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Good news if you're flying on the biggest airline in the Land of 10,000 Lakes: it's once again ranked as the number-one airline in the country.

It's the largest airline in Minnesota-- and it's once again #1

That's the word this week from Delta Air Lines, which just placed on top of the latest WalletHub survey of the Best Airlines in the U.S. Delta, of course, has a major hub at the largest airport in Minnesota, the Minneapolis - St. Paul International Airport (MSP) in Bloomington.

I still kind of think of Delta as a 'Minnesota' airline, even though it's not headquartered here. Its corporate headquarters are in Atlanta, but since Delta merged with Minnesota's own Northwest Airlines in 2008, Delta still has a major influence here in the North Star State.

READ MORE: MN Airport Named Best in North America For Second Year in a Row

And again this year, Delta Air Lines is the best overall airline in the industry, according to WalletHub, scoring an overall rating of 66.79 out of 100. WalletHub's survey also named Delta as the Most Reliable Airline for 2023, noting that Delta has the lowest rate of cancelations, delays, mishandled luggage, and denied boardings.

And Delta was also named the Most Pet-Friendly Airline for Pets, according to WalletHub (along with Alaska and SkyWest Airlines.) These awards are a big deal, even if it's not exactly a surprise. In fact, while placing near the top the past couple of years, Delta also placed first in the 2022 J.D. Power airlines survey-- and you have to go all the way back to 1995 for the last time Delta was ranked number-one on that survey.

So how did WalletHub come up with those rankings?

WalletHub says their survey evaluated the 9 largest national airlines on 14 key metrics across four major categories: 1) Baggage and departures, 2) Animal incidents, 3) In-flight comfort and cost, and 4) Safety. They collected and analyzed 2022 flight data from the U.S. Department of Transportation to compile their results.

While WalletHub looked at categories ranging from cancellation and delay rates to baggage mishaps and in-flight comfort, their survey noted they also considered costs in relation to in-flight amenities for the sake of fairness. (For example, WalletHub said, it wouldn’t be right to penalize an airline that charges for drinks if its tickets are far cheaper than those from an airline with free in-flight refreshments.)

Delta also offers flights out of Rochester

It's also impressive to note that you don't have to drive up Highway-52 to MSP to fly on the number-one airline in the country, either. Delta offers direct flights to Atlanta and connecting flights to MSP from right here in the Med City at Rochester International Airport.

As I mentioned earlier, Delta merged with Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlines back in 2008. Northwest was one of those brands that was once huge here in Minnesota (kind of like Dayton's also was) but that now no longer exists. Which is the same for many of the following famous brands. Keep scrolling to see how many YOU remember!

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50 Famous Brands That No Longer Exist

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