Wizz Air named worst airline in UK for customer service in new Which? survey – finishing below Ryanair at the bottom of the table

The consumer champion carried out a survey of over 4,000 people in May 2024 to establish how well businesses across a range of key sectors are handling customer service, and where they are falling short.

Concerningly, with the peak summer season now in full swing, the consumer champion found that the airline industry is falling behind in customer service standards compared to other industries, scoring a satisfaction score of just +52. In contrast, the financial services sector scored +72.It was jointly the third lowest scoring industry of the nine Which? looked at, tied with broadband on a score of +52, and just ahead of the energy sector on +51.

The consumer champion received over 1,000 responses for the airline industry, and assessed how airlines are performing across eight different areas of customer service, such as how easy it is to find a contact number, how long it takes to get in touch with a person who can help and how well issues are dealt with.

By far the poorest performing airline overall was Wizz Air, with a net satisfaction score of just +13, well below the sector average of +52. Ryanair also scored poorly, with a satisfaction score of +28, followed by flag carrier British Airways with a score of +46.Wizz Air’s place at the bottom of the customer service tables comes more than a year since the airline publicly committed to improving its customer service*, and follows a separate Which? survey earlier this year which saw it named the worst short haul airline in the UK, with customer service among the key issues identified at the time.In this latest survey, around three in five (57%) people surveyed who had contacted Wizz Air reported experiencing at least one problem with their customer services, compared to two in five (41%) across the airline industry overall. 

Of those who reported an issue in their customer service dealings with Wizz Air, around four in ten (44%) reported long delays in receiving a response to their email, and the same number (44%) also reported speaking to unhelpful or dismissive advisors. 

A third (31%) of those who had problems said they waited a long time on the phone before speaking to an advisor, and a significant number did not manage to get through at all. A fifth (21%) said they could not reach customer services despite continuous attempts, the same number (21%) never received a response to their email. Around one in ten (13%) had their call disconnected after spending a long time in the queue.The problems reported with Wizz Air customer service are clearly reflected in the satisfaction scores, which were well below average across the board. It received -3 for how long it took to get in touch with someone who could help, compared to the sector average of +40, and just +7 for how long it took to get an answer compared to the sector average of +49.

Ryanair was just ahead of Wizz Air, with an overall customer score of +28.Like Wizz Air, it received below average scores in each of the eight categories the consumer champion assessed. This includes a customer satisfaction score of just +9 for the variety of contact options provided, against the sector average of +39. It also scored just +16 for how long it took to get in touch with a person who could help, compared to +40 for the industry as a whole. 

Worryingly, half (49%) of Ryanair customers surveyed who contacted customer services reported experiencing a problem.Three in ten (31%) of those who experienced an issue said that they waited a long time on the phone, a quarter (25%) said there were long delays receiving a response to an email and a further quarter (23%) also said they failed to get through to someone despite continuous attempts to do so.Ryanair has generally been dismissive of calls to improve its customer service. However, now that an array of charges for extras like baggage and seat selection mean the airline is not guaranteed to be the cheapest fare, it may not be able to ignore this important area forever. Flag carrier British Airways was the third poorest performing airline for overall customer service, receiving a net satisfaction score of +46, compared to the sector average of +52, and concerningly, half (48%) of people surveyed who had contacted  British Airways reported a problem with their customer service interactions. 

Nonetheless, in certain categories it did score in line with or above the sector average, including a score of +56 for how well issues and queries were resolved (compared to +53 sector average) and +48 for the variety of contact options provided, compared to +39 for the sector as a whole. At the other end of the table, Which? Recommended Provider Jet2 was the highest scoring airline with a customer satisfaction score of +81.

It is essential that airlines take action to make it easier for their customers to get timely and effective solutions to their problems. Difficulty accessing effective customer service support can have serious consequences when customers are trying to get advice, refunds or help with rerouting when flights are delayed or cancelled.

Which? believes it is essential that the new government prioritises giving the Civil Aviation Authority direct fining powers, both to deter airlines from mistreating customers, and to ensure that airlines can be held properly to account when they fail to uphold consumer law.

Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy, said:

“Travellers are currently facing some of the highest ever fares, but our latest survey shows the standards of customer service of some airlines to be very poor.“Airlines must step up their game and ensure they are properly investing in their customer services to make it easier for passengers to get in touch with someone who can help, and get timely and effective solutions when they encounter a problem.

“The government must prioritise giving the Civil Aviation Authority stronger powers, including direct fining powers, so it can properly hold airlines to account when they fail to comply with consumer protection laws.”

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

- Yonder, on behalf of Which?, conducted an online survey of 4,101 nationally representative adults aged 18+ between 3rd and 15th May 2024. A boost sample including an additional 916 adults was conducted to achieve at least 50+ per provider reported on. 1084 had contacted an airline in the last 12 months 

-NET satisfaction scores:  Which? applied a NET Satisfaction score measure to indicate the overall satisfaction level by subtracting the percentage of dissatisfied respondents (NET very dissatisfied and fairly dissatisfied) from the percentage of satisfied respondents (NET very satisfied and fairly satisfied). The scale ranges from -100 to +100. For example, the airline industry received an overall customer satisfaction score of +52 (68% of people were satisfied and 15% were dissatisfied, giving a net score of +52).

- Sample size for Wizz Air was 69, 130 for Ryanair and 151 for BA. A minimum sample size of 50 was required for each company to qualify to rate the satisfaction metrics.- 

*In April 2023, Wizz Air launched a campaign focussing on its commitment to improving operations and the customer experience. Please see here.-Which?’s 2024 annual airline survey results, which saw Wizz Air named worst UK short haul airline can be found here.

Rights of Reply: 

Marion Geoffroy, Managing Director at Wizz Air UK, said: “We do not accept the findings of this report, which are inaccurate, unrepresentative and misleading. Which? only surveyed 68 Wizz Air customers, which is less that 0.001% of our UK customer base of 12.3 million passengers. It is unclear to us how Which? can claim its survey is nationally representative when only 1.66% of their respondents said they had contacted Wizz Air’s customer service team.

“We are serious about constantly improving and providing great customer service. We made a public commitment to our customers in 2023 to improve Wizz Air’s operations and set ourselves clear targets. Since then, we have invested more than £90 million and are proud of the results to date, which are among the strongest in the entire industry.

“When it comes to operational performance, Wizz Air’s completion rate in the UK is 99.5%, a 2.1% improvement on last year. In the first half of this year, despite a challenging operational environment, only 1.8% of UK flights were delayed for more than three hours, representing a 50% reduction compared to last year. In April and May this year, Wizz Air had the highest completion rate in Europe.

“With regard to customer service, the improvements are equally clear to see. Following disruption, customers will on average receive any compensation payment three times faster than 2022-2023, with the majority settled within 25 days. The share of customer claims answered within five days is five times better than it was three years ago, reaching 84.1% of customers today. For customer calls, the number of those calls answered within 35 seconds rose by 26% in the same period.

“While we appreciate that there is always room for improvement - something the airline is wholeheartedly committed to - this data clearly shows that Wizz Air is doing a significantly better job than the erroneous Which? report suggests. We are also continuing to invest in new innovations, such as the new Amelia Voice service which has been designed to improve customer service accessibility. During the recent IT outage, this new system reached nearly 150,000 passengers in need.

“We are disappointed that Which? is wrongly pointing the finger at Wizz Air once again and will continue to try to engage with the organisation to highlight the points raised in this response.”

A spokesperson for Ryanair said: “This is another fake Which? survey using a tiny sample of just 600 claimed “passengers” (only 130 of which claimed to be Ryanair passengers) which produces more fake news for Which?. This year almost 200m passengers WILL CHOOSE to fly Ryanair for our lower fares and great care. None of them take any notice of these fake surveys which are routinely pumped out by Which? to drum up some cheap PR. This fake survey of just 600 “claimed” passengers is just more fake news from Which?.”

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.

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