When you’re rocketing through the sky in a metal tube, which company are you trusting with your life? Which company is gouging your wallet dry? Which company is most likely to land the plane? Which company has a good turkey wrap? There are lots of factors to consider when choosing which airline to fly.
There are a lot of airlines out there, and there are just as many opinions about them. The folks at Rise at Seven put together a report detailing this country’s airline preferences. To understand flight preferences, they analyzed keyword data from all 50 U.S. states to identify the most searched-for airlines.
Do you agree with what our country has chosen? Here are the most and least popular airlines in the United States.
1. United Airlines
Total Searches: 7,855,390
Most Popular In: California
United, eh? I wouldn’t have seen this coming. Based in Chicago, United was landing a whopping 4,300 flights a day in 2024. United isn’t known for being a great airline, especially when you think about that one time they overbooked a flight and then had law enforcement drag a passenger off the plane by his outstretched limbs, but nearly 8 million searches for United flights suggests that people aren’t too worried about that.
2. Delta Airlines
Total Searches: 5,186,970
Most Popular In: New York
I recall a time when flying Delta left me stranded, canceled, or delayed, time after time. These days, it seems like Delta has mostly figured out its issues, though there is always the risk of getting stranded at the Memphis airport for eight hours in the middle of the night, but come on, I hardly remember that, and I’m certainly not still holding a grudge.
3. Frontier Airlines
Total Searches: 5,109,000
Most Popular In: Florida
Things have gone better for me in my life on Frontier than they have on Spirit, but wow, a Top 3 spot is shocking. I, of course, love Frontier’s prices, but you’re looking at an almost certain delay if you book a flight on Frontier. This is not the option to choose if your flight is time-sensitive and you really, really need to land at the scheduled time.
4. Spirit Airlines
Total Searches: 3,968,550
Most Popular In: Florida
Are people out of their minds? These prices are not worth it. Spirit Airlines is not an airline. It’s somebody’s dirty Uber that charges you $100 to bring your backpack. Why almost 4 million people would willingly choose to be on a Spirit flight is beyond me.
5. American Airlines
Total Searches: 3,415,480
Most Popular In: Texas
This airline, excuse my French, can kiss my shorts. I’ve just about never had a good experience on American. Delays: guaranteed. Customer service: virtually nonexistent. Reimbursements: They might toss you a $25 credit if you hound them long enough.
Let me tell you a real thing about American Airlines. Some of their connection times are about 30 minutes, which, even on a flight without delays, can be nearly impossible in a busy airport. This feels designed to trick you, right? Why are they designing schedules this way? If they think that’s enough time to make a connection, they’ve never been to LAX or SFO or Atlanta or Charlotte or any busy airport in this country.
I’ve been stuck on delayed American Airlines flights so many times, torn my hair out over so many missed connections, and been met with such apathetic responses from customer support. O.K., done with my rant. Please carve on my tombstone one day: “Here lies Wilder Shaw. Don’t fly American Airlines.”
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6. Southwest Airlines
Total Searches: 3,037,000
Most Popular In: California
Southwest, which is doing away with its free checked bags policy, just missed the Top 5. I don’t mind the no-assigned-seats thing, and the prices are usually hard to top.
7. JetBlue
Total Searches: 1,535,880
Most Popular In: New York
Now THIS is an airline, people. We’re talking about TV. We’re talking about a little snack bar area. We’re talking about the good life.
8. Alaska Airlines
Total Searches: 908,630
Most Popular In: California
You hear a lot of people complain about Alaska, though I’ve personally never had a bad experience. They absorbed Virgin America, which was a pretty decent airline in its day.
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9. Allegiant Air
Total Searches: 446,240
Most Popular In: Florida
Allegiant, if you’ve never flown it, is probably the best budget airline around. I use it pretty often, and though they charge you a fortune for bags and drinks and things like that, I’ve yet to experience a delay or a cancellation.
(I need to go find some wood to knock on.)
10. Hawaiian Airlines
Total Searches: 229,430
Most Popular In: Hawaii
Hawaiian is based on the West Coast, obviously, and is one of the top go-tos for booking a flight to the islands. It also flies the other direction; Tokyo is the airline’s most popular route.
11. Sun Country Airlines
Total Searches: 175,480
Most Popular In: Minnesota
Man, what? Sun Country? Have you ever heard of this airline? Me neither. The website looks like it was made by somebody’s kid in 2002. You won’t catch me on a Sun Country flight any time soon, no, sir.
More Budget-Friendly Flight Tips
- 11 Things You Should Never Do When Booking a Flight — From forgetting to set price alerts to booking too early, here are 11 mistakes to avoid while buying plane tickets.
- Your Flight Is Canceled or Delayed: What Can You Do? — No one wants to research worst-case scenarios, but having useful information helps if you need to change your travel plans quickly.
- 10 Clever Cheap Flight Tips, According to a Professional ‘Cheap Flight Finder’ — Finding a cheap flight is a science that can be hacked, and there are experts who have nailed this skill.
