The Best Airlines to Work For in 2026, Ranked by Their Own Employees

Delta Air Lines is the best airline to work for in 2026. It ranks No. 13 of 700 on Forbes’ America’s Best Large Employers 2026, the highest of any airline, and it is the only airline on Glassdoor’s 2026 Best Places to Work list and on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For, where it sits at No. 9.

This list ranks US airlines by their place on that Forbes list, which Statista builds from a survey of more than 217,000 American employees. Each airline is then checked against the numbers a job-seeker can verify: the profit sharing it paid for 2025, how much of its workforce works under a union contract, and what its flight perks cover.

The order holds a few surprises. Southwest is second on the survey but paid only about 1.1% of pay in profit sharing for 2025, and American Airlines, with about 139,100 employees, is not on the list at all.

1. Delta Air Lines

Delta scores 92.18 on the Forbes survey, good for No. 13 of 700 in 2026 after No. 9 in 2025. On Forbes’ World’s Best Employers 2026, it ranks No. 2 of 900 companies, behind only Microsoft.

The money explains most of it. Delta paid $1.3 billion in profit sharing for 2025, 8.9% of eligible earnings, or more than four weeks of extra pay on average. Its formula gives employees 10% of the first $2.5 billion it earns and 20% above that, and Delta says the payout was more than the rest of the industry combined.

Delta also gave a 4% raise on June 1, 2026 to eligible ground employees and flight attendants, its fifth straight annual raise. Employees get unlimited standby travel anywhere Delta flies, the perk most people picture when they think of flying standby.

The catch is protection. Only about 20% of Delta’s workforce is represented by a union, mainly its pilots, while its flight attendants have no union contract. The pilots’ contract becomes amendable on December 31, 2026.

Delta also does badly on two narrower Forbes lists. It sits at No. 590 of 600 on Best Employers for Company Culture 2026 and No. 559 of 700 on Best Employers for Women 2026, below every other big US airline that made either list.

Pilots reach Delta through its Propel program, which routes them to Endeavor Air, Delta’s wholly owned regional. Endeavor pays first-year first officers $106.66 an hour. Propel recruits from affiliated universities and flight schools, and our best flight schools in the US list covers where to train.

2. Southwest Airlines

Southwest scores 85.69 and ranks No. 111, down from No. 54 a year earlier. It is still the top airline on Forbes’ Best Employers for Company Culture 2026 (No. 36) and ranks No. 37 on Best Employers for New Grads.

Its flight perks are among the most generous in the industry. Employees get free, unlimited travel for themselves and eligible dependents, parents included, plus a 20% discount on Southwest flights they buy.

The money has shrunk. For 2025, Southwest put about 1.1% of each employee’s eligible pay into its profit-sharing plan, a retirement contribution rather than a paycheck. In February 2025 it cut about 1,750 corporate jobs, the first layoffs in its history.

Getting in is harder than it was. Southwest plans to hire about 872 pilots in 2026, but The Cabin Crew Forum reports that it has more flight attendants than its schedule needs and is running voluntary unpaid leave through April 2027. Right now, Southwest is a better place to be than to get into.

3. United Airlines

United scores 81.77 and ranks No. 289, up from No. 363 in 2025. It is the highest-ranked airline on Forbes’ Best Employers for Women 2026, at No. 319.

Its biggest 2026 change is the flight attendant contract. On May 12, 2026, flight attendants ratified it with 82% voting yes, for a 31% average raise and $741 million in retroactive pay.

New-hire pay rose from $28.88 to $37.10 an hour. The union’s president, Sara Nelson, says the contract now leads the industry in total value for flight attendants; our guide to how much flight attendants make explains why hourly rates only tell part of that story.

United recorded $704 million in profit sharing and related payroll tax for 2025. About 83% of its roughly 113,200 employees are represented by unions, and the company offers unlimited standby travel and discounted fares anywhere it flies.

4. Alaska Airlines

Alaska scores 81.25 and ranks No. 313. It does better on culture, at No. 43 on Forbes’ 2026 culture list, and passengers rank its staff third in North America in the Skytrax 2026 Best Airline Staff awards, behind Delta and Air Canada.

Its travel perk is the most flexible. Employees can list a spouse or partner, dependent children and two parents, and since 2024 they can name any two people in place of their parents, such as friends or siblings. Alaska says employees find a standby seat 75% of the time.

Alaska pays through incentive programs rather than classic profit sharing. The 2024 payout was a record $327 million, about six weeks of extra pay, and Alaska, Hawaiian and Horizon employees earned $245 million in 2025.

