According to Flighty, the flight-tracking app beloved by frequent flyers, delays remain a defining feature of air travel in the U.S. This year was no different, and a new report reveals exactly which airlines keep us waiting the most.
Flighty recently released its annual Global Passport Report 2025, a year-in-review look at real-world flight data from millions of travelers. In 2025 alone, Flighty users logged more than 22 million flights, racking up 34 billion miles and roughly 78 million hours in the air. Unfortunately, not all of that time went as planned. Globally, delays added up to about 3.9 million hours of lost time, resulting in unmeasurable levels of anxiety and stress.
Flighty's analysis pinpointed the U.S. airlines that caused the most grief. Based on flights completed between January and November 2025, and counting any arrival 15 minutes late as delayed, Frontier Airlines earned the top spot. Twenty-eight percent of its flights arrived behind schedule. JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines tied for second place at 25 percent, followed closely by American Airlines at 24 percent and Alaska Airlines at 23 percent.
It's worth noting that these numbers aren't wildly off from the norm. Industry-wide, about 22 percent of flights arrive more than 15 minutes late. That number jumps to 41 percent if you include flights that are even one minute past their scheduled arrival.
But arrival time isn't the only factor in determining when you'll actually get where you're going. Flighty's report goes even deeper, analyzing the gap between when a plane lands and when passengers actually get off, accounting for taxiing, gate shortages and runway congestion. According to the report, passengers step off the plane later than scheduled on three out of ten flights, by an average of 14 minutes. This feature in the app, appropriately named "Get Me Off This Plane," estimates when you’ll actually hit the jet bridge, so you don't end up scrambling to get your carry-on only to stand around for what seems like eternity.
The Flighty app tracks tens of thousands of flights daily, monitoring inbound aircraft, historical performance and schedules to send some of the fastest delay alerts around. It can even predict delays before they’re officially announced, giving frequent flyers all the inside info needed to make travel as efficient as possible.
The takeaway from Flighty's report isn’t that you should avoid these delay-prone airlines altogether. It’s more about adjusting expectations and padding your layovers. And Flighty's app can help you plant out that time more efficiently.
Airlines with the most delays in the U.S.
- Frontier Airlines—28% of flights delayed
- JetBlue Airways—25%
- Southwest Airlines—25%
- American Airlines—24%
- Alaska Airlines—23%
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