American Airlines Worse Than Frontier, Ryanair in Satisfaction
An analysis of reviews, Skytrax scores, complaint searches, and incidents ranks the most frustrating airlines. American tops the list, though the context matters.
Dissatisfaction Scores Paint Bleak Picture
Air travel can be brutal no matter where you are in the world. Crowded cabins, tight connections, and missing bags add up fast. A new study from Click Intelligence attempts to quantify that frustration with a “Dissatisfaction Index,” blending passenger review scores, Skytrax star ratings, complaint search volume, and safety or operational incidents. It is an ambitious snapshot of how travelers feel about the largest global players.
These rankings reflect the study’s composite index, not a single metric like on-time performance. The passenger count of massive airlines like American, United, and Delta can help an airline dilute poor performance numbers over more flights, more passengers, and more aircraft. Bigger networks and higher passenger counts can amplify search volume and exposure to irregular operations, yet poor communication and bag recovery still sour the experience.
With that framing, here’s how the top ten shake out.
The Top 10 Worst Airlines For Customer Service
American Airlines — Index 56
Low passenger reviews at 2.9 out of 10, 3 out of 5 on Skytrax, 11 safety or operational incidents, and elevated complaint search volume. American Airlines customer service suffers not just on a domestic US level but globally leads the charge.
Frontier Airlines — Index 55
The lowest passenger rating at 2 out of 10, 3 out of 5 on Skytrax, five incidents, and weak feedback typical for an ultra-low-cost model. Surprisingly, Spirit doesn’t make the list but Frontier was second to last in customer satisfaction based on these metrics.
United Airlines — Index 54
Passenger reviews at 3.3 out of 10, 3 out of 5 on Skytrax, no recorded incidents in the study period, yet high complaint search volume for a huge network.
Air France — Index 53
Passenger reviews at 5 out of 10, 4 out of 5 on Skytrax, 11 incidents, and heavy lost-bag search interest that drags the score.
Ryanair — Index 51
Passenger reviews at 2.8 out of 10, 3 out of 5 on Skytrax, zero incidents, but persistent value-carrier complaints around comfort and add-on fees. The original (and self-appointed) airline punching bag, passengers give it just barely lower score than American (0.1/10.0 difference) but the lack of safety events catapults it nearly 10% higher than American and keeping track of bags keeps it in front of the far nicer Air France. Ryan Air also has a very new fleet.
AirAsia — Index 50
Passenger reviews at 2.8 out of 10, 3 out of 5 on Skytrax, one incident, and low prices that still come with low expectations in reviews.
Aeromexico — Index 49
Passenger reviews at 3 out of 10, 3 out of 5 on Skytrax, six incidents, and middling search noise for a smaller network.
Scandinavian Airlines — Index 47
Passenger reviews at 3.4 out of 10, 3 out of 5 on Skytrax, three incidents, and service inconsistency during a turbulent restructuring era. These reviews reflect Matthew’s own findings on SAS.
Wizz Air — Index 45
Passenger reviews at 3 out of 10, 3 out of 5 on Skytrax, zero incidents, yet frequent complaints tied to fees, punctuality, and customer contact hurdles.
British Airways — Index 43
Passenger reviews at 6 out of 10, 4 out of 5 on Skytrax, ten incidents, and the highest lost-baggage search interest that dents a premium brand’s promise.
How The “Dissatisfaction Index” Was Built
Click Intelligence combined four inputs to produce a 0 to 100 score where higher means more dissatisfaction. The ingredients are passenger experience ratings on a 1 to 10 scale, Skytrax’s 1 to 5 star score, normalized complaint search volume per 100,000 passengers, and a tally of safety or operational incidents. Airlines with poor review scores, modest Skytrax marks, frequent complaint searches, or more recorded incidents trend higher. The approach blends perception with exposure and events, which tells a broad story, though it raises common caveats. Accident counts and search interest need careful normalization for carrier size and route mix, while review platforms skew toward negative experiences. Still, as a heat map for pain points, the index highlights where expectations and reality keep clashing.
Rather than counting on the relatively few number of people that file formal complaints, it observes how many are searching for solutions to common customer complaints like lost luggage, refund policies, and customer service numbers among others. This study used perhaps the most incredibly clever manner of measurement: internet searches.
“Passengers judge airlines not just on whether things go wrong, but on how the airline responds when they do.”
– James Owen, Click Intelligence
Further, sources like Skytrax are somewhat unreliable. In fact, the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK found its process for rating dubious at best and upon an audit of a survey that purportedly garnered five million votes, Skytrax could produce only 400,000 ballots. The ASA stopped short of calling it fraudulent but was clear that there were enough inconsistencies that “it did not hold sufficient evidence to substantiate the claims “Checked and trusted airline review” and “REAL travellers with REAL opinions
.”
If dissatisfied customers rarely file official claims, and if the rating body can’t be trusted, and not everyone checks bags (to have them lost in the first place), wouldn’t the best measure be those with negative searches and customer service issues online?
Conclusion
No single score can capture every nuance of airline operations, yet the message here is consistent. Travelers are more forgiving when communication is clear, recovery is swift, and baggage shows up where and when it should. American, Frontier, and United sit at the top of this frustration chart for different reasons, but the thread that runs throughout is service design and disruption handling. If airlines want happier customers, they should treat every irregular operation as part of one connected journey, not a series of isolated mishaps.
What do you think?