Airlines: on-time flights, cancellations, and bag fees
Picking an airline usually comes after picking a route and a date. Once you have two or three options for the same trip, three public records can separate them: how often each airline ran on time, how often it cancelled, and what it charges to check a bag. None of them tells you the fare, which changes by route, season and how early you book.
The short answer. For flights to and from the UK, the Civil Aviation Authority's 2025 figures show real gaps: some airlines were within 15 minutes of schedule on about four flights in five, one on fewer than three in five. Cancellations were rare almost everywhere. On US domestic routes, the big carriers now charge similar fees for a first bag, so compare the fare plus the bags you will actually check. If a train can make the trip, that choice matters more for emissions than any airline you pick.
The data, at a glance
Share of flights within 15 minutes of schedule at UK airports in 2025, arrivals and departures counted together:
What the records show
Running on time. The CAA's 2025 table covers flights at 25 UK airports and counts arrivals and departures together. Across all of them, 72.7 percent of flights were within 15 minutes of schedule. Among the airlines in our explorer, JetBlue (82.6 percent), the Virgin group (81.4) and Qatar Airways (79.4) sat near the top. TUI Airways was lowest at 59.2 percent, with an average delay of 23.4 minutes. Air France (68.9) and the KLM group (69.7) also fell below the all-airport figure.
Check how many flights sit behind each number. JetBlue's figure comes from 3,156 flights; the easyJet group's from 393,939. A carrier flying a few transatlantic routes and one flying short hops all over Europe face different odds.
Cancellations. Across all reporting airports, 1.04 percent of flights were cancelled. TUI Airways cancelled 0.14 percent, the Ryanair group 0.27, the KLM group 2.56 and American Airlines 2.78. The two measures can pull apart: in our set, the airline most often late was also the least likely to cancel.
These figures describe UK flights only. An airline can perform differently elsewhere, and airlines that barely fly to the UK, such as Southwest, have no row.
Bag fees. Published fees for a first and second standard checked bag on US domestic flights:
| Airline | First bag | Second bag | Conditions |
|---|---|---|---|
| American | $45 online, $50 at airport | $55 online, $60 at airport | tickets bought from 9 April 2026; Basic Economy costs more |
| Delta | $45 | $55 | Main and Comfort, each way |
| United | $45 | $55 | within the US, Mexico, Canada and Latin America |
| JetBlue | $45 | $59 | more than 24 hours before departure, off-peak |
| Southwest | $35 | $45 | flights booked from 28 May 2025 |
Several of these airlines waive the first bag for co-branded card holders, some loyalty tiers or active-duty military. In Europe, easyJet lets everyone bring one small under-seat bag free, up to 45 x 36 x 20 cm and 15kg. If you pack light, that can matter more than any checked-bag fee.
If you care most about...
| If you care most about... | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Running when promised | the CAA on-time share and the flight count behind it | small samples swing more |
| Not being stranded | the cancellation rate and your rights if it happens | rare, but costly when it lands on you |
| Lowest total price | fare plus bags plus seat fees, for your actual luggage | fees sit outside the fare and change with timing |
| Climate | whether rail can make the trip | the gap between flying and rail dwarfs gaps between airlines |
| Traveling light | an airline with a usable free cabin bag | the fee you avoid is the cheapest one |
There is no single best airline. The most punctual one in this set flies relatively few UK flights, and the one that almost never cancels was late more often than any other.
The trip you may not need to fly
Our World in Data, using UK government emission factors, puts a domestic flight at 246 grams of CO2-equivalent per passenger-kilometre and national rail at 35, so the train cuts emissions by around 86 percent. Eurostar comes in at 4 grams. A video call, or one longer trip in place of two short ones, is the option no airline table can show.
When things go wrong
In the US, the Department of Transportation says you are entitled to a refund if an airline cancels your flight, for any reason, and you choose not to travel or accept vouchers. The same applies to a significant delay or change, which it defines as 3 hours or more on a domestic itinerary and 6 hours or more on an international one. In the UK, the CAA's delays and cancellations pages explain what you can claim and how. This guide is not legal advice; the regulator's page is the place to check your case.
What we're not telling you
We do not score base fares, comfort, crew pay or per-airline emissions. We found no current independent per-airline efficiency ranking we could check, and a stale one would mislead. The punctuality data covers UK airports only.
How we made this
We take no money from airlines. Every figure above comes from a page we opened in September 2026. If a fee has changed or a figure looks wrong, tell us through Contribute and we will correct it.
Sources
- UK Civil Aviation Authority, 2025 punctuality by airline and airport (spreadsheet), checked 2026-09
- American Airlines newsroom, bag fee update, checked 2026-09
- Delta, baggage overview, checked 2026-09
- WBRC, United raises bag fees, checked 2026-09
- JetBlue, fees, checked 2026-09
- CBS News, Southwest checked bag fee, checked 2026-09
- easyJet, baggage help, checked 2026-09
- Our World in Data, travel carbon footprint, checked 2026-09
- US Department of Transportation, refunds, checked 2026-09
- UK Civil Aviation Authority, delays and cancellations, checked 2026-09
Compare airlines on punctuality, cancellations and bag fees by your own weighting in the airlines explorer.