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ORLANDO, Fla. - Like a lot of golfers, Southwest Airlines used to be my favorite airline.
Their policy of two free checked bags made the choice easy - I could take my clubs anywhere for no charge. Whether my golf trip was four days or a week, I would pack all my clothes in a carry on, allowing me to escape any obnoxious extra luggage fees.
But when Southwest - or airport personnel - snapped my driver shaft in 2024, then offered minimal compensation for the mishap, our relationship soured.
The game changed for good when Southwest began charging for all bags May 28 of this year. Those luggage fees - the first checked bag costing $35 and the second $45 (similar pricing to other airlines) - have left me searching for answers to the age-old question:
What's the best airline for traveling golfers?
I've certainly got opinions, having traveled on hundreds of golf trips the past two decades. We all have air travel horror stories (I'll share more below), but I take a bit more of a pragmatic approach to these tragedies. You can't blame the airlines for bad weather, but you can blame them for lost or damaged luggage and/or poor service when you do have to re-book a missed or canceled flight.
Let's dive in to my rankings of the best U.S. airlines for golfers:
1. Delta Airlines
2. United Airlines
3. Alaska Airlines (purchased Hawaiian Airlines in 2024)
4. American Airlines
5. (tie) Southwest Airlines and JetBlue
Why is Delta no. 1?
Why is Delta #1? The simple answer is that it dominates on-time rates. Cirium, which monitors aviation analytics, indicated in January that Delta led North America in 2024 in both on-time arrivals (83.46%) and on-time departures (83.74%). According to the U.S. government's Bureau of Transportation, Delta ranks just behind Hawaiian Airlines in on-time rates (83.58 to 82.02).
Arriving on time means fewer missed tee times, missed connections or missed opportunities to pick up a rental car without hassles.
When Delta announced in January 2023 that it had partnered with T-Mobile to offer free WiFi on many of its flights, that was another huge step towards improving the experience in the sky. Combined with the ability to watch live TV - and in the case of golfers, live golf - I don't know who wouldn't pick Delta as their top choice. I watched the Scottish Open in between naps on a flight from Orlando to Minneapolis recently, then I watched The Open on my flight home to San Jose.
My worst flight ever
The funniest thing about ranking Delta on top is I recently experienced my worst flight ever on a redeye flight from Seattle to Orlando. I couldn't blame Delta. But as is the case all too often these days, it was my fellow passengers that ruined everything.
After falling asleep, I woke up to the captain announcing we had returned to the gate to kick off an unruly passenger. I have no idea what happened, but that detour delayed us 90 minutes.
At 3 a.m., the intercom woke me up again, asking ominously, "Is there a doctor on board?" Oh boy. Thankfully the medical emergency didn't require a mid-flight diversion. We continued on to Orlando, where paramedics took the passenger off the plane, delaying unloading another 30 minutes.
All of this madness might have been tolerable, except that a large family sitting across the aisle and behind me couldn't control their children. The kids were so amped up about their theme park vacation, they didn't sleep. They rudely talked back and forth the entire time, keeping me awake, too. What is it about airplanes that brings out the worst in people?
Other airline thoughts
This CNBC.com article from 2024 notes that United is battling Delta to become America's most luxurious mainstream airline. Living near San Francisco, a United hub, I fly United a lot. United's frequent flier program awards me miles that never expire, which allows me a free, checked first bag, something Delta's SkyMiles program doesn't do. Those are two reasons why United's loyal program ranks higher than Delta's (second-best in the industry compared to fourth), according to U.S. News.
That United provides the only summer gateways to Bandon Dunes Golf Resort in Oregon - flying nonstop into tiny Coos Bay from San Francisco and Denver - brings added bonus points.
Living on the West Coast, it was easy to anoint Alaska Airlines in my top three. It regularly flies nonstop to all the West Coast cities I want (Seattle, Scottsdale), plus all of the Hawaiian islands now that it owns Hawaiian Airlines. Its frequent flier program came out on top according to the U.S. News because its miles can be used with American Airlines as well as top hotel chains like Marriott.
I just don't fly American Airlines and JetBlue enough to rate them higher, but I don't have any bad things to say about them either. As for Southwest, I'm probably in the minority here, but I'll miss the open seating policy. I liked the flexibility to sit in a middle seat at the front of the cabin if I had a tight connection or the option to go to the back half of the plane if I wanted an aisle or window seat instead. I liked the freedom of choice, something that virtually doesn't exist in air travel anymore. But it's hard to forgive the loss of their checked-baggage policy, not to mention what they did to my poor driver.
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