Ryanair voted worst airline for sixth year running

The no-frills airline scored a customer satisfaction rating of just 40 per cent

Ryanair has been voted the worst airline serving the UK for the sixth year in a row.

The low-cost airline scored a customer rating of just 40 per cent in Which?’s annual survey.

Participants were asked to rate airlines on boarding, seats, comfort, refreshments and the cabin environment.

Out of the 7,901 respondents who were asked if there was one airline with which they would never travel, 70 per cent named Ryanair.

“There are too many rules. I worry about getting caught with hidden costs,” said one respondent of Ryanair.

Europe’s biggest airline had a difficult 2018, with cabin crew and pilot strikes resulting in tens of thousands of passengers having their travel plans disrupted.

Ryanair refused to pay compensation for resulting flight delays and cancellations, claiming industrial action constituted “extraordinary circumstances”, making it exempt from the usual rules under European law.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has disputed this, threatening Ryanair with “enforcement action”.

The carrier changed its baggage policy twice in the last 12 months too, with the latest rules meaning passengers must pay extra for priority boarding in order to take a bigger piece of hand baggage into the cabin with them.

Ryanair also reduced the time passengers can check in before a flight from four days to just 48 hours last spring.

A Ryanair spokeswoman told PA the research did not take into account the cost of fares, “the single most important factor for UK consumers”. She described the survey findings as “totally unrepresentative” compared to the airline’s 141 million annual passengers, and said that Ryanair’s fares are “a fraction of the high fares charged by Which?’s ‘recommended’ airlines”.

Other airlines which received low customer ratings included Thomas Cook Airlines (52 per cent), Wizz Air (54 per cent), Vueling Airlines (54 per cent) and British Airways (56 per cent).

Not all budget airlines were named and shamed – Jet2 scored highly, coming in third place for short-haul operators, with a customer rating of 75 per cent. EasyJet was in the middle of the pack with 63 per cent.

“Airfares might seem to be getting cheaper, but only if you don’t fancy sitting with your family and children or taking even a small cabin bag on-board,” said Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel magazine.

“Increasingly you need a calculator to work out what the final bill will be, especially with Ryanair.

”It has spent the last two years cancelling thousands of flights, ruining hundreds of thousands of holidays and flouting the rules on compensation as well.

“The results of our survey show passengers are fed up. They should switch to one of their rivals, who prove that budget prices don’t have to mean budget service.”

Best short-haul airlines

Aurigny (81%)

Swiss Airlines (80%)

Jet2 (75%)

Worst short-haul airlines

Ryanair (40%)

Thomas Cook Airlines (52%)

Wizz Air (54%)

Vueling Airlines (54%)

Best long-haul airlines

Singapore Airlines (85%)

Emirates (81%)

Qatar Airways (80%)

Worst long-haul airlines

American Airlines (52%)

United Airlines (55%)

Thomson/Tui Airways (56%)