Shabby service and delay complaints as Wizz Air takes bottom spot in Which? airline survey for second year running

The consumer champion surveyed travellers’ experiences of flying in the last year, analysing results for over 10,000 flights in total. Passengers rated their carriers on seven criteria, including customer service, value for money, seat comfort and food and drink. A customer score was calculated based on overall satisfaction and likelihood to recommend.

Which?’s latest airlines survey comes as fares hit record highs in the last year and many airlines posted substantial profits following the challenges of the pandemic. According to the Office for National Statistics, average UK airfares were as much as £713 last summer - and for these prices, customers should be seeing excellent service across the board.

However, Which? research suggests that in many cases, the standard of service received fell well short of the mark. Many respondents reported difficulties getting hold of customer support when needed, and one in ten (11%) of those who used email to contact an airline received no response within 90 days. The sight of passengers abandoned in airport terminals with no way of getting through to airline staff for help and information when flights are delayed and cancelled has become all too common.

Among short haul airlines, Wizz Air fared the worst overall, marking its second consecutive year at the bottom of Which?’s survey with a paltry customer score of 44 per cent.

Alarmingly, almost half (46%) of those surveyed who flew with Wizz Air reported issues with their flight, with delays a particularly common issue. According to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data, 63 per cent of the airline's flights were on time in the last year (October 2022-September 2023). Around 2 per cent of its flights were delayed by over three hours - higher than most of its rivals.

The airline received low star ratings across the board, scoring just one star out of a possible five for customer service. One respondent reported it was “impossible to communicate with the airline” about their flight cancellation, while another lamented that Wizz Air was "extremely unhelpful and unresponsive” when they needed assistance. 

It received no higher than two stars in all other remaining categories, including value for money. Its failure in the past to promptly pay compensation and refunds, leading to multiple outstanding County Court Judgments has been widely documented - though it now asserts it has hired more staff to improve its processes. 

Close behind Wizz Air, with a customer score of just 47 per cent, is Ryanair. 

It, too, received an unimpressive run of results, scoring just one star for seat comfort, food and drink and customer service. In the latter category, respondents were particularly critical, with one passenger saying the airline ‘treats customers with disdain’, while another said that the airline simply ‘doesn't do customer service.’ The airline scored just two stars for the boarding experience, cabin cleanliness and cabin environment, and received three stars for value for money.

Though Ryanair had a similar proportion of delayed flights to Wizz Air (62% according to CAA data), its cancellation rate was more positive, with just 0.8 per cent cancelled at short notice.

Iberia, Vueling and British Airways completed the bottom five for short haul, with customer scores of 49, 53 and 56 per cent respectively. 

Once among the country’s leading airlines, the UK’s flag carrier is now only separated from the worst performing budget short haul carriers in Which?’s survey by its European sister airlines, Iberia and Vueling. It also failed to impress among long-haul services, making the bottom three with a customer score of just 59 per cent (just ahead of Lufthansa, with 56%, and Air Canada with 58%).

Punctuality and cancellations were a particular issue, with 3.3 per cent of its flights cancelled at short notice, according to CAA data. Nonetheless, in the short haul category it achieved four stars for customer service, and three stars in key categories including value for money. 

Jet2 meanwhile took first spot among short haul airlines for the third consecutive year. The airline topped the table with an impressive customer score of 81 per cent, and received a full five stars for its customer service. 

Its passengers were happy to report a largely hassle-free flying experience, with 80 per cent of respondents who flew with Jet2 reporting no problems. Of those who experienced a hold up to their flight, 84 per cent reported that staff were helpful during the delay. One respondent enthused, “I have always found Jet2 staff, on the phone or in person, to be exceptional in all respects. They set the benchmark against which I judge all other companies.”

Jet2 also has among the lowest rate of last-minute cancellations of any airlines in the survey, with just 0.5 per cent cancelled at short notice, according to CAA data.

Its excellent performance means customers feel it offers great value for money - scoring it four stars in that category. It also received four stars for the boarding experience, cabin environment and cabin cleanliness. 

