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Ryanair has finished bottom of an annual ranking of airline customer satisfaction by UK consumer champion Which?.
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The group said it comes “as the penny drops for passengers that add-on fees mean budget carriers are no longer always the cheapest option”.
In the survey of more than 5,500 travellers, Jet2 topped the table in the short-haul category, while Singapore Airlines was top for long-haul.
Ryanair and Wizz Air named worst airlines
Ryanair was the worst-performing short-haul airline in the ranking with a score of 55%. The budget carrier scored two stars for its booking process, boarding, customer service and cabin environment and just one star for seat comfort.
One customer commented that “the plane is dirty and the seats are awful”.
Ryanair scored three stars for value for money, fewer than four other short-haul carriers – Jet2, Lufthansa, TUI and Aer Lingus.
“It is billed as a budget airline but they make money from extras which far outweigh price savings on other flight companies,” one survey participant said. Over a third of Ryanair’s customers said something went wrong with their journey.
In the consumer champion’s survey, Wizz Air also finished near the bottom (59%).
The airline scored two stars in the majority of categories and three stars for value for money, with one respondent saying Wizz Air was “consistently terrible and overpriced”.
Travellers also complained about poor customer service and a lack of communication around delays.
easyJet scored 67% overall and three stars for its booking process. The budget airline’s punctuality has improved over the last two years, and it has cancelled fewer flights.
However, it received just two stars for customer service, seat comfort and cabin environment. The airline, like Ryanair, received three stars for value for money.
Turkish Airlines (66%), Loganair (65%) and Vueling Airlines (63%) were also at the wrong end of the short-haul table.
Budget airlines lose out over add-on costs
Which? says it has repeatedly found that the headline cost of flights from low-cost airlines can shoot up once cabin bags are added. These prices are often not displayed until towards the end of an exhaustive booking process, making calculating the full cost time-consuming and confusing.
Last month, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) made a ruling against easyJet as a result of a recent investigation into cabin bag pricing by Which?.
Even after checking hundreds of prices, the group was unable to find any flights where the bags could be taken on for anything close to the £5.99 (€6.90) claimed.
“Many other passengers fly with them because of the enticingly low headline fares,” says Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel. “But ridiculously expensive charges for baggage and other add-ons mean they are no longer guaranteed to be the cheapest option.
“We’ve repeatedly found that airlines that include baggage and seat allocation in their fares can actually work out cheaper overall. Fly with anyone else, if you can.”
In response, a spokesperson for easyJet said: “We allow customers to pay for only what they want and no more, which enables us to keep fares low for everyone. With around 40% of our customers choosing to travel with just the fare and our customer satisfaction scores at a 10-year high, it’s clear that customers continue to value this choice and our service.”
A spokesperson from Wizz Air noted: “Which?’s survey relies on a tiny sample size. It surveyed 259 people, which is only 0.002% of the 12 million passengers carried on our UK flights in 2025.”
The company added that from October 2024 to December 2025, customer satisfaction rose by eight percentage points.
“At the same time, our flight completion rate in the UK was 99.7% – consistently among the best in the industry – while our on-time performance increased by 14% year-on-year.”
Jet2 tops ranking for short-haul travel
At the top of the ranking came Jet2 (76%), which proved to be the big winner for reliability.
Jet2 cancelled far fewer flights at the last minute than most of its rivals and clinched four stars for its booking process, customer service and value for money. One customer praised the generous luggage allowance compared with other budget airlines.
More than three-quarters of passengers said that there were no problems with their flight – compared with 63% for Ryanair.
Other strong performers were Lufthansa (73%), Norwegian (73%), British Airways (72%), KLM (72%), TUI (72%), Aer Lingus (71%) and Air France (69%).
British Airways scored 72% in both the short-haul and long-haul categories. BA scored four stars for customer service and has also seen a big improvement in punctuality, with 74% of flights departing on time, up from 65% in the equivalent period last year, according to data from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
Singapore Airlines and Emirates top long-haul ranking
For long-haul, Singapore Airlines received the highest customer score of 81%. The airline earned five stars for its cabin environment and customer service.
It was one of only two airlines to receive five stars for customer service. One customer said: “Cabin staff were very kind and accommodating. Food was excellent and the whole cabin environment was comfortable.”
The airline missed out on a Which? ‘Recommended Provider’ endorsement because of its no-show clause, meaning if you miss your outbound flight the airline will cancel your return ticket, or charge you extra to amend your trip.
Other top performers were Emirates (80%), Virgin Atlantic (79%), Qatar Airways (78%), Air Canada (77%), KLM (75%) and Etihad Airways (74%).
Emirates excelled with its smooth booking process, seat comfort, food and value for money. Customers raved about the customer service. One said: “It felt like I was flying first class, even though I booked economy.”
Virgin Atlantic was praised for its staff and cabin atmosphere, outperforming transatlantic rivals like Delta and United. The airline also received five stars for customer service.
In contrast, Aer Lingus received the lowest score for long-haul travel (65%). The airline scored just two stars for seat comfort and cabin environment – crucial categories for longer flights. It did, however, manage three stars for value for money, customer service, booking process, boarding process, and food and drink.
US airlines were also among the weaker performers, with Delta (70%), American Airlines (69%) and United Airlines (68%) all near the bottom of the table.
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