Loved, loathed: UK frequent flyers on airlines they most love and most hate

When it comes to airlines, everyone’s a Karen. Even the most progressive, mild mannered people in the world hold opinions on airlines so strong they would shock you. Because airline experiences are indelible. Good or bad, you remember them for life. That slow food service on the way to Budapest? Or that impeccable offboarding in the Maldives? Etched into your memory forever. But not everyone’s experiences are the same.

From tales of frequent delays and militant check-in staff, to flawless service and the best air mile systems on offer, we wanted to see what some real world travellers had to say. So, pack it up, pack it in, and let us begin. Here we present five of the best and worst airlines of 2024, as per some very frequent (and opinionated) flyers. Maddy Mussen writes; published originally in London Evening Standard

SKY HIGH: British Airways

   British Airways cabin crew (PA)

Not to get all patriotic about it, but British Airways is one of the last remaining bastions of high quality service in [England]. Isabelle McMahon is a bonafide British Airways obsessive, who never flies with anyone else if she can avoid it. “They fly from City, which is obviously the best airport because all the people that travel from there are businessmen who know the systems to get through security, no funny business or queues, no old people or families who act like they have never heard of taking their belt off before,” she says, also citing BA’s service, luggage allowance and free food offering.

“Plus, because they support the British film industry you get lots of classic British films rather than blockbusters,” she says. “And you get Avios points which is the best points system because you can connect your Amex and more importantly your Uber. One point per pound spent on Uber! You even get points for trips taken on work or business accounts, which is huge! I just got a £300 flight for £40 from Mykonos to Heathrow off my BA points from this year so that’s amazing.” British Airways has won many awards for its frequent flyer programme on multiple occasions, including in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 at the Business Travel Awards. It also recently scooped several gongs at the prestigious Head for Points Travel & Loyalty Awards this January, including Best Premium Economy Seat and Service, Best UK Airport Lounge (Airline), and Best Airline or Rail Loyalty Scheme.

Known for: Best rewards scheme for regular travellers.

SKY LOW: Turkish Airlines

(PA)

One very frequent flyer, who is choosing to remain anonymous, names Turkish airlines as a firm “worst” airline, detailing stories of cancelled and delayed flights, broken luggage, children being put on standby and even broken glass being found in their food. The glass incident did lead to compensation from the airline, but the flyer says it has happened on more than one occasion.

As well as being guilty of displaying some pretty hilariously inaccurate maps (Los Angeles next to England, Ho Chi Minh City in Africa), Turkish Airlines is also criticised over its rewards system for frequent flyers. Isabelle, our resident British Airways obsessive, outlines it like so: “Turkish Airlines isn’t part of the big two – Avios or Star Alliance – for points,” she says, noting that there’s very little useful outcomes for gaining Turkish Airline points when compared to other air miles, unless you actually live in Türkiye.

Moreover, research found that it had one of the worst rates of punctuality when it came to flight departures from UK airports, with an average delay of 28 minutes and 36 seconds in 2023, according to analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data by PA news agency. Turkish Airlines were second only to ultra low-cost airline Wizz Air, who we’ll get to later.

Plus, the airline recently did the rounds on TikTok for its poor passenger reviews, as well as a viral video showing the airline’s failure to provide a passenger with a window seat, with the video reaching 6.3 million views. This isn’t the first time a Turkish Airlines mishap has gone viral, what with the earlier incorrect map incident, as well as a viral tweet in 2023 showing a passenger dripping with sweat after sitting “in the plane without air conditioning [sic] for two hours”. In general, it’s not coming out of 2024 looking particularly good.

Known for: Poor points rewards system means you won’t get much back for flying with them regularly.

SKY HIGH: Air Astana

(Air Astana)

You might be surprised to see this Kazakhstani airline on the list, but it’s actually the favourite airline of Josh Cahill, a multi-award winning airline and aviation YouTuber who was announced as 2024’s Airline Critic of the year (and no, he’s not Kazakhstani). “I’ve had over ten flights in Air Astana in the past, and in my opinion they’re probably the best airline in the world,” says Cahill in his recent review of an Air Astana flight. “Great economy class, fantastic business class, great catering, well-trained crew and one of the best branding strategies in the industry.”

The business class option for Air Astana offers throne seats and double seats, with an undisputed attention to detail, including genuinely comfy headphones (a strange rarity on flights of any level), Christian Lacroix amenity bags and swish, new fittings (i.e you don’t get the sense the plane is 20 years old). “It’s a sensational product, really nice,” adds Cahill, who paid $400 for a four hour business class flight, which he describes as “quite a bargain”. On this flight, Cahill was served roasted pumpkin salad, traditional salmon dumplings and a mango mousse for dessert.