Close behind with tied customer scores of 74 per cent per cent are Icelandair and Norwegian, with the latter also achieving Which? Recommended Provider status.

Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said:

“Air fares have soared in recent years, and the bare minimum passengers should expect in return for their hard-earned cash is a reliable service, with friendly, easy to access customer support when they are let down

“While the likes of Jet2 continue to excel in this regard, our survey shows that passengers of many airlines are sadly being shortchanged - with high rates of last minute cancellations, abysmal customer service and sneaky extra fees for luggage hiking up the final price.”

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

• In October 2023, Which? surveyed its online panel about flights taken in the last year, receiving responses for 10,775 flights in total.
• Icelandair, Turkish Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Emirates were not awarded Which? Recommend Provider status as they may cancel your return flight if you miss the outbound leg (under ‘no show’ clause).
  
• CAA data for delays and last-minute cancellations covers the period October 2022-September 2023.
• Flights recorded as on time according to CAA data are those arriving into the UK within 15 minutes of time due, and last-minute cancellations are those cancelled within 24 hours of scheduled departure.
  
• Where airlines have UK and EU subsidiaries the results for both are combined.
  

Rights of Reply:

A Wizz Air spokesperson said: 

“We do not consider the findings of this report to be representative or an accurate reflection of our performance today, which is among the strongest in Europe. We have been honest about our performance in summer 2022, which was not up to our standards. We have invested more than £90 million to rectify this and have made significant improvements which the results of this survey fail to recognise, but are evident from independent data, as well as our own.

“In many cases, we are outperforming competitors. We completed 99.23% of our flights in the period covering October 2022-September 2023, and in the last fiscal year, our on-time performance was better than all but one of our major competitors. Over the same fiscal period, we have seen a 67.4% reduction in the number of cancellations and more than 90% of refunds and claims were also processed within five days. This is some of the strongest data across the whole industry. 

“Our customer satisfaction has also improved significantly. Our research shows Wizz Air’s brand consideration to be higher than our main UK competitor and the Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that Wizz Air is fully complying with its commitments to customers following the deed of undertaking signed last year.  We are proud of this progress and are confident that the public’s perception will become more reflective of our current performance, which is among the best in the UK.”

A spokesperson for British Airways said: 

“We always work hard to get our customers to where they need to be on time. Like all airlines though, over the last year we've experienced several factors outside of our control that have had an adverse impact on our customers, such as adverse weather and Air Traffic Control industrial action. We apologise to customers for any disruption they've faced during these challenging periods and again thank them for their understanding.”

A spokesperson for easyJet said: 

“easyJet offers great value for money with 50 per cent of our fares currently on sale for under £50 and while some fares have marginally increased this is mainly due to the increased cost of fuel.  Our low cost base means we can offer better value than our competitors with fares starting from £22.99 which is less than when we launched flying over 30 years ago.

“Our customers only pay for the extras they choose with a third of our customers choosing only to pay for the fare which includes a small cabin bag, so it’s clear that customers like this choice and only pay for what they want. Our independent research of 2000 British adults would support this, with 91% agreeing that it is more beneficial to be able to choose to pay for only the things they need when flying.”

A spokesperson for Rynair said: “ Ryanair has industry leading punctuality with avg. on-time performance of 87% in 2023, despite UK punctuality being severely impacted by the inefficient NATS and its incompetent CEO, whose ATC system has collapsed twice this year delaying thousands of flights and millions of passengers travelling to/from the UK.”

About Which?

Which? is the UK’s consumer champion, here to make life simpler, fairer and safer for everyone. Our research gets to the heart of consumer issues, our advice is impartial, and our rigorous product tests lead to expert recommendations. We’re the independent consumer voice that influences politicians and lawmakers, investigates, holds businesses to account and makes change happen. As an organisation we’re not for profit and all for making consumers more powerful.

The information in this press release is for editorial use by journalists and media outlets only. Any business seeking to reproduce information in this release should contact the Which? Endorsement Scheme team at endorsementscheme@which.co.uk.