WASHINGTON — The best U.S. airline as ranked by traveler research and news site ThePointsGuy.com is Alaska Airlines, one of the few airlines offering nonstop West Coast flights from Reagan National Airport.
Spirit Airlines ranks the lowest among 10 major carriers included in the report.
ThePointsGuy.com says its ranking is more comprehensive than others, and includes 10 objective, wide-ranging factors, like airfare, route networks, bag fees and change fees, cabin comfort, customer satisfaction, frequent flier programs, on-time arrivals, lost baggage, domestic lounges and involuntary bumps.
Alaska Airlines gets top marks for its frequent flier program and comes in second for customer satisfaction and on-time arrivals.
Alaska gets low marks for what ThePointsGuy calls a mediocre route network, though its Virgin America acquisition has improved the roster of places it flies, especially in California, New York and D.C.
Alaska’s long-distance routes out of Reagan National include nonstop flights to Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles.
United Airlines ranked No. 2, mostly for comfortable cabins and abundance of lounges, while Virgin American ranked third, led by cabin comfort and lost baggage rate.
The top 10 U.S. airlines as ranked by The PointsGuy.com:
- Alaska Airlines
- United Airlines
- Virgin America
- JetBlue
- American Airlines
- Southwest Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Frontier Airlines
- Spirit Airlines.
You can see the rankings methodology and how each airline ranks in the 10 categories here.
