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What are the Best and Worst U.S. Airlines for On-Time Flight Arrivals, Cancelled Flights, and Lost Luggage? The Department of Transportation has released its 2022 statistics, and on-time arrivals for all the airlines have fallen from 2021, reflecting the challenges airlines have faced in ramping up their operations post-pandemic, in some cases with overly ambitious schedules that were knocked off course by a staffing, weather, or other disruption that then cascaded through the system.
Delta displaced Hawaiian as the most on-time U.S. airline, although it fell over 6 percentage points to just over 82 percent. Alaska, United, and American Airlines were all within two percentage points of each other, from Alaska's 79.1% to AA's 77.2%. And with on-time percentage of 66% or less, you probably want to avoid flying Frontier, JetBlue, and Allegiant if you can help it.
| Airline | Rank | % On-Time Flights, 2022 | % On-Time Flights, 2021 |
| Delta Air Lines | 1 | 82.1 | 88.2 |
| Alaska Airlines | 2 | 79.1 | 83.2 |
| United Airlines | 3 | 78.7 | 79.8 |
| American Airlines | 4 | 77.2 | 81.6 |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 5 | 73.9 | 90.1 |
| Southwest Airlines | 6 | 73.2 | 75.8 |
| Spirit Airlines | 7 | 73.0 | 76.8 |
| Frontier Airlines | 8 | 66.1 | 76.7 |
| JetBlue Airways | 9 | 64.6 | 72.3 |
| Allegiant Air | 10 | 63.4 | 68.3 |
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Summer 2022 saw a number of flight cancellations caused by labor strikes and covid-related illnesses hitting flight crews, and while the strikes primarily affected European airlines, U.S. airlines were impacted by staffing shortages. Southwest cancelled over 50% of its flights on 12/26/22 alone, and many other flights in late December 2022 due not only to winter storms but an overly aggressive flight schedule and poor planning, and these cancellations pushed it down the rankings.
| Airline | Rank | % Flights Cancelled, 2022 | % Flights Cancelled, 2021 |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 1 | 0.9 | 0.4 |
| Delta Air Lines | 2 | 2.0 | 0.6 |
| Alaska Airlines | 3 | 2.2 | 1.7 |
| United Airlines | 4 | 2.7 | 2.2 |
| American Airlines | 5 | 2.8 | 2.0 |
| Frontier Airlines | 6 | 2.9 | 1.4 |
| Spirit Airlines | 7 | 3.0 | 3.0 |
| Southwest Airlines | 8 | 3.3 | 2.2 |
| Allegiant Air | 9 | 3.5 | 3.3 |
| JetBlue Airways | 10 | 3.7 | 1.6 |
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No one wants to lose a bag, which is why we recommend never checking luggage. If you must check a suitcase, Delta is your best bet among the major U.S. airlines.
| Airline | Rank | Mishandled Bag Reports per 100 Passengers 2022 | Mishandled Bag Reports per 100 Passengers 2021 |
| Allegiant Air | 1 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 2 | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Frontier Airlines | 3 | 0.4 | 0.3 |
| Spirit Airlines | 4 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| Delta Air Lines | 5 | 0.5 | 0.5 |
| Southwest Airlines | 6 | 0.5 | 0.4 |
| United Airlines | 7 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| JetBlue Airways | 8 | 0.7 | 0.5 |
| Alaska Airlines | 9 | 0.7 | 0.6 |
| American Airlines | 10 | 0.9 | 0.8 |
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