British Airways falls from grace in traveller survey

Once self-proclaimed ‘the world’s favourite airline’, British Airways has this year found itself grounded alongside repeat offenders, Ryanair and American Airlines, as one of the nation’s worst airlines, according to an annual survey.

The carrier once proclaimed itself to be 'the world's favourite airline'.

The Which? Travel annual airline survey found Ryanair was once again bottom, while Singapore Airlines topped the long haul table.The British flag carrier was in 2015 awarded the best short-haul airline in the survey but IT failures, strikes and mass cancellations have continued to see the airline descend in customers’ estimations.

Some passengers had such bad experiences they told Which? they would never fly British Airways again with one going as far as to say “BA is, without doubt, the worst airline we’ve ever used.”

Vueling Airlines and Wizz Air were also among the worst of the short-haul carriers. However, short-haul travellers continued to praise the efforts of Jet2 for its budget prices with premium service earning a 79 per cent customer score and five stars for customer service.

Passengers repeatedly used words like ‘friendly’ and ‘efficient’ over and over again, some said it was their favourite airline and one passenger told Which? “Jet2 doesn’t feel like a low-cost airline.”

EasyJet found itself with a respectable 65 per cent and in the middle of the table. People said it was ‘fine’, ‘reliable’ and ‘no frills’ and it got four stars for value for money.

Rory Boland, Which? Travel editor, said: “Year after year the same culprits continue to sink to new lows yet for many of us there is a choice. You don’t have to keep booking with an airline that has let you down - or one that you loved for years but has slipped in quality.

“If you get a choice and you are flying short-haul, choose Jet2, it is better quality than BA and often has better fares than Ryanair. If you are heading to the states, Virgin Atlantic beats BA hands-down.”