“That said, these new policies were only in effect for roughly half of the 12-month period used in the analysis-so I do expect next year’s analysis to trim Southwest’s lead in this category even more.”Īs consumers are thinking about flying again, Ewen says there are some things to consider. “Southwest has typically reigned supreme in this area, and while that gap narrowed slightly, it still was well ahead of its nearest rival (American, which still imposed an average of $4.45 in ancillary fees per passenger),” says Ewen. “These didn’t necessarily cause major changes to the rankings themselves, but some of the specific data was clearly influenced by the pandemic,” says Ewen.Įwen says the thing that surprised him most in the new ranking is that the removal of many change and cancellation fees by the legacy carriers-which started in late August/early September 2020-didn’t have more of an impact on the Costs & Reach section. In addition, the cancellation data indicated that some carriers responded more quickly in the first few months of the pandemic-adjusting schedules in advance rather than waiting until the week before to cancel flights (which is how the DOT defines a “canceled” flight). “Hawaiian, United and Frontier saw dramatically-higher numbers of customer complaints to the DOT at the height of the pandemic-largely related to those carriers’ respective refund policies,” says Ewen. While The Points Guy returned to a more traditional ranking system this year, some of the data was still impacted by the pandemic.
Another downside to flying with Allegiant Air: In order to earn miles, the carrier requires that passengers must have a co-branded credit card, which put the airline last in the loyalty category in 2021. According to The Points Guy, Allegiant and Frontier rank poorly due to several factors, including timeliness, cancellations and a no-frills experience (no Wi-Fi, no entertainment, no power outlets). (Curiously, Allegiant came out on top in another airline ranking in 2020.) Frontier-another low-cost carrier-came in next to last. AFP) (Photo by KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty ImagesĬoming in at the bottom of the list is Allegiant Air, a low-cost carrier that operates scheduled and charter flights.
Southwest Airlines has been named the second best airline in America.
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