The Best Airlines for On-Time Performance

Tiffany Gomas, a marketing executive who went viral for her outburst on an American Airlines flight, publicly apologized on Sunday evening for her conduct.

If you haven’t heard about the U.K.’s heated debate on cutting ties with the European Union—dubbed a “Brexit”—you certainly will this week. Britons headed to the ballot box on Thursday and made the historic decision to leave the European Union.

The world’s best this, the world’s best that. Everyone has an opinion. But those opinions only accrue real value when they’re aggregated with those of other people, and preferably other people with first-hand experience of the matter being judged.

This month saw the launch of what many in the travel blogosphere are calling the best travel-rewards credit card ever: the Sapphire Reserve Visa card from Chase.

According to research from Germany-based Cruisewatch: “Booking the respective cruise destination at the right time can realistically save you up to 71 percent reductions off your cruise.”

For the twelfth consecutive year, JetBlue tops the list of best airlines in North America. It ranks first among low-cost carriers in J.D. Power’s annual ranking of North American airline satisfaction. Alaska Airlines is ranked highest among traditional airlines for the ninth straight year. Southwest, which is grouped in the low-cost category, had the second-highest score overall.

The esteemed Dr. Beach has released his annual list of America’s top ten beaches, and you’ll want to visit all of them this summer—doctors orders.

“Best airport” rankings aren’t typically the most helpful in terms of travel planning: If I want to go to Boston, I’m not going to head for Las Vegas instead because its airport is better. But those best airport lists do come in handy in two cases—when you have a choice of airport for your connecting flight, and when you can choose between multiple airports within a single metro area.

J.D. Power is out with its annual list of the best airlines for customer satisfaction, and the ranking is once again topped by familiar liveries. Alaska Airlines is the best airline for the eleventh consecutive year—yes, eleventh—and Southwest topped the low-cost category for the second straight year.

An airport connection (or two) is often the price you pay for service to far-off destinations. Unfortunately, a connection almost always complicates your travel planning, asking you to decide where to connect and how much time to allow for the connection. There’s no easy formula answer to those questions, but there are a few choice airports to try and avoid.

Wondering what the best airlines are according to the average flyer? TripAdvisor (SmarterTravel’s parent company) gives a good idea in its Travelers’ Choice best airline rankings each year based on real travelers’ reviews. And the results are different than most trade studies that list the “best airlines.”

Skytrax is out with its annual list of the World’s Top 100 Airlines, perhaps the most recognized worldwide ranking of best airlines. As usual, and to the chagrin of travelers here in the states, most of the top performers are not U.S. airlines. Instead, the list is dominated by Asian, Middle Eastern, and, to a lesser extent, European carriers.