Virgin Atlantic tops BA in travel poll

(AFP Photo/Max Nash)

Virgin Atlantic has topped a poll of Europe's favorite airlines, leaving British Airways trailing in second place.

The TripAdvisor survey polled 2,868 Europeans about their flying habits, and found that competing carriers Virgin and BA were the most-loved airlines, while Ryanair, somewhat unsurprisingly, was the least loved.

Singapore Airlines, Emirates and Thomson Airways took third, fourth and fifth place as the public's best-loved.

The poll suggests that British Airways may have just won the media war, limiting the fallout from two consecutive strikes that caused havoc for many flyers from late March. Of passengers affected by strike action, 30 percent were adamant they will never use that particular airline again, while 34 percent said that they would continue to use it and 32 percent were still unsure.

TripAdvisor also polled travellers on their attitude to the new airport body scanners, revealing some interesting national trends. While 80 percent of Britons supported the security measure, the number fell to 77 percent in France, 69 percent in Italy and only 45 percent in Spain.

Those numbers show an average rise in support from a Financial Times poll conducted earlier this year, which put support in Britain at 62 percent, France and Italy at 58 percent and Spain at 46 percent.

The online travel giant also said that "it seems traditional high street travel agents should be worried" - their survey showed that 85 percent of respondents now buy their flight ticket online, either direct with the airline or through an online travel agent.

http://www.tripadvisor.com