What Airline do you recommend?

I’m leaving for basic military training in a little under a month and I know my mom is stressing about that, plus a bunch of other things going on with family/life right now. My parents have struggled with money my whole life and I’m almost positive they won’t be able to save enough money to travel to my graduation in March/April (plus pay for a hotel/rental car, etc.), and I know my mom especially would be devastated if she can’t go. So I’m going to buy my parents a gift card for an airline so they can pick what flights they want/what days work best for them.

I’m stuck choosing between Southwest and American Airlines. Which would you recommend? The reason I’m choosing to not ask my parents is because I want to surprise them