Three Canadian airlines are among those ranked in a new look at 100 global airlines — with Air Canada in the bottom 20.
The 2024 ranking by AirHelp, which is described as a online service that helps passengers seek compensation from airlines, looked at three main factors in coming to an overall score specifically on-time performance, customer opinion and how efficient airlines handled claim compensation.
In the top three were Brussels Airlines, Qatar Airways and United, while Nouvelair, Buzz and Tunisair at the bottom.
Air Canada fell flat into the bottom 20 airlines with a ranking of 91 out of 100, with AirHelp noting while it had a high customer opinion, its on-time performance and processing of claims were lacking.
Air Transat ranked the highest at 36 out of 109 with customer opinion giving it a boost, with WestJet slightly behind at 45.
Airlines that don’t fly overseas, like Porter and Flair, were not included.
Tomas Pawliszyn, CEO of AirHelp, said the rankings should only be seen as a “snapshot” as it evaluates their strengths and where improvements can be made.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“There is always scope for airlines to improve in the rankings each year, using the score to help guide them,” he said in a post.
While the ranking could be helpful to some air travellers, travel and personal finance commentator Barry Choi said it’s really a matter of perspective because of where some reviews of airlines come from those most vocal.
“Anyone who’s dealt with the delay and is trying to get compensation, they’re going to be very vocal and understandably so,” he said, referencing those who may have been among the respondents taking part in the rankings.
“It’s one of those things where consumers when they’re unhappy, and this is totally justified, they’re going to complain a lot more. How often do you get people with a positive experience saying how great it is?”
In the case of AirHelp’s rankings, one-third of the overall rating came from customer opinion.
The service says it ran hundreds of surveys asking travellers from more than 54 countries for opinions, with almost 20,000 rankings collected. The questions focused around cabin crew, comfort, cleanliness, food and entertainment available.
However, when it comes to looking at rankings like AirHelp’s in helping to determine if you will fly on a certain airline, Choi says there’s other factors a traveller can consider when choosing a flight, not just the lowest price or best rating.
“Sometimes it’s like a gut call,” he said. “Think about where you’re based, where you’re flying to, how many aircraft are going to get there, how many daily flights.”
When you know this information, Choi said you can decide if you’d prefer dealing with an airline that flies to your destination multiple times a day versus once or twice a week.
“The answer is obvious, even if the other airline is significantly cheaper.”
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
