These Are the Most (and Least) Reliable Airlines for Holiday Travel, According to Government Data

Every year, tens of millions of Americans take to the skies to visit loved ones for Thanksgiving and Christmas. These holidays are meant to be a time of joy and togetherness, but things like delayed or cancelled flights and lost or damaged luggage can quickly sour the holiday spirit.

The frequency of those kinds of problems varies by airline, so to help holiday travelers choose which one to fly, we looked at data published by the Department of Transportation from the last four holiday seasons to identify which carriers are the best (and worst) at getting passengers home on time with their luggage in hand.

Key findings

• Of the 3.3 million flights during the last four holiday seasons, more than 600,000 were delayed and nearly 50,000 were cancelled. All told, 18.89% of flights were delayed and 1.43% were cancelled, meaning that more than one-in-five flights were delayed or cancelled in that time.
• Over the last three years, Delta Air Lines has led all airlines in the fewest cancellations and the highest on-time departure rate during the holidays.
• 27.51% of JetBlue's holiday flights were delayed from 2021 to 2024, the highest of any airline. Delayed JetBlue flights landed 70 minutes later than scheduled on average.
• From 2021 to 2024, major airlines handled more than 320 million bags during the holidays, and nearly 1.9 million were lost or damaged. That equates to around one mishandled bag every other flight across the entire industry.

The best airlines for holiday travel

For this analysis, our team examined air travel data for the months of November and December each year from 2021 to 2024.

We looked at delayed and cancelled flight rates, average delay length, and the number of pieces of luggage lost or damaged by each airline to determine which carriers are most and least likely to negatively impact passengers' holiday plans.

Delta has proven to be the most reliable airline for holiday travel in recent years. Just 13.7% of Delta's holiday flights were delayed from 2021 to 2024, far and away the lowest of any airline and less than half of JetBlue's rate. Delta also had the lowest cancellation rate of any carrier during the holidays, at just 0.67%, which is less than half the industry average of 1.51%.

Anyone looking to reduce travel stress may want to avoid JetBlue flights, as the carrier saw 27.51% of holiday flights delayed between 2021 and 2024, the most of any airline. JetBlue delays are also among the longest in the industry, averaging 70 minutes, though the carrier mishandles baggage at a rate roughly equal to the industry average.

Flight delays and cancellations during the holiday season

All told, more than 3 million flights transported travelers across the country during these holiday travel seasons. With so many flights, it is only natural that some would run into unexpected problems, causing some flights to be delayed or even cancelled.

Airlines with the most holiday flight cancellations

Across the entire air travel industry, around 1.4% of holiday flights were cancelled in the last four years, while a little less than one-fifth of flights (18.9%) were delayed. Holiday cancellations and delays affect every major airline, but some carriers are better at mitigating travel issues than others.

Alaska Airlines has the worst record of any airline for cancellations, with 2.5% of its November and December flights cancelled, more than a percentage point above the industry-wide average. Southwest Airlines followed, with 2.4% of flights cancelled, while Allegiant ranked third at 2.2%. Delta (0.7%), American Airlines (0.8%), and United (0.9%) were among the best airlines for avoiding cancelled flights.

Airlines with the most holiday flight delays

While full-on cancellations are rare, flight delays are frustratingly common. From 2021 to 2024, 18.9% of holiday flights were delayed, with seven out of the 10 major U.S. airlines experiencing delays at a higher rate than that.

The airline with the highest percentage of delayed flights was JetBlue, with 27.5% of its holiday flights experiencing delays. Two more airlines, both classified as ultra low-cost carriers — Allegiant (26.6%) and Frontier (25.6%) — also had more than a quarter of their flights delayed. On the flip side, just 13.7% of Delta's holiday flights were delayed, a rate more than 3.5 percentage points better than any other carrier.

That low delay rate is especially notable, given that Delta operated the second-highest number of flights (617,019) of any airline over the last four holiday seasons.

Not all delays are equal, with longer holdups putting a bigger damper on holiday plans and festive moods compared to shorter setbacks. During the holiday travel season, the average flight delay clocks in at over an hour (63 minutes).

Passengers on just three major airlines experienced average delays shorter than that, with Southwest's average delay of 50 minutes leading the industry, followed by Hawaiian Airlines at 52 minutes and Alaska Airlines at 53 minutes.

The longest average holiday flight delays were on flights operated by two different carriers, with late-arriving flights on Allegiant and American Airlines arriving 75 minutes later than scheduled on average. Two more airlines had average delays of at least 70 minutes: Frontier (72 minutes) and JetBlue (70 minutes).

Mishandled luggage during the holiday season

Delays and cancellations are not the only way that air travel can negatively impact the holidays. Lost or damaged luggage can ruin any trip, but the impact can be even greater during the holidays, when those bags are more likely to contain gifts for or from loved ones.

Thankfully for travelers, those kinds of luggage issues are rare, as just a little more than one-half of one percent (0.58%) of all bags handled by airlines during the 2021 through 2024 holiday travel seasons were lost or damaged.

That amounts to around 1.9 million mishandled bags across 3.3 million flights during the holidays over the last four years, which roughly translates to one lost or damaged bag every other flight across the entire air travel industry.

American Airlines is the carrier most likely to mishandle baggage, at a rate of 0.76%, or about one mishandled bag per flight. Alaska Airlines is second at 0.71% of bags lost or damaged (0.8 per flight) while United is third with 0.64% (0.7 per flight). Those were the only three airlines where mishandled luggage rates exceeded the overall industry average.

The airlines where baggage is least likely to be mishandled are Allegiant and Frontier. Just 0.17% of bags were lost or damaged on Allegiant, far and away the lowest of any airline, with Frontier's rate of 0.40% being second-lowest.

The business models of these airlines may be contributing factors here, as both are ultra-low-cost carriers with low base ticket prices and upcharges for various services, including checked baggage. Budget-conscious travelers using these airlines are incentivized to save money by packing light and keeping their personal possessions with them on their flights, thereby reducing the number of bags the carrier is responsible for handling and the potential for mishandling.

Full holiday travel data

Cancellations and Delays, November and December 2021-2024

Mishandled Luggage, November and December 2021-2024

Ways to spend less, travel more this holiday season

• Maximize rewards on every trip. Family vacation costs add up, but certain travel credit cards may offer benefits on flights, hotels, and dining.
• Earn miles that go the distance. Frequent flyers can learn which airline credit cards align with their favorite carriers.
• Consider rental car insurance. Travelers should understand their options for auto rental coverage, including specific coverage types and levels.

Methodology

FinanceBuzz collected data published by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics on the total number of scheduled flights, the number of cancelled and delayed flights, and the average arrival delay length for delayed flights for major U.S. airlines. The data encompassed all flights operated by airlines in November and December each year from 2021 to 2024.

Data on the number of bags handled and mishandled by airlines was collected from the Air Travel Consumer Reports published monthly by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Data on mishandled luggage was also limited to November and December each year from 2021 to 2024.

To create the overall best and worst airlines for holiday travel score, we took the collected data points for each airline and compared them using a dynamic formula that assigned each airline a score of 0-5 relative to every other airline. Those scores were then weighted to assign each airline a final value out of 50, with higher scores indicating airlines where holiday travel issues are more likely.

For each factor, a weight of 2.50 serves as the baseline, with weights above 2.50 having a larger impact on an airline's total score and those below 2.50 having a lesser impact. The weights for the individual metrics used are as follows:

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