The airline has also been chosen as the Best Airline in Central Asia and CIS by Skytrax World Airline Awards for three years running, and this year won the Skytrax award for Best Passenger Service and Product Innovation Airline of the Year.

Known for: The beauty of business class for a lower price.

SKY LOW: Ryanair

(PA Archive)

This low cost Irish airline is notorious among Brits and Irish travellers, with one recent passenger, Alex Roberts, likening it to “flying on a bus in the sky.” In particular, the airline has often been criticised for its strict rules concerning carry-on luggage. One customer, Snake Denton, recalls a particularly stressful experience this summer: “Last month, I had a 6am flight with RyanAir. I didn’t want to pay for extra bags, so I stuffed five days worth of things into a duffel bag. At the gate for the departures lounge the staff asked to check my ‘small bag’. I assured them it would fit under the seat in front of me, but they insisted that I measure it in the size checker. I just about managed to get it in there, but when I went to take my bag out, it ripped and all my clothes, toiletries, underwear spilled out onto the floor. Terrible start to the holiday.”

While this isn’t strictly RyanAir’s fault, several recent passengers agreed the airline is “militant” when it comes to carry-on luggage, with many having resorted to wearing layers upon layers of their clothes so they could get on the plane. “I once had to take all of my clothes out of a carry-on and wear all of them at the same time like Joey in Friends,” recalls Emily Phillips. RyanAir may never be able to rid themselves of the “money-grabbing” criticism, and even the 2010 rumour about charging people to use the toilet still frequently haunts the airline, 14 years after it imploded.

Known for: Very unforgiving on the carry-on front.

SKY HIGH: Aeroméxico

An Aeroméxico pilot (Aeroméxico)

Flying from London Heathrow, Aeromexico are establishing themselves as an impressive short haul option, as well as the self described “gateway to Mexico” that serves as their USP. Frequent flyer Emily Shead notes them as one of her top airline picks, especially for those who care about personal space. “For short haul they give you a far larger seat than most of the European airlines, so you understand why you’re paying extra. European standard business class configuration is three by three, which means you get three standard seats. Aeromexico business class is two by two, but they use all the space to make two wider seats. The seat also has a foot rest which you don’t get on European airlines and you get a seat which reclines further because there’s more space between the rows.

Despite flying for less than three hours, Shead notes that she was offered free champagne, breakfast and a snack (“All the ingredients felt super fresh and food was well thought out,” she says), as well as two bags of carry-on luggage, plus lounge access. Not bad for those with long legs or particularly twitchy elbows. In addition to this, earlier this year Aeromexico managed to impress the folks on the fear of flying Reddit group – perhaps the hardest to impress passengers of all.

Known for: Space and legroom for the vertically well-endowed.

SKY LOW: Wizz Air

(Wizz Air)

As we know, Wizz Air was found to be the worst airline for UK departure delays in 2024, with an average delay of 31 minutes and 36 seconds. In 2022, the Civil Aviation Authority raised concerns over Wizz Air’s number of escalated complaints, saying it was “clearly the worst airline for complaints escalated to either ADR [Alternative Dispute Resolution] schemes or the regulator’s in-house complaints team.” It also noted “delays in paying passengers what they are owed.” WizzAir eventually paid out over £1.2m in January of this year to compensate for disrupted flights.

Meanwhile, recent passenger Seán Hickey details a flight that he says was delayed by nine hours with no communication from Wizz Air until a mass text was sent many hours later. “The fact we didn’t speak to anybody from WizzAir during the whole thing was truly insane,” he says. In 2023, a survey of over 8,000 British passengers found WizzAir to be the worst short-haul airline, with customers criticising the boarding experience, cabin environment and uncomfortable seats.

Known for: Delays, delays, delays!

SKY HIGH: Singapore Airlines

(AFP via Getty Images)

Singapore Airlines is generally accepted as the nicest airline among regular flyers, with passenger Eliz Boga voting it her undisputed top pick. “Even economy is nice,” she says, “the service is phenomenal, and there are always great food options – and hot towels! The air staff were all very lovely, polite and attentive. When I was feeling unwell, one asked me if I wanted a green tea to make me feel better.”

A representative for InflightFeed, the website that documents and reviews airline meals, compared Singapore Airlines’ business class food options to “dining in a fine restaurant.” Their menus include prosciutto with melon, green olives, and lemon dressing as a starter, stir-fried beef with ginger and spring onion sauce as a main, and a cheese platter or pear tart for dessert.

Singapore Airlines is consistently reviewed highly and ranked among the world’s best airlines, with the economy class becoming so beloved that it frequently goes viral on TikTok. Amelia Fleming, another frequent flyer who uses Singapore Airlines to fly from London to Sydney, simply adds “I would die for Singapore Airlines.”

