British Airways tops airlines poll

Travellers have voted British Airways their favourite airline (AFP )

Travellers have voted British Airways their favourite airline, with no-frills carrier Ryanair rated the worst.

BA polled 19.1% of the votes, comfortably ahead of second-placed Virgin Atlantic (13.8%) in a survey by Gocompare.com.

In contrast, Ryanair was regarded as the worst airline by 19.3%, with rival low-fare carrier easyJet seen as the second worst (12.1%).

The survey of 3,000 UK adults asked people to choose the best and worst of airlines bearing in mind cost, the service and the overall comfort of their journey.

Some respondents also added extra comments.

The poll also found:

:: 35% find airports stressful;

:: 33% think it takes too long to check in;

:: 11% think the security checks are too strict;

:: 40% would prefer not to sit near families with young children;

:: 17% think alcoholic drinks should be banned on planes.

Gocompare travel head Jeremy Cryer said: "Clearly some airlines will get your holiday off to a better start than others and it's interesting that even with the bucket shop pricing of the budget airlines plenty of passengers still don't consider their service good value for money.

"Our research found that while some people will put up with poor service in return for low fares many have vowed never to fly with a particular airline again."

Britons' favourite airlines were:

1. British Airways

2. Virgin Atlantic

3. Thomson Airways

4. EasyJet

5. Emirates

6. Thomas Cook

7. Singapore Airlines

8. Monarch

9. Ryanair

10=American Airlines and Qantas

PA