If unclean flights are your ultimate pet peeve then you should probably know this! In a new survey by Which? a well-known consumer association in the UK, passengers had come forth with their decision on which airline was the and I quote ‘the filthiest’ flight operator!
The unfortunate winner of the survey was Ryanair, a well-known Irish budget airline that operates more than 400 aircraft to 35 countries across Europe and North Africa since its establishment in 1984. This would be a surprise, but cleanliness isn’t the only the thing the airline is getting hate on, as of 2019, it has been voted the least-liked short-haul Airline by another survey from Which? and came last in a 2019 rating of 100 UK brands’ customer service.
And if it needed to be further elucidated then I’m going to say, no, Which? Does not have it out for Ryanair, the results arose from an unbiased survey that included the opinions of nearly 8,000 Which? Members and Ryanair wasn’t the only airline that failed to impress passengers. Joining it as ‘poor’ in terms of cleanliness was Wizz Air and Vueling Airlines followed up by Easyjet.
On the other hand, Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Qatar Airways were rated as some of the best airlines in terms of hygiene. But are we surprised? No. With the amount of money aside from discounts and sales that some of the above-mentioned airlines charge, it would be a crime for them to provide anything less! This is where Ryanair’s defence comes into play since they are technically a low-cost carrier, so shouldn’t it be instantly implied that the services wouldn’t be that great like that of Singapore or Qatar Airways?
Are people just failing to see the basic opportunity cost of flying in a cheaper airline or is it justifiable that people are upset about the standard of the airlines’ service? I’ll leave it up to you!
Either way, Ryanair seems to be hitting the headlines one way or another and they are yet to respond to these claims. But hey, no publicity is bad publicity, right?
As an ending note, I’d like to say that if you have an upcoming long-haul flight with Ryanair, make sure you stack up on hand sanitizers. Because, well, let’s just say that reviews have come in and… they don’t sound too promising. But hey, your wallets’ sure to love their deals, unlike all those clean, luxurious and more well-maintained airlines.
Airlines rated ‘good’ for cleanliness
- Air New Zealand – 97 per cent
- Singapore Airlines – 96 per cent
- Emirates and Qatar Airways – 95 per cent
- Cathay Pacific and Swiss Airlines – 94 per cent
- Virgin Atlantic – 89 per cent
- Etihad Airways – 87 per cent
- Norwegian – 86 per cent
- Jet2.com – 81 per cent
- Aer Lingus – 79 per cent
- British Airways – 78 per cent
- TUI Airways – 73 per cent
- easyJet – 68 per cent
- Iberia and Vueling Airlines – 63 per cent
- Wizz Air – 62 per cent
- Ryanair – 42 per cent
