-Wizz Air has been named the worst low-cost airline choice with the Golden Raspberry for the second year in a Which? survey, picking up poor performance and £1.24 million ($2.53 million) in unpaid refunds to passengers. While, the equivalent award in the traditional carriers was awarded to Lufthansa. In the survey, Greek Aegean Airlines stands out for its level of customer service, but also for the punctuality of its flights.
A survey of over 10,000 flights in the UK has highlighted the best and worst airlines operating international flights, with the Hungarian low-cost airline at the bottom again.
Which? said that almost half (46%) of respondents who flew with Wizz Air reported problems with their flight, with delays being the most common problem.
Ryanair followed closely behind with a customer rating of just 47%.
IAG Iberia, Vueling and British Airways completed the bottom five for short-haul flights, with customer ratings of 49%, 53% and 56% respectively.
Jet2 ranked first among short-haul airlines in the survey for the third consecutive year, with a customer rating of 81%.
The British, low-cost airline scores five stars for customer service, and although its prices are not always as low as its competitors, they can be cheaper when the benefit of free hand luggage is taken into account.
Jet2 also has one of the lowest last-minute cancellation rates, with just 0.5% cancellations.
Among the traditional carriers, Lufthansa performed the worst, with an overall customer rating of 56%, with just 68% of its flights operated on time and a last-minute cancellation rate that has “skyrocketed” to 2.5%
Commenting on the survey findings, Which? travel editor Rory Boland said: “Air fares have rocketed in recent years and the least passengers should expect in return for the money they spend is a reliable service, with friendly, easy-to-access customer support. While Jet2 continues to excel in this regard, our research shows that passengers on many airlines are sadly being hurt – with high rates of last-minute cancellations, lousy customer service and hidden baggage surcharges that drive up the final price.”
On transatlantic flights, again the Asian and Middle Eastern airlines are far better than most of their European and American competitors, with Virgin Atlantic being a striking exception.
The facts about Aegean Airlines
The Greek Aegean Airlines is placed in the middle of the ranking of the best airlines flying to the UK. Aegean Airlines is in the middle of the ranking of the best airlines in the UK, with an overall customer rating of 63%, with 78% of flights on time and last minute cancellations of 0.20%.
The Greek, airline scores 4 stars in customer service, boarding and passenger cabin environment.
“War” Wizz Air – Which?
Following the publication of the survey, Wizz Air, which flew 12.2 million passengers in the UK last year, fought back, disputing the scope of the survey.
The airline claimed that Which? surveyed just 124 Wizz Air customers – just 1.15% of the total sample size – but spoke to many more than other airlines.
It added that Which?’s sample represented less than 0.001% of the airline’s customer base.
Speaking about this, Wizz Air UK chief executive Marion Geoffroy said: “We do not believe that the findings of this survey are representative or that the methodology used is transparent. The sample size is completely different for each airline – only 124 Wizz Air passengers took part in the survey, while Which? spoke to several thousand people who had flown with some of our competitors.”
“The results of this survey are certainly not what we find from our customer surveys. It is not clear how Which? could have come to these conclusions when only 1.15% of respondents said they had flown with Wizz Air,” added Ms Geoffroy.
“We were honest about our performance in the summer of 2022, which was not up to our standards, so we invested more than £90 million to fix it. We completed 99.23% of our flights in the period covering October 2022 to September 2023, and in the last financial year, our on-time performance was better than all but one of our major competitors. Over the same period, we saw a 67.4% reduction in the number of cancellations and over 90% of refunds and claims were processed within five days. These are some of the best figures in the entire industry. We conduct customer satisfaction surveys across our network and hundreds of thousands of passengers have said they are satisfied with the service we provide. Our results show that our customer satisfaction has improved year on year and is significantly higher than this survey suggests,” concluded the Wizz Air UK CEO.
Worst budget short-haul airlines
Wizz Air: rating 44%, accuracy 63%, cancellations 1.20%
Ryanair: Score 47%, accuracy 62%, cancellations 0.80%
Iberia: Score 49%, accuracy 85%, cancellations 1%
Vueling: Score 53%, accuracy 75%, cancellations 1.10%
British Airways: rating 56%, accuracy 61%, cancellations 3.30%
Worst long-haul airlines
Lufthansa: Rating 56%, accuracy 68%, cancellations 2.50%
Air Canada: rating 58%, accuracy 57%, cancellations 1.30%
British Airways: rating 59%, accuracy 61%, cancellations 3.30%
American Airlines: rating 59%, accuracy 76%, cancellations 0.60%
Air France: Score 60%, accuracy 71%, cancellations 0.90%
