Delta Air Lines keeps top spot in The Points Guy's best airlines report

Scott Mayerowitz, The Points Guy Senior Editorial Directorjoins the Yahoo Finance Live panel to discuss the latest with the airlines as Delta Air Lines Keeps Top Spot in The Points Guy’s Best Airlines Study.

Video Transcript

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ZACK GUZMAN: Welcome back. As Americans get back to traveling in the pandemic here, there have been, ah, quite some frustrations voiced when it comes to getting a hold of airlines, having to deal with cancellations as demand bounces back far quicker here than supply. And it's important to maybe put those airlines into context, at least, the satisfaction that travelers have for those airlines.

And The Points Guy out with their new ranking for 2021. And for the third time-- third year in a row, Delta takes the top spot on that list. And for more on it, happy to be joined by Scott Mayerowitz, The Points Guy senior editorial director once again chatting with us here.

And Scott, you know, this list is always fun to go through because the way you guys rank these airlines, maybe I shouldn't be surprised Delta's back up there at number one. But talk to me about what went into the ranking this time around and why Delta takes top.

SCOTT MAYEROWITZ: Yeah. Thanks for having me back. This is always a great report to talk about. People are always so interested. And yeah, we start with some of the basics, like on time performance, which even in a pandemic is a little bit hard to kind of gauge because, well, there aren't that busy airports, although we're getting back up there.

But then we look at customer service. We look at complaints. This year, we actually put a little bit more weight into something which is a damage to wheelchairs and other checked mobility devices. This is something that [? GOT ?] started tracking a few years ago.

And at The Points Guy, we really believe in advocating for the flyer. And that includes all flyers. And we've just been noticing an uptick in damaged wheelchairs. And these things can cost a lot of money and really hurt someone's trip if they don't have it.

So these are all the things that we looked at, including, of course, the [INAUDIBLE] work and lounge access and, of course, since we are The Points Guy, what the loyalty programs are like.

AKIKO FUJITA: So Scott, it's interesting. I know Delta has been number one in the past. But I wonder when you think about experience and then loyalty as a result of that throughout the pandemic? To what extent Delta's insistence on keeping that middle seat open for as long as possible?

How much of that's won over some customers? I mean, sure, all the airlines have gone back to it. But Ed Bastian was pretty clear in maintaining that for a while. Did that win a lot of points with customers?

SCOTT MAYEROWITZ: Yeah, Akiko. That's a great point. Delta was the last airline to actually let people book those middle seats again. Call it a PR push-- call it a health push, whatever you want it to be. Delta was the last. And a lot of people really liked that they at least took a stance on it and kept that going long-term.

So I think one of the things that actually helped with was that they didn't overbook people. They didn't have to bump people. And their flights were not as delayed as a result of that. I will say at the very end of that policy, I believe the policy ended May 1.

But right at Easter vacation, Delta had to renege on it on a bunch of flights because they had overbooked them or flights got canceled. And suddenly you had the situation for a few days where they put people in the middle seats. And outrage from passengers was incredible. So I think that was one of the things that they said, we're here for the customers long-term.

ZACK GUZMAN: And Scott, it's interesting to see how maybe what customers want and all this have changed over the months in the pandemic. I mean, when we were first starting out, let's not forget it was all about kind of cancellation flexibility. And now I wonder how much that still matters because people still might be testing positive. There are still tests that you have to take here. If you get it, you don't necessarily want to travel.

But that flexibility doesn't seem to be there anymore, certainly not to the extent that it was earlier in the pandemic. How important has that been when it comes to maybe not this ranking, but what people are saying about the airlines now?

SCOTT MAYEROWITZ: Yeah, what's interesting in our rankings is one of the main points we looked at was DOT complaints. And this goes right back to those cancellations, particularly a year ago. So Southwest Airlines actually did the best there. United, Frontier, and Hawaiian were at the bottom there.

And Hawaiian in particular put in some very anti-consumer refund policies that they quickly reneged on. But that's what generated a lot of those DOT complaints. And at the end of the day, if you're going to have to cancel because of the global pandemic, you want an airline that's behind you on that. And Southwest Airlines has traditionally been a no change fee, customer-friendly airline. And that's something that really came through through the pandemic.

What's going to be interesting to watch in the following year is now, airlines are getting rid of these change fees. And it doesn't mean that you get the same flight for the same price. It just means there's no change fee. If you need to change, the new ticket price might still be $300 more. And that's going to probably aggravate a lot of people. And that's if you can even get through on the phone to get the airline to change it for you.

AKIKO FUJITA: So you laid it up right for me, Scott because I was going to ask you, Delta's been great. I have been traveling Delta a lot. But they, in my experience, at least, have had by far the worst wait times. And we were talking about this off camera. I mean, in my case, I was quoted four to five hours. Some people I know said two hours. I mean, is this kind of the new reality, at least, in the medium term of what travel's going to be like because of how short staffed these airlines are?

SCOTT MAYEROWITZ: Yeah, and this is not just related to the airlines. I've had the same problem. I'm a top tier diamond member with Delta. And I've been struggling to get through on the phone one, two hours.

The other day, I was actually on the phone with an agent who had to call another desk at Delta. And she had to wait 20, 30 minutes for this. And Delta has been particularly bad on that. But I waited an hour with Marriott the other day.

I think it's two things. One, it is short staffing. But two, people have much more complicated itineraries right now. You know, I got a voucher from this trip that was canceled. I've got a credit from this one. I've got a gift card that my uncle gave me for my birthday. I will combine them all to book my family vacation. That takes a lot of time.

So airlines right now need to fix it. Delta's very aware of it. CEO Ed Bastian spoke about it on the earnings call. I know for one that my loyalty will change if they do not fix this by the end of the summer because it is frustrating for a lot of people. And if you're a traveler, pack your patience. I hate to say it.