The U.S. Airlines Delivering the Best—and Worst—Customer Experiences in 2025
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Between rising fuel costs, labor shortages, technological disruptions, and softer demand, the airline industry is facing a number of challenges at the moment. Still, several U.S. carriers still seem to be delivering when it comes to customer satisfaction.
On Wednesday, the consumer data and analytics gurus at J.D. Power released their annual Customer Satisfaction Survey of U.S. airlines. And the results were most definitely not all doom and gloom.
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Though the volume of domestic travel in Q1 of 2025 has seen a decline, and airlines are introducing new fees on everything from seat choices to baggage, passengers seem happier overall. 'Airlines are heading into this new era from a position of relative strength,' according to J.D. Power's report, 'with overall passenger satisfaction up 6 points (on a 1,000-point scale) from 2024.'
'Throughout our one-year study period, we've seen a slight decline in both ticket prices and passenger volume, which has helped keep overall passenger satisfaction levels high,' according to Michael Taylor, senior managing director of travel, hospitality, retail and customer service at J.D. Power. 'But it's clear that market dynamics are changing and will likely affect passenger experience in the coming weeks and months. Airlines will likely have a tougher year this year, economically, but the key to their longer-term success will be how well they manage economic headwinds without compromising on customer experience.'
According to their rankings, which are based on survey responses from 10,224 passengers, JetBlue and Delta Air Lines are battling it out for overall supremacy. While JetBlue ranks highest in First/Business Class cabins, with an overall satisfaction score of 738 out of 1,000, Delta came in second—and not too far behind—with a solid 724 points. In Premium Economy, the results were flipped: Delta topped the list with 717 points, while JetBlue came in second with 699.
When it comes to having a superior experience in the Economy/Basic Economy cabin, Southwest Airlines bested the competition with an overall score of 694. JetBlue came in second with 663 points, followed very closely by Delta with 662.
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Of those three airlines, JetBlue and Delta were the only two to earn scores above the segment average in all three categories, as did Alaska Airlines. United, American, and Air Canada each managed to fall below the segment average in all three categories.
As for the lowest ranked airlines? That dubious honor went to Frontier, which earned a satisfaction of just 520, followed by Spirit Airlines with 526, in the Economy/Basic category—the only segment where they were ranked.
You can read the full results here.
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