those numbers, Spirit would have been the worst airline in the US by a distance.[7]
Why the Rankings Don’t Agree
Each ranking weighs different things. WalletHub’s 2026 study names United the most reliable, citing the lowest rate of cancellations, delays, mishandled luggage and denied boardings.[12] A June 2026 snapshot even flipped the usual order, with Delta the most on time major carrier at 82.3 percent and Southwest the least at 66 percent.[13]
Time windows matter too. Some lists use full year 2025, others use twelve months ending in May or July 2026. Rankings show broad trends, but they can’t predict what will happen on a specific trip.[10]
Where the Latest Numbers Land
On punctuality, Hawaiian, Delta and Alaska take the top spots depending on the dataset. Southwest and Allegiant lead on cancellations and bag handling, and United tops WalletHub’s overall reliability score.
At the other end, JetBlue has the highest combined disruption rate and Frontier is named least reliable in several rankings. American cancels the most flights, and Spirit stopped operating in May 2026 after posting the weakest figures of the year.
