Best and worst airlines for 2024

The worst airline to fly from the UK might claim to be a budget carrier, but once you add in a bag and seat next to family and friends it's nowhere near as cheap as it claims. 

Wizz Air – which finished below Ryanair in our annual airline survey for the second year running – got just one star for seat comfort and cabin environment and only two stars in every other category. 

Although its headline price can appear cheap, passengers who put a small case in an overhead locker with Wizz can pay £90 on top of a return flight ticket. Wizz is also more likely than other airlines to split up groups that don't pay for seat selection.

Our survey lets you compare your favourite airlines for everything from cabin cleanliness and boarding, to those crucial measures on long haul: food and drink and the in-flight entertainment. Equally important is the service you'll receive if anything goes wrong. Delays and cancellations are a fact of life in air travel, but some airlines will look after you if there are problems – and others won't. 

Jet2 has once again been rated the UK’s best short-haul airline. It gets five stars for customer service, and while its headline fares aren't always as low as budget rivals, it can work out cheaper when you factor in the free cabin bag allowance.

On long haul, once again the Asian and Middle Eastern airlines are far better than most of their European and American rivals. Virgin Atlantic is the notable, impressive exception. See our table of the best and worst airlines below. 

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Best short-haul economy airlines

Why Jet2 is the best airline

Regularly rated the UK’s best airline by passengers in our survey, Jet2 has gone from strength to strength in recent years. Its five-star rating for customer service is exceptional for any airline, but especially one that's competing with easyJet and Ryanair on budget holiday routes. Passengers said the cabins were clean and well maintained and boarding was well organised. 

People who fly with it rarely have problems – 80% said they had no problems at all – and when they do it’s usually sorted out with friendly efficiency. 

It might not always have the cheapest headline fares, but your ticket includes a decent-sized cabin bag (unlike easyJet and Ryanair) and passengers gave it a four-star value for money rating.

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Why Wizz Air is the worst airline

Wizz Air had a terrible 2022, with thousands of customers going to court for unpaid expenses and compensation. Bailiffs continued to turn up at its Luton Airport office well into 2023. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) even launched enforcement action against it in July 2023 after 'serious concerns' over high numbers of complaints and 'failure to meet passenger rights obligations'.

Since then passengers have been repaid £1.24m in outstanding expenses refunds and the CAA has declared itself satisfied, but our survey suggests that Wizz Air is still best avoided.

It’s the lowest-scoring airline, with one star for customer service and seat comfort and a customer score lower than Ryanair. Incredibly, 44% of passengers reported having some kind of problem – more than any other airline in our survey. High prices for luggage also mean that it’s not even that cheap for anybody taking a small case on board, which is surely most holidaymakers.

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Should I book with easyJet?

easyJet’s big selling point has always been that it’s better than Ryanair. Recently, though, it’s fallen short in one crucial respect: successfully operating all the flights it sells – 2% of its flights were cancelled within 24-hours of departure. 

Thousands more were cancelled with days, weeks or months notice. People might put up with uncomfortable seats, poor food and grubby planes – all two stars with easyJet. But not being able to run flights on time is a cardinal sin. It’s still better than Ryanair across most measures but it's imitated one of its rivals less popular policies: making passengers pay extra for any cabin bag that won't fit under the seat in front.

Visit easyJet directly for more information.

Should I book with British Airways?

British Airways is only separated in our short-haul table from the worst carriers by its sister airlines Vueling and Iberia. In long-haul it gets just two stars for value and another low customer score of 59%. Worse, 3.3% of flights were cancelled less than 24 hours before departure. Given how big BA is, that means tens of thousands of people had their plans torn up at the last minute. At least it now offers competitive prices on some short-haul routes. 

The fact that you don't need to pay for a seat to sit with your travel companions – and cabin luggage is free – means it can be cheaper than some of its supposedly budget rivals.

Visit British Airways directly for more information.

Should I book with Ryanair?

Ryanair regularly sits at the bottom of our table, and it only escapes last place this year through the poor experience offered by Wizz Air. One-star ratings for customer service and seat comfort tells you everything you need to know about what to expect when flying with Europe’s largest budget airline. 

Its only plus point is that Ryanair cancelled far fewer flights than BA or easyJet. However, it's at its worst when anything goes wrong

During delays it was less likely to have staff available, and staff were less helpful than other airlines. Only 18% of passengers got compensation after delays of three hours or more, compared with an average of 41% overall.

'They treat customers with disdain,’ one customer said. Another complained that ‘Ryanair just doesn’t do customer service’.

Ryanair vs easyJet: Which should you choose?

Best long-haul economy airlines

Why Singapore and Emirates are the best long-haul airlines

The two airlines at the top of our long-haul table stand out for spotless planes, excellent entertainment systems and friendly service. Emirates, however, has far more routes from the UK, including from Birmingham, Newcastle and Manchester. 

Emirates is punctual too, with three quarters of flights arriving less than 15 minutes late. The only smirch on its reputation – and of most other luxury, long-haul carriers – is its ‘no-show’ clause. 

Its terms give it the right to cancel your return ticket if you miss the outbound leg. That’s unfair to people who want to simply take the next flight and return as planned, so we haven’t made either airline a Which? Recommended Provider.

Visit Emirates directly for more information.

Should I book with Virgin Atlantic?

Virgin Atlantic has long surpassed its transatlantic rival British Airways, with great customer service, comfortable seats, nice food and quality entertainment systems. More importantly, though, it’s reliable. It cancelled far fewer flights than BA and was more punctual than most rivals: 77% of flights arrived less than 15 minutes late. 

Prices are high for long-haul, partly explaining the average three-star rating for value for money that it shares with almost every other carrier. 

Happily, although Virgin has a ‘no-show’ clause, it won’t cancel your return flight if you let it know you’ve missed your outbound leg.

Visit Virgin Atlantic directly for more information. 

What makes an airline a Which? Recommended Provider?

In October 2023, Which? members told us about 10,755 flights in the past two years. Only airlines rated by at least 30 respondents are included.

Which? Recommended Providers are those that achieved the best customer scores, but that's not all. Airlines with above-average cancellations are not eligible to be WRPs. 

Icelandair, Turkish Airlines, Singapore, Emirates and Qatar were not eligible to be WRPs because of their punitive no-show clause: they may cancel your return flight when you miss the outbound flight through no fault of your own. Virgin Atlantic has a better no-show clause, but received a slightly lower customer score than the top two long-haul airlines – and a similarly average, three-star score for value for money.