Dawn Gilbertson and Allison Pohle, in the Wall Street Journal:

American rarely shines in our rankings, but 2025 was particularly ugly. Its cancellation rate went from 1.37% in 2024 to the chart-topping 2.2%. The highest it ranked in any category was sixth out of the nine airlines, for extreme delays. 

Overall, American tied with budget carrier Frontier for ninth, or last place. Delta came in third and United sixth.

In the Journal’s category rankings, American scored:

• 7th for on-time arrivals
• 9th (last) for canceled flights
• 6th for extreme delays
• 7th for 2-hour tarmac delays
• 8th for mishandled baggage
• 8th for involuntary bumping

Alaska fared better. Fourth overall, and best-in-class for extreme delays.