Best, Worst Airlines 2017: Delta Tops, JetBlue Ranks Lowest

The 2017 rankings for best and worst U.S. airlines were impacted by a number of factors, including runway construction in major cities, social media focus on a few egregious cases of passenger mistreatment, and major storms that canceled thousands of flights and fouled on-time statistics. 

Delta was the best-performing U.S. airline in 2017 despite a power outage at its Atlanta hub and crew-scheduling problems during spring break, The Wall Street Journal reported. Delta beat out Alaska Airlines, which has held the top spot for the last four years.

Alaska’s merge with Virgin Airlines was thought to have impacted its ranking along with problems caused by West Coast storms that helped drop its on-time rate below that of United, which was ranked fourth this year after being tied for fifth last year, the WSJ reported. 

Jet Blue was ranked last on the 2017 list, but it is working on fixes, some of which have already rolled out, the WSJ noted. 

The year’s weather made things more difficult for airlines, with multiple hurricanes lashing the East Coast and Latin America and West Coast storms and wildfires causing widespread visibility problems there.

Delta also was ranked highest in an annual survey of best airline food that considers both domestic and international airlines, the Daily Mail reported. The survey, put out by a professor at the City University of New York School of Public Health, is focused on nutritional value of the food offerings, not quality.

JetBlue also ranked near the top of the food list, while most of the other U.S. airlines were ranked near the bottom, the Daily Mail reported.

• World's Best Airline 2017 is Qatar Airways
• Southwest Tops List of Best Airlines for Frequent-Flyer Points