British Airways has been named the worst long-haul airline, dropping to the bottom of the rankings for customers in a new airline satisfaction survey.
An annual traveller experience survey by Which? ranked airlines based on punctuality, customer service, seat comfort and value for money, among other categories.
British Airways, the UK’s flag carrier airline, scored 62 per cent with just two stars out of five across several categories, including value for money, seat comfort and cabin environment.
The consumer group surveyed 7,828 travellers on 9,325 flights between November and December 2024, along with airline delay and cancellation data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to compile the ranking.
According to CAA data, BA also had high levels of last-minute cancellations – around two per cent of flights cancelled within 24 hours of departure.
Joanne Anderson, one of the Which? case studies, said she had battled to get a refund for a cancelled flight from “dreadful” BA. After bad weather saw the 76-year-old’s return flight from Belfast to Exeter last November cancelled, Ms Anderson booked alternative flights and requested a refund for the £237.28 she had paid, which took nine weeks to arrive.
A spokesperson for British Airways called the Which? research “entirely at odds with comments from the hundreds of thousands of customers”.
They added: “This is also reflected in a recent independent study from Newsweek, which surveyed 17,000 people who voted us their Most Trusted Airline Brand.”
Of the 19 long-haul airlines surveyed, Air Canada (62 per cent) joined BA in last place with several two-star scores.
Ranked first in the same survey was Singapore Airlines (81 per cent), which scored five out of five stars in most categories, followed by Etihad with a 78 per cent score.
Irish budget airline Ryanair finished bottom of the short-haul table with a satisfaction score of just 49 per cent.
Which? travellers gave the airline only one star for food and drink, seat comfort and boarding and complained that the company “did nothing at all during delays”.
According to Which?, one Ryanair passenger said: "I would rather the price was higher but not have to pay to take on a cabin bag.”
A spokesperson for the airline replied: “Ryanair this year will carry 200m passengers… not one of our 200m passengers wish to pay ‘higher prices’ as Which? falsely claim.”
Wizz Air was just ahead of Ryanair in the short-haul table with a customer score of 51 per cent and two stars across all categories.
One Wizz Air passenger told Which? they felt ‘fleeced’ when they saw how much it cost to check in a suitcase.
The airline called the survey “misleading” with a “staggeringly small sample size”.
A Wizz Air spokesperson said: “Wizz Air flew over 12 million passengers in the UK over the last year and Which? only surveyed 109 Wizz Air customers – less than 0.001 per cent of our customer base. It is therefore not a fair or accurate representation of Wizz Air’s industry-leading operational performance and significantly improved customer service.”
As for the “Which? Recommended” carriers, Jet2 took the top spot for short-haul journeys (80 per cent) for the fourth year, while Emirates (77 per cent) performed best for long-haul flights due to its five-star booking process and cabin environment.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said that a “huge disparity in customer service standards” had been revealed between different airlines.
“British Airways' poor performance in our survey shows how far it has fallen from the days when it was seen as setting the standards others should aspire to.
“There’s a clear disparity between airlines at the top and at the bottom of the rankings. The top performers show it is possible to give passengers good service at a time when delays, cancellations and terrible customer service have become almost the norm.
“Some airlines seem to think they can get away with treating their customers badly, knowing they are unlikely to face consequences in a sector with weak regulations.”
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