Latest news with #ThePointsGuy
CBS News
a day ago
- Business
- CBS News
These are the top airlines in the U.S., according to The Points Guy
Looking to travel this summer but not sure which airline to fly for the best experience? The Points Guy (TPG), an online site dedicated to improving consumers' travel experiences while helping them save money, has revealed its annual ranking of the best airlines in the U.S. Founder and CEO Brian Kelly said the site ranks airlines based on four criteria: a carrier's reliability and performance; passenger experience; its cost and reach; and the quality of its loyalty or rewards program. Recent carrier meltdowns have travelers thinking more carefully about which airline — and through which airports — they want to fly. "This is not just my personal decision," Kelly told CBS Mornings. He also explained how the company weighs each metric. "We have a formula. We use lots of data. This isn't us just sticking our finger up in the air and kind of playing favorites. We look at reliability, first and foremost." "When you buy airfare, you need to get to where you're going, so we give a huge amount — 30% — to reliability," Kelly explained. Some airlines are going the extra mile to make flying more enjoyable for customers, from the minute they step foot in an airport through touchdown. For that reason, TPG assigned a 25% weight to an airline passenger's experience score to determine its overall ranking. An airline's cost and reach — including how expansive its network of destinations is — was assigned a 20% weight. And one-quarter of an airline's score was determined by the quality of its loyalty of rewards program. How the airlines stack up Delta Air Lines topped the list for the seventh year in a row, with its relative strength across all categories earning it the highest ranking, according to TPG. It is the most reliable on-time airline in America. It also provides passengers with free wi-fi, a wide selection of inflight entertainment options and meals from Shake Shack. United came in second place, rising from third place last year, aided by an improved onboard experience. It could continue to climb the rankings next year after announcing a partnership with JetBlue that will expand the airline's reach and improve perks for its loyalty members, TPG said. Weighing on the airline, though, is United's outsized presence at Newark Airport, which is suffering from persistent equipment and staffing issues. Southwest Airlines moved up two spots to earn the No. 3 position. Working in the airline's favor is its low flight cancellation rate, which is the best of any of its competitors. While it scored points in the cost and reach category, recent changes in fee structures could end its reign. It recently ended its popular "bags fly free" policy and offers a new, basic economy fare. Here are the full rankings, according to TPG: Delta Air Lines United Airlines Southwest Airlines Alaska Airlines Hawaiian Airlines JetBlue American Airlines Allegiant Air Spirit Airlines Frontier Airlines
USA Today
a day ago
- Business
- USA Today
What is the best US airline? This carrier topped The Points Guy's 2025 Best Airlines list
What is the best US airline? This carrier topped The Points Guy's 2025 Best Airlines list Show Caption Hide Caption Preparing for summer air travel? Here's what we know now Summer travel is always busy, but there are tips on how to avoid unnecessary flight issues. Here's what we know now. Delta Air Lines successfully defended its title as the highest-ranked airline in The Points Guy's Best Airlines Report. The carrier topped the 2025 list – which ranks airlines based on reliability, loyalty programs, cost and reach, and other factors – for the seventh year in a row. The airline fell short in some categories, ranking behind others in affordable pricing and the reward power of its SkyMiles, but still boasted a winning combination overall. 'What put Delta over the top in 2025 was its strength across all the categories we analyzed, from the consistently strong, on-time airline operation it runs to the experience customers have at the airport and in their seats,' the company said in the report released Thursday, June 19. Here's how other carriers fared. United makes gains while American drops United Airlines rose from third place in 2024 to second place behind Delta. TPG credited the change in part to improvements in its reliability and passenger experience. Southwest Airlines came in third, up from fifth place last year, and Hawaiian Airlines jumped two spots from seventh place to fifth. American Airlines, meanwhile, saw the largest decline on the list as compared with last year, dropping from fourth place to seventh. 'That fall came as the airline has trailed top competitors Delta and United in profitability of late and seemingly been in catch-up mode to those carriers regarding high-end offerings like business-class seats, cabin features and lounges,' the report said. Alaska Airlines also fell from second to fourth place. What are the best airlines in the US? These are the top airlines in the country, according to TPG's report: 1. Delta Air Lines 2. United Airlines 3. Southwest Airlines 4. Alaska Airlines 5. Hawaiian Airlines 6. JetBlue 7. American Airlines 8. Allegiant Air 9. Spirit Airlines 10. Frontier Airlines Travelers can find the full report here. Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
Delta Repeats As No. 1 Airline, According To The Points Guy