The weak spot is Horizon Air, its regional. In June 2026, Horizon flight attendants voted 99.8% to authorize a strike, and their union says a first-year Horizon flight attendant makes under $20,000 for a full-time position.

5. Hawaiian Airlines

Hawaiian scores 80.24 and ranks No. 362, a big climb from No. 555 in 2025. It is now part of Alaska Air Group, where it had 6,456 employees at the end of 2025, and its staff share in the group’s incentive pay.

The merger has a cost for office staff. Hawaiian planned to lay off 48 non-union employees in May and June 2026, its third round of merger cuts.

6. JetBlue Airways

JetBlue scores 74.98 and ranks No. 604, down from No. 486 in 2025. It does better on culture, at No. 149 on Forbes’ 2026 culture list.

Without profits, there is nothing to share. JetBlue lost $602 million in 2025 after losing $795 million in 2024, and about 49% of its workforce is unionized.

Its Gateway Select program still takes would-be pilots with little or no flying experience. Training now runs through SkyWarrior in Pensacola, Florida, costs about $120,000 before housing and takes about 3.5 years, according to JetBlue’s own FAQ.

7. FedEx Express

FedEx scores 74.98, the same as JetBlue, and ranks No. 605. That score covers the whole corporation, including its couriers and warehouse staff, not just the cargo airline.

For pilots, 2026 was a turning point. More than 5,000 FedEx pilots ratified a new contract on June 9, 2026, with 83% voting yes, and the company’s annual report says pilots are its only unionized employees in the US and Canada.

For how pilot pay at cargo and passenger airlines compares, see how much airline pilots make.

8. American Airlines

American is not on Forbes’ America’s Best Large Employers list in 2025 or 2026. It does appear on two other Forbes lists, at No. 445 on Best Employers for Company Culture 2026 and No. 528 on World’s Best Employers 2026.

Profit sharing nearly disappeared. American accrued $55 million for 2025, which One Mile at a Time works out at about 0.3% of pay, or $150 for someone earning $50,000.

The upside is protection: about 86% of its employees are represented by unions. Its regional Envoy offers new first officers a 50% Pilot Supply premium through December 31, 2026. For a side-by-side look at the three biggest carriers, see Delta vs United vs American.

The regional route in: SkyWest and Endeavor

Most new airline pilots start at a regional, and the best of them rate well as employers too. SkyWest ranks No. 21 in Utah on Forbes’ America’s Best-In-State Employers 2026, scoring 92.58.

SkyWest has 16,315 employees, and they and eligible family members get unlimited space-available travel on its network. Delta’s Endeavor Air pays first-year first officers $106.66 an hour, and our guide to low-hour pilot jobs covers how pilots build the time to get there.

The best airlines to work for in the world

Outside the US, the cleanest measure is Forbes’ World’s Best Employers 2026, which ranks 900 companies from a survey of 300,000 employees in more than 50 countries. Delta is the top airline at No. 2, and Air France-KLM is the best non-US airline at No. 43.

Gulf carriers compete on the package rather than the survey. Emirates lists Grade II cabin crew pay at a basic AED 4,980 a month plus AED 69.6 per flying hour, about AED 11,244 (USD 3,061) a month on average, with free furnished shared housing, utilities included.

Emirates tells pilots their salary is tax free in Dubai and gives them 42 days of leave a year. Demand matches: the Emirates Group received 3.5 million job applications in its 2025-26 financial year and hired nearly 9,700 people.

Passenger awards measure something else. Cathay Pacific won Skytrax’s World’s Best Cabin Crew 2026, which rates how crews treat passengers, not how airlines treat crews; for the passenger view, see our best airlines in the world ranking.

How hard is it to get hired in 2026?

Harder than the pilot-shortage headlines suggest. The major airlines tracked by FAPA hired 3,863 pilots through July 2026, AOPA reports, against 13,128 in all of 2022.

Spirit Airlines began winding down on May 2, 2026, putting its pilots and flight attendants into the same applicant pool, and other airlines offered them preferential interviews. Delta opened flight attendant applications for its 2027 classes in September 2026.

Which airline is best for your job?

Pilots: Delta pays the most profit sharing, United and American pilots fly under union contracts, and FedEx pilots signed a new one in June 2026. Students choosing a route in should start with our best aviation colleges ranking.

Flight attendants: United now has the richest union contract by its union’s measure, with new hires at $37.10 an hour. Delta’s flight attendants have no union, but The Cabin Crew Forum puts its 2026 starting rate at $38.40 an hour, before profit sharing.

Travel perks: Southwest gives free unlimited travel to parents, and Alaska lets you name any two people instead. Both rank in Forbes’ culture top 50.