The latest annual survey from Which? has revealed the best and worst airlines for customer service. Which airlines have nose-dived and which are soaring high? Read on to find out the best and worst carriers for customer service in 2025.
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Worst Airlines for Customer Service
For its annual airline satisfaction survey of the best and worst airlines for customer service, Which? has surveyed travellers’ experiences of flying in the last year, analysing results for over 9,000 flights in total. British Airways (BA) finished joint-bottom out of 19 airlines alongside Air Canada for long haul flights and 12th out of 16 carriers for short-haul travel.
Ryanair finished bottom of the short-haul table with just 49 per cent. The airline only managed a maximum of two stars in any category, scoring just one star for food and drink, seat comfort and boarding. Which? was told by almost half of Ryanair passengers (47%) that the company did nothing at all during delays, when asked whether airline staff provided explanations, information about their rights or provided food and drink vouchers.
While BA performed marginally better than Ryanair for overall customer service, which includes experiences in the airport and on-board flights, separate in-depth research from the Which? Consumer Insight team shows the flag carrier has slumped below Ryanair for customer service satisfaction when travellers try to contact the airline.
The research shows a gap in standards between the best and worst performing airlines with the bottom five all scoring under 60 per cent. BA and Air Canada scored a poor two stars out of five across several categories including value for money, seat comfort and cabin environment. BA also has high levels of last-minute cancellations, with around two per cent of flights cancelled within 24 hours of departure, according to CAA data.
While Jet2 achieved a net satisfaction score of +87 and the sector average was +52, BA (+40) was behind Ryanair (+42). Both airlines were ahead of Wizz Air, which was bottom with a score of +1.
Best Airlines for Customer Service
At the top of the tree in the long-haul survey, Singapore Airlines scored five out of five stars in most categories including customer service, ease of boarding, cleanliness and cabin environment, while Etihad was second on 78% Both airlines missed out on Which? Recommended Provider status due to “no-show” clauses, which mean they could cancel a passenger’s return flight if they miss the first leg of their journey.
Third-placed Emirates, which was named a Which? Recommended Provider, scored 77% and got five stars for booking process and cabin environment.
For short haul airlines, Jet2 took first place for the fourth consecutive year. This also marks its 10th year as a Which? Recommended Provider. Jet2 received high marks for customer service, booking, cleanliness and value for money.
The carrier also had among the lowest rate of last-minute cancellations of any airline in the survey, with just 0.1% cancelled at short notice, according to CAA data.
Here is my view……
“British Airways should hang its head in shame over these results which are a far cry from its heyday as the World’s Favourite airline. BA complaints top my inbox on a daily basis, not remotely the ‘Better BA’ it professes to be.
The ongoing failure of airlines ranked poorly to recognise the urgent (and well overdue) need for improvement is short sighted, disappointing and quite frankly completely unacceptable.
Airlines need to go back to basics and cut the fluff when it comes to customer service. People should be able to pick up the phone when they want to, speak to a real person, not have to navigate endless customer service options, not be left on hold for unreasonable lengths of time then transferred and cut off meaning they have to start from scratch or wait months for a refund.
Enough is enough, people have been fobbed off for long enough. Airlines need to ensure they fulfil their legal obligations to passengers without question and be penalised heavily for failure to do so.”
Are you surprised at Which’s findings in the table below? Which airlines would top and tail the table for you? Please let me know in the comments.
NB: Which? asked British Airways, Ryanair and WizzAir for a right of reply as they came bottom of the tables.
A spokesperson for British Airways said: “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.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “Ryanair this year will carry 200m passengers…Not one of our 200m passengers wish to pay “higher prices” as Which? falsely claim.”
A Wizz Air spokesperson said: “Which? is yet again misleading the public with a survey that has a staggeringly small sample size. Wizz Air flew over 12 million passengers in the UK over the last year and Which? only surveyed 109 Wizz Air customers – less than 0.001% of our customer base. It is therefore not a fair or accurate representation of Wizz Air’s industry-leading operational performance and significantly improved customer service.
“Last year, Wizz Air was the second most punctual airline in the UK*, and over the survey period in question, the airline’s flight completion rate was 99.4%, one of the highest in the entire industry. We have continued to prioritise our customer experience and have invested heavily over the past 12 months to make it easier for customers to access help and support. This year, we will be making further improvements to ensure passengers have a smooth and enjoyable travel experience while ensuring we have the best solutions in place in the event of an unexpected disruption.”
*According to Cirium, Wizz Air UK was the second most punctual airline in the United Kingdom in 2024 with a 70.54% on-time arrival record.
