Now that the Covid pandemic is winding down, travel is becoming more and more possible with each coming day. So it is finally time to think about that sunny beach, that ski trip, a European adventure; good times certainly lay ahead. In this same sense, we wonder if you’ve considered who you would like to fly with, when the time finally comes. Lo and behold, we have done the hard part for you! We have analyzed the American Customer Satisfaction (ACSI) Travel Report of the 2020-2021 calendar year, and have determined which are the airlines to fly with, and which are the ones to certainly avoid. Take a look!
The Worst Airlines You Shouldn’t Fly With
Spirit Airlines
Spirit Airlines might be popular for its prices, but it is the lowest ranked airline on the ACSI Travel Report. 2021 sees the airline have a satisfaction score of 66 which is not so great. It might be worth spending a few extra pennies and enjoying the flight just a little bit more. Currently the airline flies to 83 destinations across the United States, Caribbean and Latin America. Funnily enough, the airline has actually improved by 2% from the previous year. I guess any improvement is better than a decline.
Spirit Airlines
Frontier Airlines
Not so far ahead of rock-bottom Spirit, Frontier Airlines sits ahead by just 2 point at 68 points. This is still pretty low, and it is very possible you would have a turbulent flight (in more than one way) if you flew with them. The Similar to Spirit, it has actually improved slightly from the previous year, increasing by 3% in Customer Satisfaction. The airline is also ultra low-cost but offers more destinations than Spirit, with 116 possibilities. You should know however that this airline was subject to a class-action lawsuit after it refused to refund passengers who had their flights cancelled due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Best to avoid.
Frontier Airlines
Allegiant Air
At least with Allegiant Air we finally get a score above 70! Allegiant Air sits uncomfortably on a Customer Satisfaction score of 72, which is still someway off the top. I say uncomfortably, because even though Spirit and Frontier are below, they had a positive increase from the previous year. Allegiant however, has only decreased by 3%/. Allegiant has had its issues in the past, such as filing for bankruptcy in 2001 and has been monitored closely by the FAA for too many emergency landings and aborted takeoffs.
Allegiant Air
United Airlines
United are a large, well-known airline that fly to 342 different destinations across the world. In terms of fleet size (853), it is the third biggest airline in the world. So should you aim to avoid United? No, not necessarily. United received a respectable score of 75 in terms of customer satisfaction, which we believe is very decent. The airline has remained consistent with the previous year, achieving the same score again. If you can get a good deal, it might be a good idea to fly with United. Despite this, there are still better airlines to fly with.
United Airlines
American Airlines
In terms of fleet size, American Airlines is the largest in the world with 891 mainline planes. The airline offers flights to 350 different destinations and sits on a healthy score of 75, tied with United. We only give American Airlines the edge because they have made progress over the past year, improving by 1%. This has to be given more credit, since United technically haven’t improved. American Airlines are a solid option for traveling.
American Airlines
Alaska Airlines
In terms of fleet-size, scheduled passengers and destinations offered, Alaska Airlines is the fifth largest in the United States. The airline does a great job of connecting the Pacific Northwest, West Cost and Alaska to more than 100 destinations in the U.S., Hawaii, Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico, among many others. Alaska Airlines is part of the Oneworld alliance, and has foreign partners such as British Airways, Iberia, Qatar Airways and Aer Lingus. The airline sits on a good score of 77, a 1% decrease from the previous year.
Alaska Airlines
JetBlue Airways
JetBlue is probably one of the best low-cost airline out there, to be honest. In terms of Customer Satisfaction, the airline competes with the big boys, sitting on a nice score of 77. JetBlue carries out more than 1000 daily flights and reaches over 100 destinations, including within the U.S., Mexico and both Central and South America. Similarly to Alaska Airlines, it has received a 1% decreased since last year, but is still quite recommendable.
JetBlue Airways
Southwest Airlines
Southwest is one of the more major airlinse in the U.S and considered the world’s biggest low-cost carrier. Their fleet size is huge, at 737, and they fly to 121 different destinations. From this year, the airline offers flights to 45 states, as well as Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. It doesn’t stray too far outside of North or Central America just yet, but we can see them going this way in the future. They have received a great score of 79 in terms of customer satisfaction and have remained consistent, staying the same as the previous year.
