dailynewsnblog
The world’s largest low-cost carrier, 
Southwest Airlines has been named the best in the United States according to the Wall Street Journal. The airline, which operates more Boeing 737 aircraft than any other airline, has been crowned the best airline, despite the forthcoming introduction of assigned seating. This comes at a time when the airline is undergoing several changes, including the abolition of the ‘bags fly free’ policy.
The airline’s president and Chief Executive Officer, Bob Jordan, has celebrated the No. 1 ranking, commenting that the airline was named best due to the thousands of staff that work for the airline, with Jordan calling out their focus and commitment as an integral part of the airline’s success.
Southwest Led The Pack
This ranking comes as Wall Street Journal analysed the top nine commerical carrires in the United States, and rated them fthrough seven categories and earned points based on on-time performance, lowest percentage of flights cancelled, avoiding delays of 45 minutes or more, mishandled baggage, tarmac delays more than two hours, involuntary denied boarding and customer submissions, with dates varied between June 2024 through to the end of December 2025.
Across the nine carriers, Southwest came out on top with the lowest amount of points, well ahead of second place ( Allegiant Air) and third place ( 
Delta Air Lines). Southwest’s ranking catapulted the airline into first for having the fewest customer submissions, was best at avoiding tarmac delays, and finished second when based on on-time performance, lowest cancelled flights, and the avoidance of extreme delays.
Simple Flying reached out to Southwest for comment and was directed to this media release. Which included Andrew Watterson, Chief Operating Officer at Southwest Airlines, celebrated the news with the following statement:
“We’re thrilled to take the top spot in The Wall Street Journal’s airline rankings. We’re always trying to improve and we did that again this year. We believe being reliable is hard to copy, and we intend to stay there.”
No.1 In The United States
This year, Southwest has gone through a number of changes that are aimed at improving its operational efficiency and increasing aircraft use. This saw the carrier introduce red-eye services, abolish its bags fly free policy, and allocate seating to its incumbent allocated seating instead of a free-for-all at the gate.
Bob Jordan, the airline’s President and CEO, celebrated the WSJ ranking by sharing on his LinkedIn, noting that the airline’s success is based on its committed workforce that shows up and serve for the airline every day. More than 72,000 individuals work for the airline across the carrier’s network.
With Southwest reigning supreme this year, finally kicked 
SkyTeam carrier Delta Air Lines off the top spot (which it has held for the last four years). Southwest also just missed out on No.1 last year, narrowly missing out on the Atlanta-based legacy carrier.
5 Ways Southwest Airlines Is Able To Operate More Routes Than Other Airlines
The carrier has a massive network.
The Overall Rankings
Southwest is taking the crown, ultra-low-cost-carrier Allegiant in second place, and Delta Air Lines in third. The remaining six carriers included Alaska Airlines (4th), Spirit Airlines (5th), United Airlines (6th), JetBlue (7th), with 
American Airlines and Frontier Airlines tied for 8th place.
It’s worth noting that while Southwest achieved the top spot overall, it did not gain first place in each category analysed; its overall ranking placed it in front of the rest of the nation’s largest airlines. One of the key attributes for Southwest was its low cancellation rate, which came in at 0.84%. Allegiant Air was the only carrier that achieved higher, with just 0.55%.
Southwest Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the United States, operating the world’s largest all-Boeing 737 fleet. It operates to 117 airports in 11 countries, and has grown to offer more nonstop itineraries in the country than any other airline. In 2024, the airline carried more than 140 million passengers.
The airline was established in 1967 by Herb Kelleher and Rolling King, initially as Air Southwest Co. It then adopted its current name, Southwest Airlines, in 1971, when it took off and began operating as an intrastate airline within Texas. Today, it maintains operating bases in Atlanta, Austin (from March 2026), Baltimore, Chicago–Midway, Dallas–Love, Denver, Houston–Hobby, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Nashville, Oakland, Orlando, and Phoenix–Sky Harbor.
