Britain's worst airlines and airports 2016
A new 'Carriers of Shame' list has revealed that Britain's worst airline for complaints in 2016 is Easyjet.
The low-cost airline was the most complained about UK carrier to flight compensation company EUclaim for the first half of this year, with 5,641 enquiries from January to June 2016. The number of cases raised against Easyjet for delays and cancellations has increased every year for the last three years.
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Research by EUclaim found that Ryanair is the second worst airline for complaints. The number of people seeking compensation against the budget airline has more than doubled in the last year.
During the period of January to June 2015, some 1,879 Ryanair passengers sought advice from EUclaim, but in the same period this year, that number more than doubled to 4,781 passengers getting in touch with the company to seek recompense for their delayed or cancelled flight.
It isn't just no-frills carriers causing travel misery for passengers. British Airways features in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and what's more, like Ryanair, the number of claims against the flagship British carrier has increased year on year. For the first half of 2016, BA received 3,423 complaints via EUclaim.
Not all airlines have fared badly as the leisure airlines are doing better every year since 2013 despite low-cost airlines doing worse than ever. Monarch has been steadily improving its services, reducing the 2,599 claims made against it in 2014 to 2,001 in the same period in 2015. Monarch's services have improved so much that it has fallen out of the 2016 top 'Carriers of Shame' list completely.
EUclaim has estimated that in 2016 airlines could owe a total of €699,667,500 in compensation due to delays of more than three hours and cancellations.
Meanwhile, data from the company has exposed Norwich Airport as the most likely airport in the country for passengers to suffer a flight delay or cancellation.
In 2015, 67 claims were processed against airlines departing or arriving at the regional minnow, but in 2016 that number shot up to 175 - a 161 per cent increase on claim enquiries.
London Gatwick followed Norwich, receiving 2,415 complaints in 2016, a 77 per cent increase from 2015.
Britain's worst airports for compensation enquiries included Newcastle (third), Edinburgh (fourth) and Birmingham (fifth).
Adeline Noorderhaven, UK Manager for EUclaim, said: "Weather hasn't been kind to British airports in 2016. Bad weather across Europe – notably Storm Cathy – caused serious problems for flights departing British shores for Europe.
"Glasgow, Edinburgh and Newcastle airports have suffered from an increase in delays and cancellations in 2016. This can be put down to British Airways cancellations from London Heathrow to these regional hubs."
Top five 'Carriers of Shame' according to EUclaim:
1. Easyjet
2. Ryanair
3. Thomas Cook
4. British Airways
5. Thomson
Top ten 'Airports of Shame' according to EUclaim:
1. Norwich
2. London Gatwick
3. Newcastle
4. Edinburgh
5. Birmingham
6. Leeds
7. London Heathrow
8. Glasgow
9. Manchester
10. Southampton
