The Worst Airlines People Actually Fly

Journalist Julian Ryall may have shown bigger guts than most when boarding his recent flight on Air Koryo, the flag carrier of North Korea. As the only airline to receive just one star from Skytrax — a UK-based airline and airport consultancy, which ranks the quality of product and service at 681 airlines around the world — Koryo fails “appalingly” in nearly every one of the ratings categories (apart from staff presentation). But as North Korea remains the most isolated country in the world, who really flies Air Koryo anyway? What about the airlines that people actually fly? Here’s a look at the bigger fish at the bottom of Skytrax's barrel.

Ryanair

Europe’s most famous low-cost, no-frills carrier may be soaring in terms of share price and passenger numbers, but it earned a dismal two stars on Skytrax. The carrier isn't even registered with IATA Operational Safety Audit, an internationally recognized program that evaluates airline safety (Air Koryo is). When the airline does make the news, it’s usually for its extreme penny-pinching efforts, like its aborted plan to start charging for bathrooms.

Pegasus Airlines

Turkey’s second largest airline also wins just two stars from Skytrax, with numerous complaints by passengers about bumpy landings, seat pitch, delays, lack of English speaking staff, lost luggage, and general disorganization, including calls to board when no plane is yet at the gate. An attempted hijacking in 2014 probably didn't help matters, when a drunken Ukrainian man who claimed to havde a bomb and demanded to be flown to the Olympics in Sochi.

Spirit Airlines

You've to to be bad on a whole new level to score the highest rate of complaints to the U.S Department of Transportation, but Florida-based Spirit Airlines managed to earn such distinction. No doubt it has something to do with outrages fees for even carry-on bags, which can cost up to $100, and an ultra-strict no-refund policy that even refused to give a refund to a dying Vietnam vet, who had received an order from his doctor not to travel (The airline recanted after veteran groups and others threatened to boycott).

United Airlines

Of the largest U.S.-based carriers, United regularly scores at the bottom in just about every category, including on-time arrivals, cancelled flights, extreme delays, and mishandled bagged. Skytrax reviews also report maintenance issues, poor on-board service by flight attendants, involuntary reseating and bumping, and “the worst food and in-flight entertainment in the industry.”

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