A new survey has unveiled the airline that passengers are least satisfied with, and it’s not one of the budget carriers. A Belfast woman described her experience with the company as “dreadful”.
The annual Which? airline satisfaction survey revealed that British Airways (BA) has seen a significant drop from previous years, tying with Air Canada at the bottom of the list for long haul flights among 19 airlines.
When it comes to short-haul travel, BA didn’t fare much better, ranking 12th out of 16 carriers, with Ryanair taking the last spot. Both BA and Air Canada received a disappointing two stars out of five across several categories, including value for money, seat comfort, and cabin environment.
BA say the people quoted in the survey is at odds with their feedback, and Ryanair also dispute claims made that passengers would pay more for their flights.
The survey also highlighted high levels of last-minute cancellations by BA, with approximately 2% of flights cancelled within 24 hours of departure, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). While BA did perform better than Ryanair in terms of overall customer satisfaction, they fell short in direct communication, scoring only 40, well below the average score of 52.
One passenger who felt neglected by BA shared her struggle to secure a refund with Which?. Joanne Anderson, 76, a BA customer, said she was repeatedly told by the airline’s customer service team that she could expect a refund within seven to 10 days, but it took nine weeks to arrive.
She expressed her frustration to Which? and said: “It feels like they are making a fool of their customers. They want to frustrate them until they just give up and go away.
“To think British Airways is supposed to be the flag carrier – now they are absolutely dreadful. I will never fly with them again if I can possibly avoid it”
A representative from BA refuted the claims made by Which? stating: “This research from Which? is entirely at odds with comments from the hundreds of thousands of customers who we know do travel with British Airways and then tell us about their experience.
“Their feedback tells us customers are seeing the benefit of our £7bn investment programme, with operational performance improving by 18 per cent over the last 12 months, partnered with the introduction of new aircraft, the unveiling of our new First seat, free Wi-Fi messaging on flights and upgrades to nine of our lounges.”
This is also reflected in a recent independent study from Newsweek, which surveyed 17,000 people who voted us their Most Trusted Airline Brand.
“There is always room for improvement and we know we don’t always get things right, but we’re proud of the progress we’re making and will continue to focus on delivering the best possible service for our customers.”
Another passenger, who had flown with Ryanair, another airline that scored poorly, expressed their frustration: “You think you are getting a fairly cheap flight only to find that you have to pay extra for everything. I would rather the price was higher but not have to pay to take on a cabin bag.
The plane was not clean and the seats were very uncomfortable. “In response to these criticisms, a spokesperson from Ryanair stated: “Ryanair this year will carry 200m passengers…Not one of our 200m passengers wish to pay ‘higher prices’ as Which? falsely claim.”
The full list of airlines and their scores is below:
