Revealed: the most delayed flights in Europe

Heading to Europe next year? Read this first.

Because a new study has revealed the flights most likely to be delayed – and if you’re planning on flying from Mykonos to London Gatwick any time soon, we’ve got bad news.

According to new data from AirHelp, 75 per cent of all flights on that route suffer delays. Yes, we’re serious.

Nearly three quarters (72 per cent) of air passengers flying from Gatwick to Bucharest this year would also have endured flight delays or cancellations, with the route placed fourth worst in the European ranking. This route is closely followed by flights from Venice to London Luton at 6th place, with more than two thirds (68 per cent) of travellers experiencing disrupted flights in 2018.

Passengers travelling via UK airports are more likely to suffer delays and cancellations than any other European air travellers, with UK airports featuring in 25 of the 50 worst European flight routes. Those flying to or from Italian or German airports are also likely to endure travel chaos – Italian airports feature in 24 routes and German airports in 18 routes.

For those travelling from London, Ibiza, Turkey and Portugal are the desinations where flight routes are most likely to be delayed or cancelled.

And if you’re flying into the UK? Chances are you’ll be delayed when flying from Greece, Italy or Switzerland.

So how can you combat these delays? Without changing your destination or flight route completely, weekends are the worst for flight delays – with one in four flights in Europe either delayed or cancelled on Sundays. However, almost 80 per cent of flights arrive on time on Tuesdays. Go figure.

“This year, we’ve seen the worst European flight disruptions on record,” said Paloma Salmeron, air passenger rights expert at AirHelp.

“Air passengers from UK have suffered an unprecedented level of flight disruptions this year, with over 186,000 departing flights delayed or cancelled to date in 2018 – that’s over 27,000 more UK flights affected than last year.

“With a growing number of delayed and cancelled flights, air passengers in Europe are enduring a rising tide of travel misery. Although it’s not always possible to avoid travel disruption, we urge affected passengers to check whether they are entitled to financial compensation. With average 86 per cent of air travellers unaware of their air passenger rights, many are missing out on the compensation to which they are entitled by not filing a claim.”

And that compensation, BTW, could be up to 600 euros per person! If your flight within Europe is cancelled or delayed, you could be entitled to compensation if you arrive at your destination three hours later than planned. Oh, and you can claim your compensation for up to three years after flying.

So if you’re flying Mykonos to London next year and it happens to be delayed – make sure you get some compensation for it.