For the 7th consecutive year, travel website The Points Guy has named Delta Air Lines the best U.S. airline. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images) Delta Air Lines is the best U.S. airline for the seventh consecutive year, the travel website The Points Guy says Thursday in its 9th Annual Best Airlines Report. Delta's No. 1 ranking, The Points Guy says, was established after 'a deep analysis' of each airline's 'reliability, experience, loyalty program, cost and reach.' United Airlines is a close runnerup and ranks No. 2. Southwest Airlines ranks No. 3 and Alaska Airlines No. 4. Delta stands out as the top-ranking airline in reliability despite a Crowdstrike outage last year that led to thousands of flight cancellations, The Points Guy says. Southwest, however, had the lowest cancellation rate, 'putting its 2022 holiday meltdown in the rearview mirror,' The Points Guy says. 'Frontier came in last for this (reliability) category, in large part due to the astonishingly high rate of passengers bumped compared to its competitors. From 2023-2024, Frontier involuntarily bumped over 17,000 passengers, compared to Delta, which bumped four total, and Allegiant, which bumped zero.' United, which moved up from No. 3 last year to No. 2 this year, topped Delta in loyalty rankings and 'nearly gave the airline a run for its money in categories like onboard experience,' The Points Guy says. Hawaiian Airlines ranks No. 5, followed, consecutively, by JetBlue, American, Allegiant, Spirit and Frontier. Allegiant, Spirit and Frontier 'occupied the bottom tier of the rankings, hindered by their myriad of add-on fees, loyalty programs that didn't measure up and fewer on-board features and amenities than their larger competitors,' The Points Guy says. Travel website The Points Guy names United Airlines No. 2 among U.S. airlines. (Photo by) For each airline, The Points Guy analyzed 2024 data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, including passenger complaints, lost luggage reports and operational data. The Points Guy also took into account each airline's route network, fleet data and financial information. 'With changing airline policies, systemic delays and increased scrutiny on air travel, our goal at The Points Guy is to help consumers navigate the constantly changing aviation landscape,' says Brian Kelly, the founder of The Points Guy. 'Our Best Airlines Report thoroughly analyzes and compares each airline's performance to help consumers make the right choice for them, because not all airlines are created equal. Ultimately, we want consumers to know they have a choice so they can fly the airlines that best align with their needs.'
CNN
7 days ago
- Business
- CNN
CNN Underscored
Alberto Riva, CNN Underscored Connect with Alberto at Alberto Riva is the senior money editor for CNN Underscored, responsible for coverage of credit cards, points and miles, and travel. A native Milanese, Alberto got his start in journalism covering business and transportation in Italy. He later moved to the US to work for CNN in Atlanta and then made a home in New York, where he has held journalism jobs including producing morning news at Bloomberg Radio and leading Vice News as managing editor. In 2017, he turned his passion for points and miles into a job, becoming the fist managing editor at The Points Guy. Alberto is fluent in French and Spanish, happy to mangle German, and sometimes even able to find a use for the Latin and classic Greek he studied. He lives in Brooklyn, and when he's not collecting those points and miles, he enjoys skiing, mountaineering, and indulging his love of aviation by flying on as many airlines as he can.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
United Airlines Turns Off Starlink Access Amid Interference Concerns
PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing. United Airlines' plans to retrofit its entire regional fleet with Starlink connectivity have hit a roadblock, at least temporarily. United first started rolling out Starlink access using a free-with-ads model in May, becoming one of a select club—including Hawaiian Airlines and the boutique air carrier JSX—to offer flyers access to SpaceX's satellite broadband service. Its speed and performance proved a hit with PCMag when it debuted, and United announced plans to install Starlink in its entire two-cabin regional fleet by the end of 2025. However, Starlink has been turned off on almost two dozen Embraer E175 regional jets, according to air industry publication The Points Guy. The issue stems from static interference between the antennas that pilots use to communicate with air traffic controllers and Starlink's antennas. United confirmed the reports in a statement, saying that this type of radio interference is 'fairly common with any new airline Wi-Fi provider' and that the issues are not a flight safety risk. 'We expect the service to be back up and running on these aircraft soon,' a spokesperson said. According to The Points Guy, roughly a third of the impacted planes have already had a fix applied. United doesn't expect to cancel any flights as a result of the issue and will instead wait until each aircraft's scheduled maintenance to fix the interference issue. Though Starlink may be off the table for many domestic fliers, at least in the short term, United has introduced new ways for travelers to distract themselves in recent weeks. The Chicago-based carrier announced earlier this week that it's bringing the streaming-audio service Spotify to the on-demand entertainment displays of over 680 of its aircraft, offering 'specially curated versions of Spotify's most popular playlists.' The new Spotify integration will replace the 'Audio' option on the home-screen menu of those displays.
