--- title: 16 Best and Worst Airlines for Delays description: Travel + Leisure’s 2014 ranking tells you which airlines are most likely to land at your destination on time canonical: https://time.com/97922/best-and-worst-airlines-for-delays/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-14T09:40:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:42:58.046Z og:title: Here Are the 16 Best and Worst Airlines for Delays og:description: The 2014 ranking tells you which airlines are most likely to land at your destination on time og:url: https://time.com/97922/best-and-worst-airlines-for-delays/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here Are the 16 Best and Worst Airlines for Delays twitter:description: The 2014 ranking tells you which airlines are most likely to land at your destination on time twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The 16 Best and Worst Airlines for Delays > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Travel + Leisure May 14, 2014 9:40 AM UTC by [Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Travel + Leisure May 14, 2014 9:40 AM UTC Certain airlines are consistently good at getting you there on time; some yo-yo from year to year; and others—let’s just say there’s always room for improvement. To rank the carriers with the best and worst on-time arrival records, _Travel + Leisure_ surveyed the results provided by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics for the 12-month period ending January 2014 (the most recent numbers available). [**FOR THE FULL LIST, CLICK HERE**](http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-and-worst-airlines-for-delays-2014) Altogether, the 16 airlines that report to the BTS combined for a 77.34 percent on-time average, slipping from 81.85 percent in 2012\. The U.S. Department of Transportation defines “on time” as any flight that arrives within 15 minutes of schedule. **MORE**: [Best Apps and Websites for Travelers](http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-apps-and-websites-for-travelers-2013) **MORE**: [15 Tech Innovations That Will Change the Way You Travel](http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/15-tech-innovations-that-will-change-the-way-you-travel)  No. 16 American Eagle On-Time Performance: 70.79% In 2012, American Eagle (American Airlines’ regional affiliate, which just changed its name to Envoy Air) clawed into the top 10 with its 81.61 percent on-time rate, after a disappointing showing in 2011 that saw just 76.35 percent of its flights arriving on time. But this past year the airline reversed course again and hit the bottom of the heap. Ashok Saxena—Demotix/Corbis  No. 15 ExpressJet On-Time Performance: 71.53% ExpressJet has dug itself out of the last-place finish it earned in 2012, despite the fact that its on-time percentage in 2013 was more than 4 percent worse than the year before. Its slight bump in the rankings was aided in part by American Eagle’s marked decline. Ron Heflin—AP  No. 14 Frontier On-Time Performance: 72.36% Frontier had a toehold in the top 10 in 2011, when 79.16 percent of its flights were on time. But it has continued to slide: in 2012 Frontier dropped to No. 12, with a 77.93 percent record, and last year more than a quarter of its flights were delayed. Robert Alexander—Getty Images  No. 13 JetBlue On-Time Performance: 72.66% JetBlue is consistently rated at or near the top of consumer satisfaction surveys—maybe by passengers so enthralled by the seatback in-flight entertainment system that they don’t care if they’re late? The BTS numbers reveal that JetBlue is also consistent in being one of the tardiest airlines. More than a quarter of its flights missed the mark in 2013. Bloomberg/Getty Images  No. 12 Southwest On-Time Performance: 74.94% December 2013 was a brutal month for Southwest: about a third of its flights were late nationwide. Ongoing, system-wide failures (as well as a few other less-than-stellar months) dragged its ranking out of the top 10\. It’s made a dramatic drop since its 2012 on-time arrivals record of 83.13 percent. For the full list, click here. 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