How US Airlines Rank for Flight Delays, Cancellations

It's certainly no secret that air travel has been messy over the past year as airlines and airports continue to be plagued by crippling staffing shortages prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, some carriers have fared better than others when it comes to navigating this new normal. A recent Price4Limo study gathered a year's worth of daily flight cancellation and delay data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics to determine which airlines have struggled the most to provide uninterrupted travel. Here's a look at how the nine major U.S. airlines stack up in terms of flight delays and cancellations of late.

Low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines experienced the highest number of canceled flights in the last year at a clip of 32,779, more than 3,600 more than the second-worst airline. Southwest also led the way in terms of delays with an eye-popping 329,870. That figure is nearly twice that of the second-worst carrier for flight delays. Southwest's 16.8 million-plus delayed minutes were also the most of any U.S. carrier. However, the airline was only forced to delay one out of four flights, a rate better than three other carriers.

The world's largest airline hasn't been immune to flight disruptions over the past year either, canceling more than 29,000 flights and delaying over 183,000 during that time. American Airlines' 13.5 million delayed minutes are second to only Southwest but its percentage of flights delayed (19.9 percent) is still among the lowest in the nation. It also doesn't help that American's hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) was the worst for cancellations over the past year with 10,612.

While Delta Air Lines' 11,720 flight cancellations were the third most nationwide over the past year, that figure represents just 1.3 percent of the carrier's entire schedule. Meanwhile, Delta's flight delay rate of 14.6 percent was also the best of any major U.S. carrier. That makes Delta arguably the most reliable airline right now.

United Airlines has fared relatively well in terms of flight cancellations over the past year, scrapping 11,262 flights at a rate of 1.9 percent of its schedule, second-best behind Delta. In terms of delays, United experienced more than 121,000 at a rate of 19.9 percent, tying American and trailing both Delta and Alaska Airlines.

JetBlue ranks middle-of-the-pack in terms of the number of flight cancellations (9,756) and delays (82,890) over the past year. However, the carrier's flight delay rate (30.6 percent) is the second-highest nationwide and its flight cancellation rate (3.6 percent) ranks as the third-highest in the U.S.

The past year has been a hectic one for Spirit Airlines, which was poised to merge with Frontier Airlines this summer before ultimately being acquired by JetBlue. The discount carrier's cancellation rate of 3.9 percent was the second-highest in the nation but it fared better by comparison in terms of flight delays at 24.5 percent, which was the fifth lowest.

Only two other airlines fared better than Frontier Airlines in terms of flight cancellation percentage (2.3 percent) over the past year. However, flight delays were a different story for the budget-friendly carrier, which canceled nearly 46,800 flights or 28.5 percent of its schedule.

While Allegiant Air's 5,560 flight cancellations were the second-fewest over the past year that figure represents 4.2 percent of the ultra-low-cost carrier's schedule. What's more, another 45,000-plus Allegiant flights were delayed during that time, representing more than one-third (34 percent) of the airline's total schedule.

Alaska Airlines performed relatively well over the past year given the circumstances, canceling just under 5,700 flights (2.5 percent) and delaying just under 45,000 others (19.5 percent). The airline's 2,212,995 delayed minutes were also the fewest of the nine carriers analyzed.