The US has long copped some flak for having crappy airports and sub-par airlines, but a new slab of research has delved into why this reputation actually exists.
A recently released winter/spring 2017 ranking from AirHelp, a website aimed at helping people get compensation from delayed or cancelled flights, showed a lot of areas American air travel can step things up.
According to the AirHelp Score, passengers are held up by over-amibitious flight schedules, struggle to find seats and power outlets at airports, and don’t have a great deal of fun in the air either.
So AirHelp looked into where in particular US airlines fall short.
In the AirHelp Score list, where the top three airlines were Singapore Airlines, Etihad Airways, and Qatar Airways, the US airlines didn’t even break into the top 10, and that’s mainly due to poor on-time performance ratings.
US airlines such as United, Delta and American are struggling to keep pace with the quality and service available on the leading global airlines, according to AirHelp.
And when United Airlines was lambasted for dragging a passenger off an overbooked flight, even more reasons why people weren’t too fond of the airline started popping up online.
Another major issue is the lack of protection passengers have when things go wrong.
Unlike in Europe, where the European Commission Regulation EC261 entitles travellers to be paid up to €600 in compensation for flight delays of more than three hours, the US regulations don’t get involved in flight delays or passenger rights.
That means when bad weather hits – like it has for United in windy cities like Chicago and Denver, or Delta when it had major power outages at its Atlanta Hub, there’s not much anyone can do and it just means passengers lose time and money.
Check out the fun little infographic here to see the way USA compares to the world’s best airlines:
