Originally published at: The Points Guy ranks the "best U.S. airlines of 2022" for anyone who dares to fly | Boing Boing
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Wow, Spirit must be really bad if they’re below Allegiant.
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I was just coming here to say I’ve never heard of Allegiant. I guess I’m lucky!
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Spirit, for some definitions of “best”.
One thing I’ve noticed about Southwest (I’m a fan) is that the breakdown of people who love it and hate it seems to fall into two categories - solo travelers (or two people together) and families.
If you don’t have little kids, flying with a group of people is probably pretty stressful with SW because of the seating.
I also guess that people who have the budget also can’t fly first class or business with SW because that doesn’t exist. I imagine they just eschew them altogether…
But for “regional” flying - it’s hard to beat them IMO. 99 percent of my flights are between Southern CA and Northern CA or back and forth to PHX. I don’t mind flying to Midway either.
FWIW, we flew to HI earlier this year with points and it wasn’t terrible, but we also had exit row seats. ALL planes between CA and HI are 737 Max.
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You got that right. I was surprised that family boarding is after A group. If you wanted to pay for priority seating it’s $30 per segment, per person. It doesn’t scale well for families. As a solo traveler, it’s great.
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I also recommend Delta plumbing fixtures. Lifetime replacement warranty.
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Of the top ten! They are (according to the list) a top ten airline! If the list was for the top 3, United would be rock bottom.
WHAT’S GOING ON?!!!???
I’M TAKING THIS TOO SERIOUSLY!!!
AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
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I love The Points Guy, but I can’t help but think that these ratings are giving a lot of weight to the quality of the mileage programs on the legacy carriers. If you don’t care about miles, there is no way that United is third. In fact, there is no way that United is an airline that anyone would even consider flying without the sweet, sweet miles.
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Frankly, the biggest factor for which airline you fly most often is typically due to if you happen to live close to a major carrier’s hub.
If you live in/near Chicago, Denver, SF, Newark or LA, then United is most likely going to be your primary airline (especially for business travelers). Dallas, Miami, Chicago O’Hare, Charlotte, JFK means you fly American. Atlanta, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Boston or Detroit mean you primarily fly Delta. Secondary markets/airports usually have a very large Southwest presence.
Flying United and living in Dallas is just frustrating unless you only fly directly to one of United’s hub cities. Just like it is flying American but living in Denver. Your options are greatly limited if you don’t enjoy one or more connections.
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He is The Points Guy
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Yeah; if you live on the West Coast, than Hawaiian and Alaska also come into play and could easily knock down the ratings for the top legacy carriers, but they are definitely regional. Lots of times larger carriers will resort to some dirty tricks if a newcomer tries to break into their established markets; we were shocked when Southwest managed to get Hawaiian routes.
Strong agree! For regional jaunts around the west, Southwest makes it about as painless as the process can be. Also they are super easy going about changing flights, cancelling, rescheduling, etc. Every other airline jerks you around about it and either won’t do it at all, or charges insane fees. Southwest is no-questions-asked every time.
One complaint about SW for balance- during the worst of COVID, their safety got really lax if the crew was from a red state (especially Arizona). I was on one flight with an AZ crew where the flight attendants were wearing thin scarves as “masks” and taking them off when in the “crew area” at the front. The flight crew wore no masks, and nobody was enforcing masks for passengers. I think I held my breath that entire flight. 
The Points Guy is missing one factor in his ranking, though. Which airline is Most Likely To Have MAGA Idiots Throwing a Tantrum?
Also, I think all Canadian airlines should get bonus points for still requiring masks and proof of vaccination (both to board and in their boarding areas, even at US airports. They are absolutely enforcing it, too). Those are the only flights where I actually feel safe.
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It’s crap, but you get free refills!
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Yeah, and they judge you quite harshly for having the gall to ask for a refill, but they bring it to you all the same. Just watch and make sure that they don’t spit in it.
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My wife flew Qantas air miles (or “points” as they call them in some metric countries) from Frankfurt to Sydney, and the easiest route they could give her using points was Frankfurt → Helsinki → Bangkok → Melbourne → Sydney. If she’d paid, it would’ve been Frankfurt → Singapore → Sydney.
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That sounds like a wonderful adventure in business class and a Kafkaesque hell in economy class.
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Can’t believe he skipped this crucial bit of info.
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