Do you hate traveling because you know that the airport or the airline will make your life a living hell? You can take solace in the fact that air travel in the entire United States sucks. So we’re all in this miserable and incompetent boat together.
AirHelp, a company offers air travel industry intelligence and assists passengers to receive compensation for delayed and canceled flights, released their 2018 rankings of the best and worst airlines and airports around the world. AirHelp’s survey ranked 72 airlines and 141 airports around the globe. The ratings of the airlines and airports were based on the quality of service, on-time performance, time for claims processing, and how passengers felt about them on Twitter. The results are in and we suck at air travel.
There are no U.S.-based airlines in the top 10. There are no U.S.-based airlines in the top 20. The first U.S.-based airline on the list is American Airlines at the #23 spot, followed by United Airlines at #37, and Delta at #47. American airports were just as disappointing. There are no U.S.-based airports in the top 10. There are no U.S.-based airports in the top 20. There are no U.S.-based airports in the top 30. The first U.S.-based airport on the list is Seattle-Tacoma International Airport at #33, followed by San Francisco Airport at #45, and Denver Airport at #51. Newark Airport in New Jersey ranked among the worst 10% of airports around the world.
The lowest-ranked airlines included Air Mauritius, EasyJet, Pakistan International Airlines, Royal Jordanian Airlines, and WOW Air was found to be the worst in this survey. The lowest-rated airports included London Stansted Airport, Lyon–Saint-Exupéry Airport, Paris Orly Airport, Stockholm Bromma Airport, and Kuwait Airport was the worst.
On the other side of the spectrum, the country of Qatar destroyed the competition and won the best airport AND the best airline. The Hamad International Airport in Qatar was the best airport, followed by Athens International Airport in Greece at #2, and Haneda Airport in Tokyo, Japan was the third-best. Qatar Airways was the top airline, Germany’s Lufthansa took the silver, and Etihad Airways out of the United Arab Emirates won the bronze.
“It is clear the U.S. is in need of significant improvement, with overbooked flights and cancellations making national headlines month after month, and the consistent mistreatment of U.S. consumers,” Henrik Zillmer, co-founder and CEO of AirHelp, said in a statement. “It is no wonder most U.S.-based airlines and airports received poor ratings on the AirHelp Score. It is more important than ever for consumers to fight for their air passenger rights.”
Are American airports and airlines just that bad or are Americans just spoiled and complain more?