THE UK'S WORST AIRLINES FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE HAVE BEEN NAMED - FULL LIST

Just a year after publicly pledging to enhance its services, Wizz Air has unfortunately found itself at the bottom of the rankings of a Which? survey. However, the airline has defended the survey results, pointing out that it has invested over £90million to meet the "clear targets" it set in 2023.

Which? collected opinions from over 4,000 people in May 2024 to grade the customer service levels of companies across various critical sectors. The airlines nose-dived to third from the bottom for customer service out of the nine sectors scrutinised.

Wizz Air got stuck in a tailspin with a net satisfaction score of a mere 13, far from flying high with the average sector score of 52. Rocio Concha, Which? Director of Policy and Advocacy remarked: "Travellers are currently facing some of the highest ever fares, but our latest survey shows the standards of customer service of some airlines to be very poor."

She continued: "Airlines must step up their game and ensure they are properly investing in their customer services to make it easier for passengers to get in touch with someone who can help, and get timely and effective solutions when they encounter a problem." The turbulent times continue for Wizz Air, especially following last year's pledge by the budget carrier to elevate its service levels, reports the Express.

The Which? survey revealed that nearly three in five of the 68 respondents (from a sample of 1,084), who had dealings with Wizz Air, reported experiencing at least one issue with their customer services. Among those who reported issues with Wizz Air's customer service, about 44 percent of them experienced long delays in receiving email responses, and the same percentage of people reported dealing with unhelpful or dismissive advisors.

A third of those who encountered problems said they waited a long time on the phone before speaking to an advisor, and a significant number did not manage to get through at all. Marion Geoffroy, Managing Director at Wizz Air UK, defended the survey results and told Express.co.uk: "We do not accept the findings of this report, which are inaccurate, unrepresentative and misleading. Which? only surveyed 68 Wizz Air customers, which is less than 0.001percent of our UK customer base of 12.3 million passengers."

As for the airline's operational performance, Wizz Air revealed that it had a completion rate of 99.5 percent in the UK, a 2.1 percent improvement from last year.

Marion added: "In the first half of this year, despite a challenging operational environment, only 1.8 percent of UK flights were delayed for more than three hours, representing a 50 percent reduction compared to last year. In April and May this year, Wizz Air had the highest completion rate in Europe."

Ryanair also fared poorly according to the Which? the survey, scoring a satisfaction rating of 28, and in response to the survey they questioned the "tiny sample of just 600" with "only 130 of which claimed to be Ryanair passengers" in Which?'s research.

A spokesperson from Ryanair said they felt people would not take notice of the survey and added: "This year almost 200m passengers WILL CHOOSE to fly Ryanair for our lower fares and great care."

The national carrier British Airways, which managed a score of 46. The Irish low-cost giant didn't impress too many with their score of nine in customer service contact options, falling short of the sector's average at 39, while they also lagged with a paltry 16 for speed of reaching a person able to help, contrasting with an industry benchmark of 40.

Nearly one in two Ryanair clients contacting customer service raised concerns about their experience. Considering the added costs for checking in bags and picking seats, Ryanair may not always represent the best value, making it tougher for travellers to ignore a subpar journey.

British Airways, our national flag carrier, was ranked third worst for overall customer service, with a net satisfaction score of 46, compared to the sector average of 52. A shocking 48 percent of those surveyed who had interacted with British Airways reported issues with their customer service.

However, it did perform on par or better than the sector average in certain areas, scoring 56 for the resolution of issues and queries and 48 for the range of contact options available, against the sector's score of 39.

In contrast, Jet2 topped the table as the highest-scoring airline with a customer satisfaction score of 81.

2024-07-30T23:09:30Z dg43tfdfdgfd