Air France among Europe’s least reliable airlines in new ranking
French carrier’s record on flight delays and cancellations ranked lower than some budget airlines
Air France performed better than any other airline when it came to compensation
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Air France has been ranked 12th out of the 20 largest airlines in Europe in a new study assessing reliability, the handling of compensation claims and customer satisfaction.
The ranking, compiled by Flightright (a consumer rights company that helps air passengers pursue compensation claims), awarded each airline a score from one to five in the three categories before calculating an overall assessment.
Aer Lingus, Air Europa and Vueling were ranked as the three worst-performing airlines, receiving overall scores of 1.79, 1.93 and 2.06 respectively. Ryanair came fifth from the bottom, followed by Wizz Air, easyJet and Lufthansa.
Air France secured 12th place with an overall rating of 2.47 out of 5. The French flag carrier's weakest result came in the reliability category, where it received a score of just 1.5 – the joint-lowest score in the ranking alongside KLM and Lufthansa.
The reliability rating takes into account flight delays and cancellations, measuring how dependable airlines are for passengers.
Air France's score was lower than several low-cost competitors, including Ryanair, Wizz Air and easyJet, highlighting the challenges the airline faces in terms of punctuality and cancellations despite its position as one of Europe's leading full-service carriers.
However, Air France performed better than any other airline when it came to handling compensation claims, receiving the highest score in the study for the speed with which claims for delays and cancellations were processed.
At the other end of the table, Austrian Airlines was ranked Europe's best-performing airline with an overall score of 3.04, ahead of Eurowings and airBaltic.
The ranking, which was based on flight data collected between November last year and May this year, did not take into account other factors such as ticket prices, onboard comfort, route networks or in-flight service.
