Airlines in comparison: Where the booking process is easiest and fastest

AirHelp examines the booking process of the 30 most popular airlines on Idealo

TAP Air Portugal requires the most clicks during the booking process, while Aegean Airlines requires the least input.

Booking is fastest with Virgin Atlantic Airways — easyJet takes longest

Berlin, 17 August 2022 - Many airlines delay the payment of compensation and refunds to air travelers in the event of air traffic problems, which is why SPD and the Greens are already calling for automated solutions. That airlines want to postpone or avoid such expenses seems economically logical. But even when it comes to revenue - i.e. bookings - some airlines are conspicuous for their complicated and lengthy booking processes. AirHelp, the world's largest air passenger rights organization, has compiled an overview of the simplicity, or complexity, of the booking processes of the 50 most popular airlines. 

TAP Air Portugal requires the most input from its customers

Portugal's largest airline stands out negatively in the ranking. From calling up the website to entering payment data, an average of 49 clicks are required - making it the loser of the ranking. Egypt Air comes second to last with an average of 39 clicks, just missing out on third last place, which goes to the British airline easyJet with 37 clicks. 

The two winners of the ranking make it the easiest: on the websites of the Greek airline Aegean Airlines and the German Lufthansa, the investigators needed only 15 clicks. Second place is shared by Virgin Atlantic Airways and Alitalia with 17 clicks, closely followed by third place Croatia Airlines with 19 clicks.  

The booking process took longest with easyJet

All of the airlines surveyed ensure a booking process of just a few minutes. This still takes longest at easyJet, where the experts needed an average of four minutes to enter payment data. The second-last place is again occupied by Egypt Air with an average of three minutes and 42 seconds. Norwegian Air Shuttle came third last, with the booking process taking an average of three minutes and 35 seconds. 

In comparison, the process at the winner of this ranking, Virgin Atlantic Airways, appears almost lightning-fast: the experts needed just one minute and twelve seconds on average for this airline. The simplicity of the booking process is also reflected in customer satisfaction: in an earlier study by AirHelp, the British airline came third out of 50 airlines. Close on the heels of Virgin Atlantic Airways comes second place, Sundair, at one minute and 18 seconds. Third place goes to British Airways, with an average of one and a half minutes. 

Tomasz Pawliszyn, CEO of AirHelp, comments on the survey: "We welcome the fact that airlines are making their booking processes fast and relatively simple. Nevertheless, the large differences, especially in the number of clicks, are surprising in terms of customer service. Passengers often have to adapt to the booking process of a particular airline and could therefore be confused by the different booking processes. We fear that passengers will therefore not always make the best-informed booking decision. The losers in our ranking would win over more customers with a faster and simpler booking process."

About the research

AirHelp analyzed the booking process on the websites of the 50 most popular airlines from the comparison portal idealo.com. For the study, flights from Berlin to the respective state capital of the airline's place of origin were searched for, as far as possible. The clicks were counted from opening the website to entering payment data. The booking time was also measured using the same procedure. The study was conducted by two experts and an average value was then calculated from the measured values. 

About AirHelp

AirHelp is the world's largest air passenger rights organization. Since its founding in 2013, the company has been helping travelers to enforce compensation for delayed or cancelled flights and in the event of denied boarding. In addition, AirHelp takes legal and political action to further strengthen the rights of air passengers worldwide. The company has already helped more than 16 million people and operates worldwide.