Plus, it’s a must for high net worth travellers, having recently developed a class “above” first class, entitled “suites”. The private suites contain a full bed, as well as a TV screen, arm chair, desk, and little cuddly teddy bear to help send you to sleep. Online, passengers who have experienced the suites have said the “attention to detail is impeccable” and that the “luxury is just on another level”. In lieu of a private jet, this is about as good as it gets.

Known for: Super private suites for those seeking a PJ experience without a PJ price tag.

SKY LOW: easyJet

(PA Archive)

The once-beloved low-cost airline easyJet has been taking some heat in recent years, with many passengers complaining of long delays and overly-zealous baggage allowance checks. Jordan Pandey, who just returned from a trip with easyJet [last week], says her flight from Palma to Gatwick was delayed for five hours, with passengers eventually boarding the plane at 2am, only to be told over the plane’s intercom that there would be another 1.5 hour wait on the tarmac. “You can imagine how upsetting that was at 2am,” she says.

The airline has also suffered some well publicised messes, to put it kindly, including the incident where a couple were filmed attempting to have sex in a toilet, a filmed incident where a difficult passenger was removed from a flight after an emergency landing, and the recent spate of cancellations this week [last week]. In fact, easyJet was ranked below RyanAir by air transport rating organisation Skytrax for their low cost airlines report 2024, and it’s lower than WizzAir on TrustPilot.

An easyJet spokesperson said: “This is clearly not representative of the views of 100 million customers who will fly with us this year. easyJet is one of the most highly considered airlines and the most searched airline in the UK, with customers choosing us for our unrivalled short haul network, great value fares and fantastic crew service, and we remain focused on ways we can make travel easier for our customers, which means we have seen year on year improvements in our customer satisfaction.”

Known for: Declining cost to reward ratio.

SKY HIGH: KLM

(AP)

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the flagship carrier of the Netherlands, is highly approved for a slightly different reason. For some frequent fliers, allergies can be a real issue, and many airlines still have disappointing responses to passengers suffering from severe allergies, such as those with nut allergies. Alexandra Bullard is one of these passengers, and she highly recommends KLM as the main airline to accommodate her allergies. “It’s mainly on super long flights where I get really bad anxiety and never eat usually what I’m given as I’m scared I’ll have a reaction,” she says. But on KLM, she says, “The food they served was outstanding – as someone with severe allergies they were very accommodating. Most airlines are useless with allergies.”

KLM also allows economy passengers to upgrade their meals, so those seeking a higher level of in-flight gastronomy can access it without paying the full business or first class fee. Inflight Feed described their KLM upgraded meal (bami goreng with sticky tempeh and beef pedas, rice, salad, coconut bavarois, Dutch/Indonesian cake) as “beautifully presented and delicious.”

Moreover, KLM is known for being incredibly welcoming, with impeccable customer service. This is confirmed by Niamh O’Keefe, who flew from London to New York on New Year’s eve with KLM. “The clock struck midnight in some time zone over the Atlantic so they played ABBA’s Happy New Year and served us champagne,” she remembers, “even for those of us who were slumming it in economy!” Plus, in 2023, KLM was awarded the APEX World Class Award, recognising KLM’s achievements in safety, sustainability, and well-being in the highest category of APEX’s global airline awards.

Known for: Ultra-attentive service.

SKY LOW: Jet2

(PA Archive)

Famous for its presence amongst the Love Island ad breaks, Jet2 could be becoming equally renowned for some hair-raising incidents on its flights. Passenger Dylan Joyce said that a woman scared of flying attempted to open the door on his flight. “Everyone boards and then we then hear the cabin crew whisper about a woman scared of flying coming with some ground staff,” he recalls. “She boards with her family and they all sit down, except her, who runs off onto the airport tarmac. This happens two-three times before the pilot comes and has a word with her. I heard later that one crew member had to be sat with her the whole flight because she tried to open the door.”

A video showing a particularly spirited Jet2 passenger shouting and squaring up to staff recently blew up on TikTok, with 5.3 million views. However, the woman was fined and banned from all Jet2 flights.

Jet2 also has one of the lowest leg rooms of low-cost providers with an average of 28in and 31in available. However, other than the leg space and the slightly zany passenger profile, Jet2 is gradually establishing itself as an increasingly impressive low-cost provider, so keep an eye out, maybe next year it will be on the other side of this list.

Jet2 said it had won multiple awards for its customer service and that it receives positive feedback: “We pride ourselves on the positive feedback we receive from millions of customers, as opposed to these findings which are based on a handful of anecdotes from a tiny sample.”

Known for: Potential risk of rowdy passengers.