Ryanair voted ‘least favourite airline’ for third year in a row

Ryanair, the low-budget airline headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, has earned, in a poll, the dubious distinction of being “the least favourite airline” for the third successive year.

When the website TripAdvisor.com questioned 450 British travelers, 30% of them listed Ryanair as their “least favourite airline” despite its low costs. Many travellers complained that Ryanair is “inefficient, with long delays and rude staff.”

In a larger, worldwide poll, involving 8,000 travelers, British Airways came in at the top, with Singapore Airlines and Air France also rated favourably.

Ryanair, with its biggest operational base at London’s Stansted Airport, is Europe’s largest low-cost carrier.

The website TripAdvisor.com is a free travel guide and research website that hosts reviews from users and other information designed to help plan a vacation. TripAdvisor is an example of consumer-generated media. The website’s services are free to users who provide content.

In the poll conducted by TripAdvisor, Virgin Atlantic, the British airline which is owned by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group (51%) and Singapore Airlines, was at the top, followed by British Airways, the national airline and flag carrier of the United Kingdom, and Emirates, based in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Those surveyed rated Virgin Atlantic, British Airways, and Emirates as “having friendly and helpful staff, comfortable seats and good on-time arrival and departure records.”

The British travelers who were polled rated “comfort during flying” as being “extremely important.”

Other key findings of the TripAdvisor survey of British travellers include:

• 56% plan to spend more on leisure travel in the next 12 months than they did in the past 12 months.
• 33% will take three holidays in 2009.
• 53% spent more than they budgeted for leisure travel in the past 12 months.
• 26% think that the cost of fuel is not important when choosing where to go on their next holiday.
• 69% said the unfavourable exchange rates will not prevent or limit their travel to Europe in the next 12 months.
• 21% said they will be more environmentally conscious in their travel decisions in the upcoming year than the past year.
• 90% think mobile phones should be banned on flights, compared to just 81% of worldwide travellers.
• 46% of British travellers want wireless internet access on airlines compared to 62% of worldwide travellers.
• 9% of British travellers are willing to pay extra for in-fight internet access.
• 56% could imagine airlines charging extra for a window-view in the future.
• 90% would pay 10% or more to sit in a quiet section of an aircraft.
• 77% think families with young children should sit in their own section of an aircraft.
• 23% said London’s Heathrow Airport was their least favourite airport.
• 26% are likely to engage in an adventure activity in 2009.
• 5% are likely to engage in an extreme sports activity.
• 35% are likely to take a garden tour.
• 49% will visit a spa.
• 10% are likely to go skiing/snowboarding.
• 41% have 6 weeks or more annual holiday time.
• 10% said they did not take all of their allotted holiday time, the number one reason is that they cannot afford to be away from work that much.
• 68% are concerned about germs, bacteria and viruses when travelling.
• 16% said they do not think a shoe-shiner deserves a tip, but 61% think a hotel housekeeper does.
• 29% said they never check their email on a week-long or longer holiday, while 49% check their email once or twice.
• 28% said they have had more trouble booking desired flights in the past 12 months, than the previous year.
• 10% said they had a flight cancelled in 2008 because their route or flight was permanently eliminated from their carrier’s schedule.
• 80% are comfortable with the new full-body scanners used by some airport security, compared with 70% of worldwide travelers.