The UK’s worst airways REVEALED – with ‘outrageous’ finances carriers blasted for poor experiences
Which? has revealed the best airlines flying in and out of the UK – and the ones that tourists should swerve.
In research conducted over the last 12 months, the consumer champion asked more than 5,500 travellers about their journeys by plane.
The study considered multiple factors, including value for money, cabin environment (including cleanliness), food and drink, seat comfort, customer service, boarding, booking process, seat pitch, last-minute cancellations, flights on time and last-minute cancellations.
Which? then crunched the data to reveal how passengers rated the overall experience to determine the best and worst carriers for customer satisfaction in the UK.
And it’s likely to make uncomfortable reading for some airline bosses.
Cut-price Irish carrier Ryanair proved to be the worst-performing short-haul airline overall, with a customer score of just 55 per cent.
The budget flyer, whose CEO is Michael O’Leary, got just a two-star rating for its booking process, boarding, customer service and cabin environment and just one star for seat comfort.
Despite being known for its cheap fares, Ryanair also bagged just three stars on value for money, with one customer commenting: ‘It is billed as a budget airline but they make money from extras which far outweigh price savings on other flight companies.’
Budget airline Ryanair ranked the worst for short haul flights and received an overall customer score of 55 per cent – but the carrier remained bullish, saying: ‘Neither we nor our 208m passengers pay any attention to these made-up manufactured surveys or their fake result’
And the experience inside the plane? Another less-than-impressed passenger said: ‘The plane is dirty and the seats are awful.’
Hungarian carrier Wizz Air followed as the second-worst, with a customer score of 55 per cent.
The airline collected two stars for its booking process, boarding, customer service, seat comfort and food and drink.
Like Ryanair, the carrier scored three stars on value for money. A comment from one Wizz Air customer claimed the airline was ‘consistently terrible and overpriced,’ while others felt the customer service was poor and said communication around delays was insufficient.
Low-cost Spanish carrier Vueling Airlines followed as the third-worst performer for short-haul flights.
With a 63 per cent customer score, the airline achieved three stars on value for money and two stars for the other factors.
Another low-cost giant, easyJet, scored 67 per cent, receiving two stars for boarding, customer service, seat comfort and cabin environment. It managed to take away three stars in the value for money category and was sixth from bottom overall.
As for long-haul journeys, another Irish carrier, Aer Lingus, fared badly, scoring just 65 per cent overall.
Are budget airlines ruining the quality of travel or just offering cheap options you can’t resist?
In the long haul airlines category, Aer Lingus didn’t fare well, ranking as the worst performer and scoring 65 per cent
The Dublin-based airline received three stars for all categories except for cabin environment and seat comfort, which were rated a two respectively.
United Airlines and American Airlines, both based in the US, followed scoring 68 and 69 per cent respectively.
Some of the top performers include Jet2, which placed first for short-haul with an impressive 76 per cent score, followed by Lufthansa and Norwegian.
Other strong carriers for short-haul flights include British Airways, KLM, TUI, Aer Lingus and Air France.
In the long-haul category, Singapore Airlines took the crown with the highest rating overall – 81 per cent.
The airline scored five stars for customer service and cabin environment, and was the only one to do so.
Emirates closely followed with 81 per cent, then Virgin Atlantic scoring 79 per cent – both of which are Which? Recommended Providers, like Jet2.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, said of the research: ‘It’s outrageous to see Ryanair and Wizz Air openly scoff at the poor experiences of their own customers.
‘They love to blow their own trumpet about the number of passengers who fly with them, but on many routes, there is simply no other choice.
‘Many other passengers fly with them because of the enticingly low headline fares. But ridiculously expensive charges for baggage and other add-ons mean they are no longer guaranteed to be the cheapest option.
‘We’ve repeatedly found that airlines that include baggage and seat allocation in their fares can actually work out cheaper overall. Fly with anyone else, if you can.’
Singapore Airlines claimed the top spot when it came to long haul carriers, with the highest rating overall – 81 per cent
A spokesperson for Ryanair said: ‘Neither we nor our 208m passengers pay any attention to these made-up manufactured surveys or their fake results.
‘Every passenger booking a flight has a choice and last year 208m consumers chose Ryanair, while nobody reads or pays any attention to Which? fake surveys.’
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Wizz Air said: ‘Once again, Which’s survey relies on a tiny sample size. It surveyed 259 people, which is only 0.002 per cent of the 12 million passengers carried on our UK flights in 2025.
‘No credible organisation can claim that such a sample is representative. Our strong passenger numbers – which rise every year – clearly show that travellers value Wizz’s low prices and industry-leading operational performance.
‘We’re continuing to deliver against the commitments outlined in our £12billion Customer First Compass initiative. From October 2024 to December 2025, customer satisfaction rose by eight percentage points.
‘At the same time, our flight completion rate in the UK was 99.7 per cent – consistently among the best in the industry – while our on-time performance increased by 14 per cent year-on-year.
‘This year, we look forward to welcoming even more passengers on board Europe’s youngest and most modern fleet, taking advantage of our low prices on our biggest ever summer leisure network to many new destinations in Spain, Greece, and France.’
A spokesperson for easyJet commented: ‘50 million customers in the UK will choose to fly with easyJet this year for our choice of destinations, great value fares and friendly service from our fantastic crew.
‘We allow customers to pay for only what they want and no more which enables us to keep fares low for everyone. With around 40 per cent of our customers choosing to travel with just the fare and our customer satisfaction scores at a 10-year high, its clear that customers continue to value this choice and our service.
‘Given this survey is not weighted, it simply isn’t representative when comparing with airlines who carry far fewer passengers.’
The Daily Mail approached Vueling Airlines, Aer Lingus, American Airlines and United for comment.
