These are the Best and Worst American Airlines – Airfarewatchdog Survey

You might want to consider this ranking the next time you plan on taking a domestic flight in the United States.

Airfarewatchdog.com, a popular website that specializes in consumer air travel, has just released its latest annual ranking of the best and worst performing airways in the country- Delta Airlines came out on the top while United Airways fared the poorest.

The website scored the airlines on three major service parameters - On-time arrivals, mishandled bags and cancelled flights. Customers were polled throughout May 2014.

Below is the list of airlines in the order of best to worst.

1.      Delta

2.      Virgin America

3.      Alaska

4.      Jet Blue

5.      Frontier

6.      Southwest Air Tran

7.      American US Airways

8.      United

Delta coming out on the top was a surprise, the surveyors said.

"As far as we're concerned, Delta is this year's unsung hero. For the past two years, Delta has been stuck on the wrong side of the rankings, but this year, the airline moved from sixth up to the top spot! Delta ranks higher this year in canceled flights, on-time arrivals, and mishandled bags, but its most-improved area is customer service," the survey noted.

Meanwhile, United Airways has been maintaining its position in the bottom three since the past two years. The airline came in sixth in the "on-time arrivals" and "cancelled flights." It ranked lowest in "customer satisfaction."

Virgin America has, however, held on to the top three positions from the last three years. In fact, the airline topped the annual list of Airline Quality Rating released by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Wichita State University in April this year.

Below are their top eight rankings of best airlines:

1. Virgin America

2. JetBlue

3. Hawaiian

4. Delta

5. Alaska

6. Endeavor Air

7. US Airways

8. Southwest

United came in twelfth in that list, which ranked 15 domestic airlines.