Airports in the UK are considered as some of the worst in the world, according to data compiled by a flight delay compensation firm.
Gatwick, Manchester and Edinburgh airports were among the ten poorest airports in the ratings compiled by AirHelp.
The company examined data from December 22, 2016 to March 20, 2017 to assess airports, with Singapore Changi coming out on top.
The quality, service and punctuality at 76 airports worldwide was taken into consideration, as well as the social media sentiment of more than 130,000 tweets over three months this year.
It factored in delayed and cancelled flights (45%), quality and service ratings taken from Skytrax rankings (45%), and social media sentiment analysis (10%).
Kuwait airport was considered the worst in the world followed by Gatwick, Manchester, Newark Liberty in the US, Edinburgh, Mumbai, Dubai, Bangkok Subarnabhumi, Delhi and Los Angeles.
Singapore Airlines was rated the best airline, closely following by Etihad Airways, last year’s winner Qatar Airways, Austrian Airlines and Canadian leisure carrier Air Transat, which jumped up 65 places this year to become the fifth best airline in the world.
British Airways was rated seventh best in the world despite its IT systems meltdown over the late May bank holiday, while Virgin Atlantic was just behind in eighth place followed by BA sister carrier Aer Lingus.
However, Monarch was rated among the top ten worst airlines alongside Europe’s largest budget carrier Ryanair.
The other worst performing carriers were Bulgaria Air, SmartWings of the Czech Republic, Tunisair, Egyptair, China Eastern Airlines, Pakistan International Airlines, Gulf Air and Air China.
AirHelp rated 86 airlines, analysing their quality and service, the number of delayed flights over the three month period and their track record on paying flight delay compensation.
Air Help UK country manager Marius Fermi said: “It’s important – now more so than ever – that passenger service is a top priority of both airlines and airports, ensuring they receive the experience they deserve, so it’s fantastic to see that Singapore is setting the standard for customer-first service.
“This research should hopefully give airlines and airports across the world, particularly in the UK, a nudge to improve their quality and punctuality urgently before the travel rush starts this summer.”
A Gatwick spokesman said that the airport had increasingly good satisfaction ratings among passengers.
“Repeated strike action on the continent and heavily congested airspace above parts of Europe and London have led to a significant increase in delays caused by issues outside Gatwick’s control,” he said.
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Outages: a growing issue for airlines
Travelzoo highlights passenger rights confusion
Transport ombudsman call after flight delay data is published