List of worst airlines in the world in 2024 has been revealed with some surprises making the best list
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Omar Havana/Getty Images / Hakan Burak Altunoz/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
We've all got travel providers we prefer for our own reasons, but now a definitive list of the best and worst airlines this year has been released and some of the results might surprise you.
The ranking of the world's airlines has been calculated by flight compensation company AirHelp, which uses three factors to calculate which companies are providing the best services.
These factors include 'on-time performance', which tracks how many of an airline’s flights are on schedule; customer service, assessed by passenger ratings of the food, comfort, and crew of the airlines; and claim processing, which is how efficiently airlines handle claims and how likely they are to pay out compensation.
Using this data, AirHelp ranked 109 airlines with some surprising results, including one long-time winner being pushed off the top spot.
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According to AirHelp's rankings, the number one airline in the world this year was Brussels Airlines, which is headquartered in Belgium.
The airline flies to more than 100 places in Europe, North America and Africa, but last year it didn't even make it to the top 10, instead coming in 12th place.
Clearly the staff at the airline have been doing something right, as its first-place ranking managed to push Qatar Airways into second place after holding the top spot since 2018.
The top 10 list also included well-known airlines United Airlines and American Airlines - two airlines that managed to maintain their places in the top spot for the third year running, despite major disruptions that impacted domestic airlines in the US over the last few months.
Check out the top 10 list here:
10 - Air Serbia
9 - Widerøe
8 - Air Arabia
7 - LOT Polish Airlines
6 - Austrian Airlines
5 - Play
4 - American Airlines
3 - United Airlines
2 - Qatar Airways
1 - Brussels Airlines
When it comes to the companies that have left customers least satisfied, AirHelp reported a range of companies from across the globe were the biggest offenders.
It was Tunisair, headquartered in Tunisia, that unfortunately ranked all the way at the bottom in 109th spot, with AirHelp reporting an on-time performance rating of 4.7, a customer opinion rating of 6 and a claims processing rating of 0.2, all out of 10.
See the full list below:
10 - Sky Express
9 - Air Mauritius
8 - Tarom
7 - IndiGo
6 - Pegasus Airlines
5 - El Al Israel Airlines
4 - Bulgaria Air
3 - Nouvelair
2 - Buzz
1 - Tunisair
Upon sharing the list, AirHelp Chief Executive Officer Tomasz Pawliszyn expressed hope the rankings would 'encourage airlines to continuously listen to passenger feedback'.