Airlines have come under scrutiny lately for how they treat passengers, especially after a widely reported incident aboard an overbooked United Airlines flight last month.
Not every carrier is facing criticism, however. Southwest Airlines recently earned top marks for customer satisfaction in a study published by personal finance site WalletHub.
The WalletHub survey evaluated 12 U.S. airlines across 13 categories, including canceled flights, delays, mishandled baggage, denied boarding, customer complaints, animal-related incidents, legroom, in-flight entertainment, Wi-Fi availability, complimentary refreshments and price.
When the results were tallied, Alaska Airlines came out on top in the overall rankings, followed by Delta Air Lines and SkyWest Airlines. Despite not leading the overall list, Southwest stood out for producing the happiest customers. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Frontier and Spirit recorded the highest number of complaints by a wide margin.
The full Best Airline Overall rankings from the study are listed below:
Alaska Airlines
Delta Air Lines
SkyWest Airlines
United Airlines
Virgin America
JetBlue Airways
American Airlines
ExpressJet
Hawaiian Airlines
Southwest Airlines
Spirit Airlines
Frontier Airlines