Southwest
Delta Air Lines
Mostly known and referred to as Delta, it is one of the more major airlinse across the U.S. The airline is very busy and flies to 325 different destinations, within 52 different countries, across six continents! Delta received a Customer Satisfaction Score of 79, which is great! It does tie with Southwest, but we have given them the edge because their score has increased by 3% from the previous year. If you see a good deal, and it’s with Delta, book it!
Delta Air Lines
Gol Intelligent Airlines
Why should we limit ourselves to just American-owned airlines? More often than not you might find yourself on a random European airline to take you from A to B, many non-American airlines even offer cheaper travel to the States! This brings us to the next airline under the spotlight- Gol Intelligent Airlines. Gol Airlines is Brazil’s largest domestic airline and on AirHelp’s global airline survey only received an overall score of 6.31. So what was the killer for this airline? Well, where they got reasonable scores for timing and service (7.8 and 8.1), they only received a 3.1 for claim processing. Yikes! It seems that it would be hard to get a refund with this airline, especially seeing as they reported a net loss of $350 Million in 2018. We can’t imagine the pandemic helped them either…
Gol Intelligent Airlines
Czech Airlines
Czech Airlines are a household name in Europe. The fifth oldest airline in the world, perhaps it is finally time for Czech Airlines to retire. They are a member of the SkyTeam alliance and fly to 50 cities in multiple continents during the summer, including New York. Czech Airlines unfortunately scored a score of 6.0, however. Despite receiving a respectable 7.7 for on-time flights, they were let down by a 5.2 for service and a 6.31 for claims services. Not the best.
Czech Airlines
Air Mauritius
Air Mauritius is the fourth-largest airline in Sub-Saharan Africa. The main hub is at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport, Plaine Magnien, which isn’t too far from the capital of Mauritius, Port Louis. The airline didn’t score amazingly in AirHelps report, however. Similarly to Gol, it was let down by claims processing issues. A 7.1 for timing and an 8.3 for service are actually decent scores, but a 3.0 for claims brings an airline with high potential down to earth with an overall score of 6.11.
Air Mauritius
TAP Air Portugal
Also a member of the Star Alliance group, TAP is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Portugal. Its hub is Lisbon Airport and averages 2500 weekly flights to 90 destination-cities in 34 countries. They have a fleet of 100 airplanes and has a general history of being fairly reliable. It did receive poor scores in AirHelp’s survey though, coming out with an overall score of 5.2. Not a great score for a 72 year-old airline that should hope to remain consistent so that it can survive another 72 years.
TAP Air Portugal
Vueling Airlines
Vueling is a low-cost Spanish airline, based in Barcelona. The airline has hubs at Barcelona–El Prat Airport and Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy. As per number of destinations that it flies to and fleet size, Vueling is the largest airline in Spain. Flying to more than 100 destinations across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East; it is owned by IAG company. Vueling was the recipient of a 6.02 overall score from AirHelp’s survey, scoring 6.1 for flight-timing, 7.5 for service a lowly 4.4 for claims processing.
Vueling Airlines
Adria Airways
Adria Airways was the flag carrier airline of Slovenia, chartering to destinations all across Europe. It was based in Ljubljana, Slovenia but eventually ceased operations after declaring bankruptcy in 2019. It was a fairly small airline, having a fleet size of 18, but was a part of the Star Alliance group until its demise. In its final years it saw major destinations be cut from its routes and in it’s final year scored an overall 5.98 rating. A 3.8 rating for handling claims brought down average scores of 6.7 and 7.5 for flight-timing and service quality, respectively.
