EUclaim, the flight compensation company, has released an internal data showing what it claims is the most complained about British and Irish airlines for the first half of 2016.
With 5,461 claims against it, EasyJet heads the “Carriers of Shame” list.
The data also reveals that the number of people seeking compensation against Irish budget airline Ryanair has more than doubled in the last year.
The ‘Carriers of Shame’ list reveals for the first time, how many claims EUclaim processed against each airline in the first half of 2016. Passengers may be surprised to hear that it isn’t just the budget carriers on the list.
EUclaim said Monarch, meanwhile, has been steadily improving its services, reducing the 2,599 claims made against it in 2014 to 2,001 in the same period in 2015 and this year falling out of the 2016 top ‘carriers of shame’ list completely.
The leisure airlines have been doing better every year since 2013, despite the low cost airlines doing worse than ever. EUClaim said low-cost carriers were operating at such high load factors they failed to accommodate affected passengers when problems strike.
EUclaim UK manager Adeline Noorderhaven admitted the number of complaints this year has been boosted by outside factors, such as bad weather in March and June and air traffic control strikes in France and Italy.
EUclaim data exposes Norwich Airport as the most likely airport in the country for passengers to suffer a flight delay or cancellation. In 2015 EUclaim processed 67 claims against airlines departing or arriving at the regional minnow, but in 2016 that number shot up to 175, a 161% increase on claim enquiries.
An easyJet spokeswoman said that, over the last few months the airline industry has seen unprecedented levels of disruption as a result of external factors like French air traffic control strikes and congestion in the London area and in Europe. This has led to a larger than expected volume of claims for them to process. They will always pay compensation when it is due.
