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World's Best

Travel + Leisure Readers' 10 Favorite Domestic Airlines of 2023

The best domestic airlines in our “World’s Best Awards” survey for 2023 prioritize safety and customer service.

By

Published on July 11, 2023

Though airlines have resumed nearly normal operations after the pandemic, 2022 was still a rough year for U.S.–based operators. There were numerous meltdowns with delays, cancellations, and lost baggage — yet prices were extremely high. "In general, good value, but post-COVID-19 prices have increased significantly," wrote one voter about Alaska Airlines (No. 2). As such, T+L readers have taken a pretty critical look at airlines to name the top domestic operators this year, highlighting the true best of the best in their reviews.

How Voting Works

Every year for our World's Best Awards survey, T+L asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences around the globe — to share their opinions on the top hotels, resorts, cities, islands, cruise ships, spas, airlines, and more. Nearly 165,000 T+L readers completed the 2023 survey, an increase of nearly 25 percent over pre-pandemic voting levels. A total of more than 685,000 votes were cast across over 8,500 unique properties (hotels, cities, cruise lines, etc.).

Airlines were specifically rated on the criteria below:

Cabin comfort
In-flight service
Customer service
Value

For each characteristic, respondents could choose a rating of excellent, above average, average, below average, or poor. The final scores are averages of these responses.

Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-900ER flying over San Francisco — Chad Slattery/Courtesy of Alaska Airlines

What Readers Loved

Interestingly, the top five airlines this year are the same as they were in 2022 — though their order has shuffled around a little bit. Youngster Breeze Airways, which started operations in 2021 and made its WBA debut last year, has fallen two spots to No. 4. "Started off strong with cheap, on-time flights, but has had growing pains," one voter observed. JetBlue Airways, too, has fallen two spots to No. 5.

Moving up two spaces each are Alaska Airlines (No. 2) and Delta Airlines (No. 3), with Delta's jump being particularly notable — it had ranked No. 5 for the last four years. "I feel bad saying this because my mom was an American Airlines flight attendant for 20+ years, but the customer service for Delta cannot be beat," one WBA respondent said.

But the winner is Hawaiian Airlines, which retains its No. 1 spot from last year. Though Hawaiian is a WBA Hall of Fame honoree, this is only its second year in the top spot.

Read on to learn why readers picked Hawaiian Airlines as the World's Best domestic airline once again, and see the full list of winners.

The Winner

Hawaiian Airlines

If you're planning to fly to Hawaii, there's no better airline to book than Hawaiian. Voters praise the airline for, well, pretty much everything. "I think Hawaiian Airlines is seriously underrated. It's probably the best U.S. airline for service, friendliness, and food," one voter said. Another customer lauded Hawaiian for its effective communication regarding flight status updates, which is crucial in this era of delays and cancellations. If there's any room for criticism, it's primarily for its small route network — though Hawaiian does fly to several international destinations across the Pacific, including Japan, and recently launched nonstop service to the Cook Islands. "Comfort, good food, and good service. All necessary for a long flight," noted one voter.