My First Edition Of Airline Rankings, Explained

ERIK S LESSER. Shutterstock Images.

I have been doing a lot of traveling recently. Whether it was for moving from Chicago to Florida, flying for broadcasts to various cities, or summer trips, the miles have certainly been racked up over the last month or so.

With that in mind, I have had my fair share of experiences with plenty of different airlines. As I was waiting for a delayed flight to come home from the PLL All-Star Game, it had me thinking… what is the best airline out there? How about the worst? We then had the creation of the first ever Jake Marsh Airline Power Rankings.

1. Delta - No question here. Delta Airlines is the best that the industry has to offer. A ton of flight options. Newer planes, a great TV setup, elite snacks, and rarely any delays. I think most people would agree with this one. Delta is goated.

2. JetBlue - To my knowledge, I have never had a serious issue with JetBlue. My only gripe with them is that I feel like the majority of their hubs are on the east coast. The JFK JetBlue terminal is one of the best in America, but I would like to see options spaced out a little more. I believe they were the first airline to consistently have TV's on every plane, too. Bring back the blue chips!

3. Southwest - Having this one at 3 may make some people angry, but most of my experiences with this unique airline have been fine. I will admit - the open seating policy is weird. But if you are on top of your game when it comes to checking in or are willing to upgrade to A1 to A15, you'll have no issues boarding or finding overhead bin space. Southwest deserves credit for this instance below, too. I had a wedding in Florida in January, so leaving Chicago was no easy task. But Southwest made it happen.

4. United - While living in Chicago for the past year, I was forced to fly United a lot more than I would have preferred. They do have some newer aircrafts, but for the most part, it feels like United is still living in the 1980's. It just feels old. Delays are common in my experiences. It has grown on me a little since moving to and from their main hub at O'Hare, but that airport stinks. I'm avoiding United unless it's the only option.

5. Paper Airplanes

6. Walking to your final destination

(Major gap in rankings)

Undisputed WOAT - American … Where do I begin? Their most recent screw up over the weekend was the reason for creating these rankings in the first place, so I will give them that. But the amount of times that I have heard someone say "Maintenance Delay" on their flights is too many to count. Delay. Delay. Delay. Always with this airline. They rarely manage to get your checked bags on the correct flight (they lost my golf clubs… TWICE!) and, of course, kicked our friend Tiffany Gomas off a plane. Sad!

Not enough experiences to rank: Spirit, Allegiant, Frontier, Alaska