Americans pick a new favorite airline for 2026

There’s been a lot of shakeup in the airline industry in recent months.

First, Southwest Airlines changed its long-standing open seating policy, much to passenger chagrin. Then, budget airline Spirit abruptly shuttered after 34 years in business.

Now, a new airline has emerged as a customer favorite.

At least that’s what a new YouGov report tells us.

The market research firm’s 2026 U.S. Airline Rankings show Delta Airlines took a top spot in five separate categories. It’s also gearing up to be one of the most-booked airlines in the next year.

As one YouGov exec put it, “Delta reigns supreme.”

Delta Airlines ranked high in terms of quality, customer satisfaction, value, and more in a recent report from YouGov.

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Delta Airlines ranks high with 2026 travelers

Lots of people are thinking of flying Delta, apparently. According to YouGov’s report, which surveyed over 23,000 Americans, Delta is the No. 1 airline being considered by travelers looking to book a flight within the next 12 months. 

A whopping 49.5% of people ready to book a flight in the next year are considering Delta for their tickets — up nearly five percentage points from last year’s report and the biggest jump of all airlines in the study. 

“The real story, when you look at overall consideration, is that Delta jump-frogged over American and United to take over the No. 1 spot,” said Kenton Barello, vice president of YouGov, in a webinar discussing the report. “They bounced up from three to one.”

The company also ranked highest with women looking to book travel within the next year. (And considering women make a reported 82% of travel decisions in households, according to a Skift study, that’s kind of a big deal),

More Airlines:

Spirit Airlines desperately seeks help from an unexpected sourceJetBlue makes a boarding change some may likeAnother airline shuts down for summer, cancels all flights

In addition to taking the top spot for those looking to travel soon, Delta also ranked No. 1 in quality and had the highest scores out of all “Big Four” U.S. airlines in terms of customer satisfaction. The airline saw a 1.5% bump in overall satisfaction compared to a year ago and ranked No. 3 in terms of overall value, too. 

YouGov’s study isn’t the only one to put Delta on a pedestal, either.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index shows Delta has the highest satisfaction levels in 2026, too. J.D. Power’s recent ranking has the airline at No. 2. 

As Barello put it, “Delta reigns supreme. They’ve done a phenomenal job of entering the consumer mindset and staying strong.”

International airlines, Southwest, Frontier win big, too

In terms of customer satisfaction, the top overall airlines were all international ones. Emirates was No. 1, with a 75% satisfaction rate among current customers. Singapore, Qatar, Qantas, and Japan Airlines rounded out the top five. Qantas was also the most improved airline in terms of satisfaction. 

Southwest was the clear winner in terms of value, and it also claimed the biggest conversion rate — meaning out of those considering booking on the airline, it had the highest rate of travelers actually follow through.

Its Rapid Rewards program also came in as the second-best loyalty program in the business, behind only JetBlue’s True Blue. 

Budget airline Frontier is also a winner. The airline is most likely to benefit from Spirit’s exit from the industry, according to the report.

While only 11% of people looking to book a flight soon are considering Frontier, a whopping 47% of Spirit considerers are looking at the airline — a 36% increase.

“Americans who consider Spirit Airlines overindex in their consideration of Frontier, Southwest, JetBlue, and Allegiant, indicating these players may gain from the discount carrier’s closure,” the report says.

I guess losing out on that merger bid a few years ago wasn’t all bad news.

Related: Another airline files for bankruptcy and cancels all flights

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