Travelers in the U.S. are generally happy with major airlines, according to a new survey. There are a few notable exceptions, though.
According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index Travel Study 2026, airlines generally saw 3% gains in customer satisfaction. The survey polled 14,910 U.S. travelers between April 2025 and March 2026.
“The gains are encouraging, but they’re also fragile. Airlines have been benefiting from a more stable environment, but sustaining higher satisfaction will depend on whether they can keep delivering consistent service while managing costs and changing customer expectations,” Forrest Morgeson, associate professor of marketing at Michigan State University and director of research emeritus at the ACSI, told USA TODAY in an email.
Categories evaluated across the industry include seat comfort, mobile app reliability, baggage handling, crew courtesy, timeliness and others. Travelers were most satisfied with Delta Air Lines, while American Airlines also saw improvement in customer satisfaction.
“How airlines are using technology to improve the travel experience in real, visible ways is one of the biggest drivers behind the gains. Things like better flight information and stronger in-flight connectivity are becoming central to how customers judge an airline,” Morgeson said.
Southwest’s Big Drop
Southwest Airlines, which led the industry with 80 points in the 2025 survey, saw the largest satisfaction drop of any major carrier.
Southwest recently overhauled its business model, ending open seating on its flights in favor of seat assignments, and added checked bag fees along with other changes. According to the ACSI survey, these changes have not been well-received by travelers.
“The results indicate some slippage in customers’ assessments of Southwest’s service, with ratings for flight crew courtesy, gate staff courtesy, and call centers all inching back in 2026,” the survey says. “These perceptions may be compounded by the reputational hits Southwest took with its announcements to move to assigned seating and to require larger passengers to purchase more than one seat.”
Ultra-low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines received the lowest satisfaction scores in the survey. Spirit, which is struggling to recover from multiple bankruptcies, ranked last among major airlines.
“Spirit’s satisfaction declines come despite efforts to enhance the in-flight experience with new seating options and other amenities,” the survey says. “These successes are countered by decreasing scores for two key customer touchpoints as ratings of mobile app quality and call center satisfaction decline sharply.”
How Major U.S. Airlines Ranked
These were the scores out of 100 for the eight largest U.S. airlines in the ACSI survey:
- Delta Air Lines — 79
- American Airlines — 78
- JetBlue — 78
- Southwest Airlines — 77
- Alaska Airlines — 75
- United Airlines — 75
- Frontier Airlines — 69
- Spirit Airlines — 66