Adria Airways
Aerolineas Argentinas
The biggest airline in Argentina, Aerolineas Argentinas has been a member of SkyTeam since 2012. The flag carrier of the country, the airline was founded in 1949 and is still going strong. The airline has been state owned since 2014 after reacquiring it from Iberia (Spanish) group. Its headquarters are in Buenos Aires. Having acquired an overall score of 5.97, good scores of 8.0 and 8.1 for on-time flights and service quality were let down by a disastrous score of 1.8 for claims. Do they even have a claims department? It would seem not from this score…
Aerolineas Argentinas
Transavia
A Dutch low-cost airline, it is a wholly owned subsidiary of KLM. As a consequence, it is a part of Air France-KLM group. Based mainly at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, the airline also has bases at Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Eindhoven Airport. The airline flies to 88 destinations and was founded in 1965. Transavia received an overall score of 5.84, with claims processing (3.9) bringing down sub-par flight-time and service scores.
Transavia
Lauda
Legally known as Laudamotion GmbH, was previously an Austrian low-cost airline, but has been a subsidiary of Ryanair since 2018. It was bought outright by F1 Champion Niki Lauda in 2016, hence the name of the airline. It has a fleet size of 33 and flies to 38 different destinations. Perhaps its links to Ryanair is why the scores seem fitting. Lauda has received an overall score of 5.69, with a 5.1 for its on-time program, a 7.4 for quality services and a 4.6 for claims. We think 5.69 seems generous…
Lauda
Norwegian Air
Norwegian Air Shuttle, or simply Norwegian, is a low-cost Norwegian airline and also the largest airline in Norway. It sits in fourth place in terms of budget airlines in Europe, just behind Wizz Air, easyJet and Ryanair. Norwegian is the second biggest airline in Scandinavia and the ninth in Europe, when looking at number of passengers annually. Including subsidiary airlines, it has a fleet size of 51 and flies to 51 destinations. The airline has come under fire in the past for having a requirement that its female flight attendants wear makeup and high heels, only removing the requirement with a doctors note. It has since been removed, but we won’t forget. The airline received an overall score of 5.67 from AirHelp, seeing a 2.3 score for claims.
Norwegian Air
Ryanair
A name we’re sure anyone has heard of if you’ve travelled in Europe, Ryanair is the largest low-cost airline in the world. Having been founded in 1894, the Irish airline is considered an ultra low-cost carrier. Including subsidiaries, there are 479 planes in its fleet and has come with its controversies. It has been criticized for poor working conditions, heavy use of extra charges, poor customer experience and even generating controversy for free publicity. Just in 2018, Ryanair flew 120 million passengers. They received a low overall score from AirHelp of 5.6.
Ryanair
Korean Air
Korean Air was founded in 1946 and became fully private in 1969. Flying to 123 international destinations, it also flies to 13 domestic destinations. It is the largest airline in South Korea and also the flag carrier of the country. Based in Seoul, South Korea, Korea Air is a founding member of SkyTeam, the airline alliance group. Having received competent scores for timing and quality service (6.9 and 8.0), it received a score of 1.6 for claims, leading to an overall disappointing of 5.49.
Korean Air
Kuwait Airways
Kuwait Airways is fully owned by the government of Kuwait and offers international service throughout the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, Europe and North America. The airline doesn’t serve any alcohol, nor does it allow Israeli passport-holders on board flights. It received scores of 4.2 for its timing, 7.9 service and 4.2 for claims with an overall score of 5.40. Maybe avoid this one.
Kuwait Airways
easyJet
A British low-cost airline, it operates domestic and international service on over 1000 routes in over 30 countries. It is the second largest low-cost airline, just behind Ryanair. It is headquartered at London Luton Airport and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. EasyJet received a score of 6.7 for flight-timing, 7.0 for service and a 2.2 for claims. EasyJet suffered heavy losses as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and grounded its entire fleet on the 30th March for a long period.
EasyJet
Thomas Cook Airlines
Thomas Cook was based out of both Manchester Airport and London’s Gatwick Airport, flying to 82 destinations in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. It was founded in 2007 after a merger or Thomas Cook Group and MyTravel Group and eventually ceased operations in 2019 after entering compulsory liquidation. At its closure, it had a fleet size of 34. Prior to its closure, it received an overall 5.26 score, with a 5.6 for timing, 7.6 for service and 2.5 for claim processing. No wonder it didn’t last long…
Thomas Cook Airlines