Delta Holds Its Crown as North America's Favorite Airline

Delta Air Lines has once again been voted the preferred airline in the USA and Canada, holding off United and American in AirlineRatings.com's 2026 Flyers' Choice Awards.

The result is a repeat. Delta topped the same category last year, and passengers evidently saw no reason to change their minds. United finished second and American third, giving the big three U.S. carriers a clean sweep of the regional podium.

An award decided by passengers, not judges

That distinction matters. AirlineRatings.com also publishes its World's Safest Airlines and World's Best Airline rankings, but those are assessed by the site's editorial team against measurable criteria. The Flyers' Choice Awards are different. They are decided entirely by traveler votes, with roughly 40,000 verified ballots cast worldwide this year, according to Time Out.

So this is not a verdict on Delta's on-time performance, its fleet age or its balance sheet. It is a measure of loyalty. And in a market where the three legacy carriers compete for the same corporate contracts, the same premium cabins and the same frequent flyers, being the airline that people actually say they prefer is worth something.

Loyalty at home, across the world

Delta's win fits a wider pattern. Six of the seven regional winners retained their titles from 2025, suggesting passengers tend to stick with the carriers they know.

British Airways took Europe for the second year running, ahead of Lufthansa and KLM. Cathay Pacific won North East Asia over Japan Airlines and ANA. Emirates led the Middle East and Africa. Qantas took Australia and the Pacific. The only regional change came in South and Central America, where LATAM overtook last year's winner Avianca.

Singapore Airlines dominates the global categories

If Delta was the story for American travelers, Singapore Airlines was the story everywhere else. It picked up four awards: Preferred Economy, Best Cabin Crew, best airline in Central and South East Asia, and the Airline That Gave the Greatest Peace of Mind. That made it the most decorated carrier of the year.

Qatar Airways won Preferred Business Class on the strength of its Qsuite, a product now close to a decade old and still ahead of the field. Emirates took Preferred Premium Economy. Vietnam Airlines won Best Aircraft Livery for its golden lotus design, and low-cost carrier Vietjet Air collected two titles of its own, Favourite Low-Cost Carrier and Best Cabin Crew Uniform.

AirlineRatings.com CEO Sharon Petersen noted that products still being rolled out, or flown on smaller networks, simply have not been experienced by enough passengers yet, and that shows in the voting.

What it means for U.S. flyers

Delta has now been named North America's preferred airline in consecutive years, and it did so against direct competition from the two carriers most capable of unseating it. Nothing about the award changes fares, schedules or the seat in front of you. But it does confirm where passenger sentiment sits heading into the fall travel season, and it hands Delta a marketing line its rivals would rather have themselves.

For United and American, second and third in a passenger poll is hardly a disaster. It is, however, a reminder that the gap at the top is measured in loyalty as much as in aircraft, and loyalty is the harder of the two to buy.