Airline Ratings World’s Best Airline 2023 Awards

There are lots of things that make up a good airline service, both on and off the plane, not just how quickly it can get you from point A to point B, on time and on budget, but also in how it treats customers from the point they buy their tickets. Two new reports could help you make the decision—AirlineRatings.com has named its Airline of the Year 2023 and The Points Guy has announced its Best U.S. Airline. For the former, Air New Zealand ranked in first place and for the latter, Delta came first.

At a point where customer satisfaction with airlines are decreasing year on year, as reported by Bloomberg, it’s helpful to know what certain airlines do well, and more importantly, why.

Airline Ratings 2023 Best Airline Awards—Air New Zealand Wins Top Spot

The Airline Ratings annual Airline Excellence Awards are judged using safety and government audits that assess 12 criteria including fleet age, passenger reviews, profitability, investment rating, product offerings, and staff relations.

To be named in the top 25, all airlines must have a seven-star safety rating and Airline Ratings said that the competition was very close in judging the top few airlines. In all cases, the top airlines did well because of how they managed during the pandemic.

Air New Zealand came first—its 7th win since 2013—primarily for its safety and environmental credentials, in addition to its innovations in making the economy class experience more comfortable, like its new bed hire in economy, that passengers can rent out for 4-hour sessions. Air New Zealand’s CEO Greg Foran thanked the airline staff and reiterated the company’s commitment to tackle wait times, lost baggage, punctuality and refunds.

Qatar Airways came first in 2022 and this year won second prize overall, although it still came top in Best Business Class, Best Catering and Best Middle East Airline.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, came third overall but was also named the Most Environmental Airline 2023 for its moves to reduce carbon emissions in its fleet.

The rest of the top ten was also made up of several airlines based in Asia, the Middle East and Australia. Korean Air was fourth and picked up Best Long-Haul Travel in North Asia, Singapore Airlines was fifth and also winner of Best First Class.

Two Australian-based airlines were sixth and seventh—Qantas was winner of Best Lounges in 2023 and in another survey, Qantas also came top for Safest Airline in 2023. Virgin Australia / Virgin Atlantic won the prize for Best Cabin Crew, something it has won now five years in a row.

The final three places in the top ten were taken by EVA Air (a Taiwanese international airline, short for Evergreen), Cathay Pacific Airways (which operates out of Hong Kong airport) and Emirates (based in Dubai).

Positions 11-25 were taken by Lufthansa/Swiss, SAS, TAP Portugal, All Nippon Airways, Delta Air Lines, Air Canada, British Airways, Jet Blue, JAL, Vietnam Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Hawaiian, KLM, Alaska Airlines and United Airlines.

The Best U.S. Airlines For 2023—Delta Wins First Place

In its recent Best U.S. Airlines report for 2023, The Points Guy announced that Delta came out on top, just as it has for the past 5 years.

This isn’t news for frequent travelers. One month ago, WalletHub announced its list of best airlines and Delta came in top place, for the second year in a row. Likewise, the Wall Street Journal ranked Delta as the U.S.’ best airline in 2022, as it has done for the past 5 out of 6 years and the 35th annual reader’s survey of Condé Nast Traveler magazine ranked Delta, again, the number one airline in the U.S.

Delta ranks well in surveys across a combination of metrics. For The Points Guy, Delta came out top on punctuality with 84% of flights arriving on time. However, an airline needs to also be considered on how many flights it cancels and how many people it bumps from flights that are oversold and whilst Delta did well across these 3, it was not the top airline on just these metrics alone—here, Hawaiian Airlines is the best (Delta is a very close second). Incidentally, Hawaiian Airlines comes out very well in other studies using different data.

Delta flies all over the U.S. and so its high ranking in punctuality is not a function of where it operates—it flies to Boston, New York and Detroit that are subject to severe winter weather delays and Atlanta, that is frequently impacted by summer thunderstorms. Instead, according to The Points Guy, it’s a reflection of the carrier’s commitment to operating as on time as possible.

Delta also scores highly in its reward programmes and in its reach (the number of places it flies to) but ranks lower in affordability. For Condé Nast readers it was also the lounges and services on the ground, like the new state-of-the-art terminal at New York’s La Guardia airport, complete with ceiling beams and art installations by local artists. Voters also rated the high-tech, seamless check-in procedures, the free in-flight text messaging service and the fact that it now flies people to new destinations such as Tel Aviv, Cape Town and Tahiti.

The Points Guy Best U.S. Airlines for 2023 are:

1. Delta Air Lines
2. United Airlines
3. Alaska Airlines
4. American Airlines
5. Southwest Airlines
6. Hawaiian Airlines
7. JetBlue Airways
8. Spirit Airlines
9. Allegiant Air
10. Frontier Airlines

WalletHub’s analyst Jill Gonzalez added that other reasons that Delta won in their survey was because it didn’t deny boardings, and scores highly in leg room and in its options of things that people could watch and consume. Incidentally, Delta came 15th in AirlineRatings.com analysis of Best Global Airline in 2023.

It’s worth noting, however, that Delta’s overall lead dropped in this latest survey, representative of the bumpy year that most airlines have had in terms of customer service and punctuality.