This US airline beat out its competitors in a new global airline ranking

A new ranking of global airlines just dropped, and no U.S.carrier cracked the top 10.

AirHelp, a company dedicated to informing passengers of their rights when something goes wrong and assisting them in getting any compensation they're owed, just released its 2025 airline ratings, and it turns out all the best carriers are overseas.

To generate its list, AirHelp analyzed on-time performance, passenger opinion and claims processing.

The top three airlines in the ranking were Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways, all of which benefited from strong showings in all three analysis categories.

Meanwhile, American Airlines was the best-performing U.S. carrier, ranking 11th globally in the AirHelp analysis.

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"Qatar Airways has battled its way back to the top spot, which it held from 2018 to 2023 and only fell to the number two spot in 2024. U.S.-based airlines fell a bit in the rankings overall this year, none ranking in the top ten," a statement from AirHelp said. "While American Airlines had the strongest performance of U.S.-based airlines, ranking 11th globally, it did fall seven spots from its 2024 global position."

According to AirHelp, both United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, which ranked below American, had better on-time performance and customer opinion, but American beat them out in the claim processing category.

Here's how AirHelp ranks the major U.S. carriers overall:

1. American Airlines – (globally ranked #11; AirHelp Score: 7.64)
2. United Airlines – (globally ranked #13; AirHelp Score: 7.54)
3. Delta Air Lines– (globally ranked #15; AirHelp Score: 7.46)
4. Frontier Airlines – (globally ranked #36; AirHelp Score: 7.07)
5. Hawaiian Airlines – (globally ranked #50; AirHelp Score: 6.73)
6. Southwest Airlines – (globally ranked #52; AirHelp Score: 6.68)
7. Alaska Airlines – (globally ranked #76; AirHelp Score: 5.95)
8. JetBlue – (globally ranked #89; AirHelp Score: 5.31)
9. 
   
10. And these are the top 10 globally:

1. Qatar Airways (Qatar) – AirHelp Score: 8.16
2. Etihad Airways (UAE) – AirHelp Score: 8.07
3. Virgin Atlantic (UK) – AirHelp Score: 8.03
4. Qantas (Australia) – AirHelp Score: 7.99
5. KM Malta Airlines (Malta) – AirHelp Score: 7.85
6. Aeromexico (Mexico) – AirHelp Score: 7.84
7. Oman Air (Oman) – AirHelp Score: 7.82
8. Saudia (Saudi Arabia) – AirHelp Score: 7.69
9. Brussels Airlines (Brussels) – AirHelp Score: 7.66
10. LOT Polish Airlines (Poland) – AirHelp Score: 7.65