Discover the airlines that soared and those that faltered in AirHelp’s 2024 ranking. From the world’s worst to the best, see where your favorite airline stands.
The Sunday after U.S. Thanksgiving weekend marked a fresh record for U.S. air travel, with the Transportation Security Administration screening more than 3 million passengers daily. That doesn’t mean everything went smoothly, of course.
AirHelp Inc., which facilitates passenger compensation by processing customer service claims for flight disruptions and lost luggage, has released its annual analysis of the best and worst-performing airlines. The 2024 AirHelp Score report, published on Tuesday, comes just in time for the holiday season.
The worst-performing airline in the world? That’s Tunisair, coming in last at No. 109. A few national and low-cost carriers keep their companies in the bottom 10. One is Buzz, a Polish airline subsidiary of Ryanair Holdings PLC, Bulgaria Air, Turkish carrier Pegasus Airlines, and Air Mauritius. But ranking in the bottom 50, too, are North American carriers JetBlue and Air Canada.
Sort the results based solely on customer opinion. Tunisair keeps the title of the worst-performing company, followed closely by Ryanair and Aer Lingus, a subsidiary of IAG SA, which also owns British Airways and Iberia.
As for the best all-around airline globally, Brussels Airlines, part of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, bumped Qatar Airways to No. 2 after holding the top spot since 2018. That’s a marked improvement for the Belgian national airline, rated No. 12 last year.
United Airlines and American Airlines ranked in the top five, in third and fourth place, respectively, which might surprise U.S. travelers given the flight disruptions that plagued domestic airlines this past year. Both have consistently ranked in AirHelp’s top 10 since at least 2022.
“We also had a new North American nominee come through this year, Air Transat, the Canadian airline, which was ranked in position 36,” notes Pawliszyn. Delta Air Lines dropped to No. 17 from No. 11 in 2023, which Pawliszyn explains is due to a reduction in its claim processing score, while its on-time performance and customer opinion rankings haven’t shifted much. The airline’s July tech outage led to more than 3,000 complaints being filed about Delta with the Department of Transportation.
Alaska Airlines, due to merge with Hawaiian Holdings Inc., also dropped more than 30 spots to No. 88 this year.
Also Read: Designing Impulse ‘Journeys’ For Last-Minute Shoppers
Curious to know the airlines that topped or tanked on AirHelp’s 2024 global rankings? Here’s a quick list:
Worst airlines in the world
- Tunisair
- Buzz
- Nouvelair
- Bulgaria Air
- El Al Israel Airlines
- Pegasus Airlines
- IndiGo
- Tarom
- Air Mauritius
- Sky Express
Best airlines in the world
- Brussels Airlines
- Qatar Airways
- United Airlines
- American Airlines
- Play (Iceland)
- Austrian Airlines
- LOT Polish Airlines
- Air Arabia
- Widerøe
- Air Serbia
