Top 50 Worst Airlines In The World (2024)

For cheap fares and terrible service these are the worst airlines in the world. Travelers who like to be herded like cattle in aircraft, rudely shot down by crew, and arrive late to their destination will enjoy these airlines.

Of course even the worst airlines can occasionally offer good or timely service; so it is quite possible for passengers to miss out on the terrible service they came to enjoy. Nevertheless, frequent flyers on these airlines have become used to this kind of service; and any travelers who use these airlines more than once will probably testify about just how bad they are.

The information below is taken from official sources, and corroborated by travelers who have tasted of their poor services.

Top 50 Worst Airlines In The World

1. EasyJet

EasyJet is a British airline; it is headquartered in London. For such a young airline, it already has a well established structure; the airline flies to over 927 routes in 34 countries. However, that growth has been at the expense of quality. It is a cheap airline so travelers already know what to expect; they do not come to this airline looking for quality of service; rather as a way of getting from here to there.

Even going from here to there is not done on time. This airline scores average for on time departure and arrivals. The lowest point about this airline is the claim processing; it is almost nonexistent with this airline.

But Easyjet is altogether useless; it can get one around. One only has to ensure that he has plenty of time before the appointment he is traveling for. As for claims processing; this airline is terrible; but most flights do not get cancelled; only delayed.

2. Kuwait Airways

Kuwait Airways is struggling for form recently, despite all the billions in the bank. Well, no matter how much money a company has in the vault, it tends to get a reputation for un-professionalism when it allows porn stars into the cockpit.

Issues with Kuwait Airways include but are not limited to; lack of prompt take offs and departures, lack of quality of performance, and very poor claims processing.

This is not the kind of airline to use if you have business that must be attended to promptly, or if the body and mind must be rested on arrival at the destination.

It is important to note that this airline is not classified as a low budget airline; passengers have to pay premium fares despite the unappealing services. If paying premium fares for bad service appeals to you, then this is the airline to choose.

3. Korean Air

Korean Air is another national carrier that has gained infamy for its bad services, and has become known as one of the worst airlines in the world.

This airline has many years under its belt; it was established in 1969, and so it has plenty of experience in the industry. However the experience has largely been negative; Korean Air has stumbled from one catastrophe to another, before finding its current form.

It travels to 126 destinations around the world, but has problems with prompt departures and arrivals. Other problems include general quality of services, and a claims processing that is non existent.

4. RyanAir

Ryan Air was established in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland, and one of its primary bases of operation is the London Stansted airport.

This is an ultra-low cost airline; so the priority is not luxury treatment; just getting where one needs to be. This airline is not one to go if you expect first class treatment, with enough leg room to raise a garden.

Despite finding itself on this miserable list, this airline has successfully managed to carve out a niche for itself; people who need cheap flights go to Ryanair and they go there by the millions; this is the biggest airline in the world by scheduled international flights.

Ryanair goes to 222 destinations across several countries. Ryanair’s success shows that the market for basic, cheap flights is booming, and that as long as people know what to expect, they will not complain about barely basic services.

5. Norwegian

Norwegian is another low cost airline that has carved out a niche for itself. It was established in 1933, and has now grown to be the largest airline in Norway, and the second in the whole of Scandinavia.

Norwegian is one of airlines associated with poor services; this is because the airline makes it clear that its target is cheap services, as against the luxury of the more popular airlines.

Norwegian flies to 104 destinations around the world, the only problem is that passengers must endure issues like poor customer service; many users complain that the crew as just rude and unhelpful.

6. Transavia

Transavia is a low budget airline which was established in 1965, and which is a part of KLM, which also makes it part of the KLM/Air France Group. Despite being in such high company; Transavia has been called one of the worst airlines in the world.

The Airline’s main base of operations is the Amsterdam Schiphol Airport; and it travels to over 88 destinations.

This airline’s niche market is the cheap flights market; and it has cornered that sector in both Netherlands and France. However, some of the issues which can make its services unpleasant include late departures and arrivals, as well as low quality of services. The worst part of this airline’s services is the claims processing; which is where it scores really low.

7. Aerolineas Argentinas

Aerolineas Argentinas is an Argentine airline; in fact it is the country’s flag carrier, and has been in existence since 1950. This airline has a lot of history behind it; but that has not stopped it from being quite a mediocre airline.

Aerolineas Argentinas travels to 58 destinations, and the travels usually depart and arrive on time. In fact, Aerolineas Argentinas rarely departs late, and the customer service is not too bad.

However, it score below poor for claims processing on the occasion that the flight should depart late, or be cancelled entirely. This airline can certainly improve on its overall performance. It is not noted as a budget airline; which means that passengers pay a premium for the services they receive.

With as many as 11 million passengers every year; this airline certainly can compete with the bigger names if it improves its services.

8. Vueling Airlines

Vueling Airlines is a Spanish airline; one that has chosen the cheap flights business as its main market. Vueling is quite a big airline even if it is not globally known. Its main hub is Barcelona; and from there it travels to 148 destinations.

Vueling Airlines has a sizable market; it carried more than 34 million passengers in a year recently- which shows that there are many people out there who just need to travel; and who are not particularly interested in luxury.

Vueling Airlines measures average for prompt departures and arrivals, and the quality of service is also average. The crew are not too mean; even though they are not particularly friendly either.

Where the airline gets it completely wrong is the in the area of claim processing: most comments say that they airline is terrible at that. Even worse is that there is very poor communication when a flight gets cancelled or delayed.

9. Tap Air Portugal

Tap Portugal is a Portuguese airline; in fact it is the flag carrier of this country. Tap Portugal is therefore not a budget airline, but a regular airline that should offer good quality service matching its price and matching its status.

Instead, TAP Portugal is an okay airline; offering mediocre services. In the area of prompt departures and arrivals it only performs averagely, and the same performance is observed in the area of quality of service.

Even in the area of claim processing this airline also scores average. Obviously, if it improved on prompt departures and arrivals there would be fewer claims. This airline’s main hub is Lisbon; and if one happens to be flying from that city, then there is a huge chance it could be on one of their planes.

10. Air Mauritius

Air Mauritius was established in 1967; it is quite an established airline. As the flag carrier of Mauritius, it is the national pride of the country. Air Mauritius has a lot of history behind it; but it has never grown much.

It has a fleet size of just 10 planes; and they travel to 12 destinations. This is a country that is all about tourism; which means sometimes there are more passengers than the airline can handle.

At such times the lack of depth in the airline becomes evident. It performs above average for prompt departures and arrivals; and also does the same for quality of service. Where it performs poorly is processing of claims.

Despite the poor ratings; many people have no choice but to use this airline; especially when traveling out of the country.

The following is a more complete list of the 50 worst airlines in the world.

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Closing

The above airlines are some of the worst in the world; they have attained that notoriety through a lot of hard work. Nevertheless, this is not to say that these airlines do not get flyers; one of these airlines carries 34 million people every year, while another carries 11 million.

This shows that there is a real market for cheap flights; even at the expense of quality, and memorable flying experiences. As these poor airlines continue to get lots of traffic; it seems likely that more airlines like these will spring up; offering terrible service but for cheap flights because that is what many people want.