American travelers’ frustration with airlines appears to be growing. Customers’ overall satisfaction with United States airlines has dropped 4 percent in 2025 compared to last year, according to a new report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), an organization that measures consumer sentiment across a variety of industries.
U.S. airlines collectively scored a 74 out of 100, down four points from last year’s record-high satisfaction score of 78 points.
The report measured travelers’ satisfaction for the eight largest U.S. airlines across 21 benchmark categories, including the courtesy and helpfulness of flight crew, the cleanliness of airline cabins, the timeliness of arrival, and seat comfort.
The airline with the highest satisfaction among fliers was Southwest, clocking in with 80 points, a score that is three percent higher than in 2024. Also at the top of the table were JetBlue and Delta, both holding steady with scores of 77, identical scores as last year.
“Across much of the travel segment, the satisfaction drop is being driven not by bargain hunters, but by business travelers and other high-value customers,” said Forrest Morgeson, associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research emeritus at ACSI. “With spending patterns under pressure and pricing power fading, providers are going to need to work harder to deliver consistent value across all customer segments.”
The most significant decreases in satisfaction were at Alaska and American, whose scores both dropped seven percent and eight percent, respectively. For American, the “decline stems from operational setbacks—American consistently shows higher rates of passengers involuntarily bumped from flights than the other mainline carriers—and a loyalty program overhaul that failed to resonate,” ACSI said in a statement.
Even with the changes, however, both American and Alaska were still able to secure spots in the middle of the ranking, with Alaska taking fourth place with 76 points and American scooping up the fifth spot with 73 points.
Spirit was the only other airline besides Southwest to gain points with customers this year. The low-cost carrier jumped up three percent for an overall score of 69 in 2025. “ The bargain airline appears to be taking advantage of lower volumes to improve its customer service, including eliminating change and cancellation fees for all passengers,” said ACSI’s release.
The airline with the lowest satisfaction score was Frontier with 65 points, a six percent drop from 2024’s ranking.
When it came to the benchmark categories, travelers were most frustrated by “usefulness of flight information provided by your carrier,” which scored second to last with 71 points, and the “quality of in-flight Wi-Fi,” which was the lowest-ranked category with a measly 66 points—a failing score.
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