Wizz Air tops new rankings of Europe's worst short-haul airlines

22 February 2023 , 00:01

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Wizz Air was named the worst short-haul airline in Europe (Image: PA)

Wizz Air has been named the worst short-haul airline by UK passengers.

More than 8,000 travellers were surveyed about their experiences of flying in the past two years, with passengers asked to rate their carriers on a range of criteria including customer service, value for money and boarding experience.

Wizz Air received a customer score of just 48% in the Which? survey, with travellers gave it merely one star out of five for boarding experience.

The Hungarian airline was also criticised for its cabin environment and seat comfort.

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Wizz Air tops new rankings of Europe's worst short-haul airlines

Wizz Air received a customer score of just 48% (Getty Images)

The airline’s seat pitch, the distance between two rows in standard economy, is a full two inches smaller than its budget rival Ryanair.

Wizz Air received two stars or less in all of the remaining categories, including value for money and customer service.

The damning reviews comes the week after the airline was found to have the longest delays last summer, with each flight 55 minutes late on average.

Wizz Air has also previously been criticised by a number of staff who expressed concerns about fatigue and safety at the airline last summer.

A number of passenger horror stories have emerged over recent months, including a group who slept on a cold wooden floor with no blankets next to strangers after the airline took them to a full hotel in a different country.

Wizz Air has expanded rapidly in recent years, but its growth has not come without disruption and uncertainty for passengers, with routes frequently paused or shelved altogether.

Wizz Air passengers found themselves stranded in a hotel room with strangers last year (Steven Fludder)

Just last April it launched a number of new routes from Cardiff Airport, before announcing that most of these would be pulled from the market over the winter period - despite many customers having already booked.

The CAA has also previously raised concerns about high volumes of complaints about the airline via the Alternative Dispute Resolution Scheme and the courts.

In the Which? rankings, Ryanair (52%), Eurowings (53%), British Airways (56%) and Lufthansa (57%) finished just ahead of Wizz Air.

Ryanair received just one star for boarding experience, seat comfort, food and drink and cabin environment, but passengers did report more favourably on both customer service and the value for money offered, awarding three stars in each of these categories, with passengers praising the “good, competitive pricing”.

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The airline was also notably more reliable than the overall survey average, with just 0.5% of its flights cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice – something it had in common with some of the highest-rated airlines.

Ryanair came second last in the survey (MEN MEDIA)

The worst offender for last-minute cancellations was Eurowings, which cancelled 3.4% of its flights within twenty-four hours of departure, followed by Flybe (3.1%), now in administration.

Jet2 emerged at the top of the short haul airline table, with a customer score of 80%.

Travellers awarded it an impressive five stars for customer service, with multiple customers praising the helpful and friendly staff.

One remarked that the airline “excelled in all areas of customer support”, while another claimed it is “the best airline by a country mile”.

The airline achieved four stars for value for money, cabin cleanliness, and boarding, dropping to three stars only on seat comfort and its food and drink offering.

It was also among the best performing airlines on last-minute cancellations, with only 0.5% of its flights cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice.

Jet2 was found to be the best of the best (PA)

A spokesperson for Wizz Air said: "“At Wizz Air, we do everything possible to ensure that passengers reach their destination on time and with minimal delay.

"We invest heavily into time performance, which is key to our ultra-efficient business model. A number of issues affecting the global aviation industry contributed to a worse time performance in 2022.

"These issues resulted from a widespread shortage in staff, in particular within air traffic control, ground operations and baggage handling, security and across airports.

"We are committed to constantly reviewing processes to mitigate these issues and are seeing an overall improvement in the on-time performance of our routes.

"Wizz Air operates a fleet of brand new, state-of-the-art Airbus aircraft, with an average age of 4.6 years, which offer passengers comfort, space, and modern interiors.

"The A321neo features the widest single-aisle cabin configuration with 239 18-inch-wide seats. Every aircraft is cleaned after each flight and deep cleaned every night.

"The onboard menu is reviewed and updated on a bi-monthly basis and, following customer feedback, a local products range was recently introduced on all Wizz Air UK flights.

"We welcome all customer feedback, so that we can continuously refine our processes to further enhance customer experience."