Flightright Index 2024

Flightright has compared 20 airlines in Europe based on the amount of delays and cancellations, willingness to refund compensation to air passengers and overall customer perception.

Airlines are rated based on reliability, payment behaviour and customer perception over a 6-month analysis period from 1 December 2023 to 31 May 2024. The Flightright Index 2024 now ranks airlines from 1 to 5 in the three categories, with 1 being the worst rating and 5 being the best rating.

Benedikte Bolvig Lund, lawyer and legal director of the Danish company Refundmore, believes that airlines create problems for travellers and should be held accountable: 

"We think it's important to make this type of information available to air travellers so they can book their next holiday on an informed basis. We also hope that it will oblige airlines to improve their service to customers," she explains

Flightright's comparison of 20 airlines in Europe 2024:

(lowest rating at the top)

The table shows how the 20 European airlines are rated in the categories of reliability, compensation payment behaviour and customer perception. Airlines are assigned 1 to 5 points in each category, with 1 point being the worst rating and 5 points being the best rating. The airlines with the worst overall ratings are listed from the top and the airlines with the best overall ratings are placed at the bottom.

*Below are data explanations for the Flightright Index 2024;

How airline reliability is rated 
In this category, we've assessed each airline's delay and cancellation figures to show which airlines are particularly reliable or unreliable. 
To do this, we draw on our in-house database of millions of flight data records, which are updated daily. We also compare it with commercial providers' databases to ensure the information is as accurate as possible. 

Cancellations:
If airlines cancelled less than 0.51% of all flights in the 6-month period studied, they receive 5 points.

If they cancelled more than 2.50 percent of all flights, they receive 1 point.

Cancellations in percent (total cancellations out of scheduled flights): 

0.00 % to 0.50 % = 5 points
0.51 % to 1.00 % = 4 points 
1.01 % to 1.50 % = 3 points 
1.51% to 2.50% = 2 points 
above 2.50%: = 1 point 

Delays: 
In terms of delays, we analysed all flights with delays of at least 15 minutes. We categorised anything under 15 minutes as reasonably punctual. If less than 5.1 per cent of an airline's flights are delayed during the period, they get 5 points. However, airlines with more than 30 per cent of all flights delayed by at least 15 minutes receive 1 point. 

Delays in per cent from 15 min (delays out of total flights): 

0.00 % to 5.0 % = 5 points 
5.1 % to 10.0 % = 4 points 
10.1 % to 20.0 % = 3 points 
20.1 % to 30.0 % = 2 points 
30.1% and above = 1 point 

How airline payment behaviour is rated
Here we've investigated how quickly each airline pays Flightright compensation for flight delays and cancellations. On the one hand, we assessed how quickly each airline paid compensation directly to Flightright without us having to send an additional request for payment. The airlines that paid more than 40 per cent of the compensation directly to us received 5 points. Airlines that paid less than 10 per cent directly to us received 1 point. 

Secondly, we looked at how many days the airlines needed after our request for payment to transfer the corresponding compensation payments to Flightright. If they took less than 15 days, we give 5 points. If it took 101 days or longer, they get 1 point.

Direct payments to Flightright: 
+ 40 % = 5 points 
30 % to 40 % = 4 points 
20 % to 30 % = 3 points 
10 % to 20 % = 2 points 
5 % to 10 % = 1 point 

Days until the payment was made after the payment request: 
0 days to 14 days = 5 points 
15 days to 30 days = 4 points 
31 days to 70 days = 3 points 
71 days to 100 days = 2 points 
101 days and more = 1 point 

How customer perceptions of airlines are rated
We conducted a survey to analyse how satisfied thousands of their customers are with the different airlines' service and how quickly and reliably air travellers' concerns were handled. The survey includes a total of seven questions about the availability of airlines' customer service, information policy and passenger support for flight problems. There were always five possible answers to the questions, with the worst answer scoring 1 point and the best answer scoring 5 points. 

1: How satisfied were you with the availability of your airline's customer service after you were 
informed of the problem (delay or cancellation)? 

2: How would you rate the quality of the information you received from the airline after your flight was 
delayed or cancelled? 

3: How quickly did the airline respond to your enquiry? 

4: How satisfied were you with the solutions offered by the airline to alleviate the inconvenience 
caused by the delay/cancellation? 

5: Did the airline offer you hotel accommodation if needed? 

6: What do you think about the overall helpfulness of the airline staff during the incident? 

7: Based on your experience, would you recommend this airline to other travellers?