U.S. travelers report that American Airlines is the most unreliable airline in the world when measured by the total flight problems and reported complaints in 2022. American is also the world's largest airline, so this finding may not surprise frequent flyers. However, the other results are fascinating.
On a complaints-per-100,000-passengers basis, there was a very significant increase in complaints last year among the 17 largest airlines, from 3.1 in 2021 to 5.6, an 80 percent surge, the study says. The three airlines with the highest ratio of complaints-to-passengers last year were Frontier, Spirit, and JetBlue.
In a ranking of carriers, Frontier Airlines topped the list for the most complaints, with 20 grievances for every 100,000 passengers, PIRG said, which also found that the Denver-based budget airline had the worst record last year when it comes to involuntarily bumping passengers off flights.
Running since 1929, Hawaiian is among the oldest airlines in the world but, remarkably, it has never suffered a single fatal crash or hull loss.
Qantas has reason to celebrate after a horror few years after being named the world's safest airline for 2023. The Australian airline has regained AirlineRatings.com's top spot for safety, beating last year's winner Air New Zealand by “the finest of margins”.
“Delta is the most reliable airline mostly because it didn't have any denied boardings over the past year. It also had the second lowest share of delayed flights, just 11.5%,” says Gonzalez.
583: The Tenerife airport disaster, which occurred on March 27, 1977, remains the accident with the highest number of airliner passenger fatalities. 583 people died when a KLM Boeing 747 attempted to take off and collided with a taxiing Pan Am 747 at Los Rodeos Airport on the Canary Island of Tenerife, Spain.
While Qantas has never had a fatal jet airliner accident, the Australian national airline suffered losses in its early days before the widespread adoption of jets in civilian aviation. These were mainly biplanes or flying boats servicing routes in Queensland and New Guinea.
Plane crashes are extremely rare. The odds of dying in a plane are about 1 in 205,552. If you want to feel safer, some seats that have a better track record during crashes than others.
Qatar Airways topped AirlineRatings.com's 2022 list. This year the airline came in at number two.
Early morning flights are the least crowded and best on-time stats. Not surprisingly, punishing crack-of-dawn itineraries tend to be less crowded times to fly.
Qantas has been awarded the world's safest airline for 2023 by AirlineRatings.com, the world's only safety, product and COVID rating website.
For cheaper fares, book flights with one of the many low-cost airlines that operate within Australia, rather than a more expensive full-cost carrier. Book flights with one of these low-cost airlines: Jetstar, Scoot, Tiger airways and Virgin Australia.
Facebook remains the least-trusted brand in Australia, for all the obvious reasons, with the rest of the ten shuffling down a spot to make way for Optus.
In the year to December 2022, the most popular domestic air travel route in Australia was from Melbourne to Sydney; over the course of the year, around seven million passengers were carried on this route.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is officially the flight with the most missing people (239 missing), although possible remains of the plane have been found in the Indian Ocean.
: Ibiza airport has the most missed flights in the world.
Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi, holds the title of the most expensive airline in the world. This luxurious airline is known for its extravagant “The Residence” suite, which resembles a hotel room more than an airplane seat.
Qantas also owns Jetstar, a low-cost airline that operates both international services from Australia and domestic services within Australia and New Zealand; and holds stakes in a number of other Jetstar-branded airlines.
“These are airlines that are clearly standouts in the world of aviation and have dedicated years of effort to achieve these high standards,” said Mr Thomas. “They are at the forefront of innovation and operational excellence and are always on the winner's podium collecting awards for their efforts.”