The airlines that caused the most disruption for Brits this summer

• New data reveals 11.5 million passengers blighted by UK flight disruptions between 1 June and 31 August 2019

• British Airways ranked amongst the worst performing airlines, with 16,000 flights delayed or cancelled during the 3-month summer holiday season

• The global carrier joins budget airlines easyJet, Ryanair and Jet2.com in list of the worst performing airlines

• Air passenger rights organisation calls on airline industry to improve

London, 19 September 2019: Following a chaotic summer for UK air passengers, new data released today reveals which airlines caused the most distress during the summer months.

A study of global flight data by air passenger rights organisation, AirHelp, found that easyJet and British Airways were the worst performing airlines during the peak travel season, with thousands of flights delayed or cancelled each week. 

Staff strikes and I.T ‘glitches’

Between 1 June and 31 August 2019, more than 11,500,000 passengers were blighted by UK flight disruptions with several airlines consistently disappointing and inconveniencing their customers throughout the summer.

Wednesday 7 August saw a significant spike in travel chaos. Over 470 of British Airways’ flights were delayed or cancelled following an I.T. glitch, causing mass disruption and confusion for UK holidaymakers jetting off for the summer break. Even discounting this incident, data shows that an average of 170 British Airways flights were disrupted each day during the summer months with strikes and industrial action continuing to blight the travel plans of UK air passengers into the Autumn. 

The prospect of staff strikes became an all-too-familiar cause for passenger concern this summer. Ryanair was able to minimise disruption when its pilots walked out in August, but data shows the Irish carrier was responsible for 5,300 disrupted flights throughout the summer –  an average of more than 55 per day – making it the fourth worst airline for delays and cancellations.

“Airlines are repeatedly letting down their customers”

Paloma Salmeron, air passenger rights expert at AirHelp, said: “Airlines are repeatedly letting down their customers and this study reveals the true extent of the problem across the length and breadth of the industry. 

“easyJet’s flight disruptions have increased by 16%* since 2017, showing that the airline is still failing its passengers when it comes to flight punctuality. It’s also extremely disappointing to see that British Airways, in its centenary year, has failed to uphold the excellent service standards for which it was once known. 

“Such regular disruptions reflect a complete disregard for air passengers. Most people will forgive the occasional unavoidable delay or cancellation, provided they are treated fairly, but it’s unacceptable that they are having to contend with disruption at this scale. We hope these statistics serve as a much-needed wake up call for the airline industry and shocks carriers into improving.”

Air passengers experiencing delayed or cancelled flights can check their eligibility for compensation at the airport or on-the-go, and make a claim in a matter of minutes at www.airhelp.com 

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Data analysed from 1 June 2019 to 31 August 2019

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About AirHelp

AirHelp is the world’s largest organisation specialising in air passenger rights, helping travellers get compensation for delayed or canceled flights and in instances of denied boarding. The company also takes legal and political action to support the growth and enforcement of air passenger rights worldwide. AirHelp has aided more than 13 million people, is available in 35 countries and has more than 700 employees.

Methodology

AirHelp has analysed delays and cancellations of over 300,000 flights departing from the UK across 151 airlines. The airlines are ranked by number of delays (over 15 minutes) and cancellations across the 2019 summer period. 

*easyJet’s flight disruptions increased from 16,700 during the same period in 2017 (01/06 to 31/08)