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According to Gocompare.com Survey, BA is Best and Ryanair is Worst as Brits Rate Airlines Ahead of the Half-Term Getaway

Dépèche transmise le 25 octobre 2011 par Business Wire

NEWPORT, Wales--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With thousands of families set to jet off during the October half term for their last chance of a holiday before Christmas, passengers will experience at first hand the good, the bad and the downright ugly of air travel.

And despite the stresses of check-in queues, delays and cancellations, 52 per cent of us still enjoy going on holiday by air.

But according to new research from comparison site Gocompare.com, when it comes to customer satisfaction some airlines reach for the sky and others just don't get off the ground. And having gathered the opinions of holiday makers from across the country they've compiled a list of the top ten best and worst airlines.

It no longer calls itself ‘the world's favourite airline' but British Airways is still a big hit with British travellers. The survey of 3000 UK adults put BA firmly at the top of the list of the nation's best airlines, comfortably beating Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic into second place.

Charter airlines Thomas Cook, Thomson Airways and Monarch also make the top ten best list and the highest placed foreign airlines were Emirates and Singapore Airlines with American Airlines just squeezing into joint 10th place with Qantas.

Unfortunately for Ryanair it was the clear winner of the worst airline category picking up nearly half as many votes again as its nearest rival, easyJet. In fact, the two biggest budget airlines accounted for nearly a third of all the ‘worst' votes cast, perhaps showing that cheap isn't always cheerful.

But the worst airlines list wasn't exclusively populated by budget airlines and charter operators. Despite topping the best airlines list British Airways also managed third place in the worst airlines table too.

Brits' 10 favourite airlines

Brits' 10 worst airlines

Other research highlights include:

• 35% of Brits find airports stressful
• 33% think it takes too long to check in
• 11% think the security checks are too strict
• 40% would prefer not to sit near families with young children
• 17% think alcoholic drinks should be banned on aeroplanes

Jeremy Cryer, Gocompare.com's Head of Travel insurance at Gocompare.com, commented: "Clearly some airlines will get your holiday off to a better start than others and it's interesting that even with the bucket shop pricing of the budget airlines plenty of passengers still don't consider their service good value for money. Our research found that whilst some people will put up with poor service in return for low fares many have vowed never to fly with a particular airline again. Travel insurance can give you cover for many holiday mishaps, including cancelled and delayed flights, but unfortunately there's no such cover against the scrum for unreserved seating, a lack of legroom or being served by unfriendly airline staff."