FAQ

The product rating system devised by our editors reflects the diverse nature of air travel today. In the early days air travel was only for the incredibly wealthy and thus most planes were fitted with seats that converted into beds. In fact some overnight services featured only bunk beds. With the introduction of economy class or tourist class as it was first called in 1952, product offerings have multiplied to where many international airlines have four classes. More recently different types of airlines have emerged such as the so called low cost airlines offering a budget product with the option of buying the extras you want. Our rating system for full service airlines reflects the current market offering to passengers and we have adopted what has become a travel industry standard of seven stars to reflect the very best in offerings. Low cost and regional airlines cannot be compared with full service airlines as they offer an entirely different product on typically far shorter routes where the frills do not matter as much. You cannot have a seven-star budget product, because seven stars denote excellence. Therefore we have adopted a simple easy to follow five-star system for regional and low cost carriers which reflects the most important features to passengers.

The ratings are reviewed constantly. We rely on airlines, our editors and the public to ensure the information available is always up-to-date. Any change in the in flight product, aircraft types and safety is corrected within one business day of us being informed.

Regional airlines (regionals) act as feeder airlines to major airlines connecting regional centers to main hubs (airports). Regionals also link smaller centers to each other. These airlines typically operate turbo-prop or single aisle regional jets on short routes (typically less than three hours). Due to the short flight times passengers on regionals are generally not served a meal or alcoholic beverages or given a blanket and pillow. In fight entertainment is also rare. Whilst similar to low cost airlines, regional airlines differ in that fares generally include baggage that can be transferred between flights. Many regional airlines are subsidiaries of full service airlines and allow premium passengers access to the full service carrier lounges. Low cost carriers typically do not have passenger lounges, business or first class cabins, and are seldom part of an alliance. These carriers offer a lower level of service than full service carriers and generally work on a point-to-point route network. The provision of passenger comforts such as meals, blankets, pillows and in flight entertainment is low, variable or nonexistent and if available, usually needs to be purchased. Low cost carriers typically operate one or two aircraft types and rarely transfer baggage from one flight to another. Full service airlines typically offer passengers in flight entertainment, checked baggage, meals, beverages and comforts such as blankets and pillows in the ticket price. The seats generally have more recline than a low cost carrier as well as more leg room. Full service airlines offer passengers the choice of economy or business class travel and, on some flights, first class. The airlines in this category will transfer baggage between flights and to alliance partners of which many full service carriers are a part (SkyTeam, oneworld, Star Alliance). Full service airlines often have a long history and are the flag carrier for their country of origin. In some cases an airline will fit within multiple categories. in situations like this, an executive decision is made by our editors as to where the airline best fits or the category may be requested by the airline itself.

Whilst Airline Ratings strives to consistently provide the most up-to-date information on the in flight product one can expect to experience, unforeseen circumstances can unfortunately result in differences. Airlines at certain times of the year such as peak season may lease aircraft off leasing companies or other airlines which may offer a different in flight product resulting in such things as a lack of personal in flight entertainment or a different seat pitch to that airline’s typical offering. Airlines also code share with many airlines around the globe meaning you often do not fly with the airline the ticket was actually booked through – tickets need to be checked carefully to identify the airline and aircraft being flown. If there has been a problem with maintenance or an event resulting in significant delays, the airline may borrow an aircraft from another company which again results in a different in flight product to that expected.

We do our very best to ensure our ratings are current and accurate however if you have a query regarding a particular rating please contact the airline ratings team at Contact Us and explain in detail what you disagree with and why. A member of our team will get back to you as soon as possible.

Low Cost, Regional and Full Service airlines are rated in different ways because they offer very different products. To see how each airline is rated click on the Product Rating inside the link for any airline remembering that the rating for Low Cost, Regional and Full Service is different. Alternatively at the bottom of the homepage you will find a Rating Criteria section.

If you have an airline experience you want to share simply go to Passenger Reviews. From the alphabet at the top select the airline you want to review i.e. Q for Qantas and then click on the airline’s logo. From here click on the Rate your experience button and fill in the form.

At the bottom of every email is an Unsubscribe link. Simply click on this and you will be directed to a new page to confirm you want to unsubscribe.

In the middle of the home page is a Stay Up To Date section. Simply fill in your name and email address here to receive updates from Airline Ratings.

If you want to remove a listing on Passenger reviews please contact the Airline Ratings team at Contact Us and provide us with the following information so we can locate and then delete your review: Indicate the Airline reviewed; Date of review NOT date of travel (or as close to it as possible); your name; your email address (please make sure it is the email address you entered when you lodged the passenger review). Please allow up to 48 hours for the team to locate and delete your review.

At the bottom of the homepage under the heading Home is a Contact Us link. Click on this and fill out the attached form. If you require the attention of a particular member of the team please start your query with Attn:[insert member].

At the bottom of the homepage under the heading Home is a Contact Us link. Click on this and fill out the attached form. If you require the attention of a particular member of the team please start your query with Attn:[insert member].

Every passenger review must be screened by the Airline Ratings team prior to being made available to the public. The average turn around rate for this is 2 days. Reviews about lost baggage or compensation cannot be published. In addition to this, reviews in capitals or those requiring extensive text editing or obscene language will also not be published. If your review is suitable for publishing but is not appearing please contact the team Contact Us

With over 1,200 airlines operating throughout the world it is unfortunately impossible for Airline Ratings to evaluate and in turn maintain accuracy for every airline that flies. If you would like the safety information on an airline not featured on our website please Contact Us and a member of our team will happily gather this information for you and reply as soon as possible.

If an airline has a crash that involves the death of a passenger and or crew member/s the airline will automatically receive a deduction of one star giving them a lower safety rating. This new rating will stay with the airline for 10 years as a crash involving fatalities carries with it a one star deduction for 10 years from the date of the incident. A star however will not be deducted if the deaths were caused by an act of terrorism, pilot suicide or hijacking. As well as putting the changes on our Facebook and Twitter pages, an email containing more in depth information will be sent to all our registered Airline Ratings users. If you would like to be in our mailing list please fill in your details in the “Stay Up To Date” box in the middle of the homepage.

Any change to an airline’s rating whether related to product or safety will be published on our Facebook and Twitter pages. Those who have signed up to receive emails from Airline Ratings will also receive more in-depth communication about the change. If you want to be a part of our mailing list please subscribe.

You can only enter each of the Competitions published on our website once.

Yes. Within each competition there will be a Terms and Conditions section outlining the exact terms of the prize. In many cases if the competition winner is not living in a city served by the particular airline sponsoring the competition, the winner may have to arrange and fund their own transport to the nearest port served by the airline.

Competition winners are chosen by the Airline Ratings team based on the terms of the competition. A competition calling for entrants’ thoughts and suggestions will be based on the best answer to the question posed as judged by our experienced team. Competitions based on random selection will be chosen randomly from the Airline Ratings’ server.

Airline Ratings uses international safety standard measures to assess the safety of each airline. An airline with a seven star safety rating meets and generally exceeds all international requirements that are put in place to prevent an accident happening. Flying as with everything carries an element of risk and the Airline Ratings team can not guarantee that a 7 star airline will not have a crash involving fatalities, what we report is that the airline and its country of origin have passed the most rigorous industry safety audits. For in depth information on our safety rating simply click on the numerical safety rating of any airline and take a look at the pop up.

If the safety rating of an airline changes the airline ratings team will update the changes within one business day. All changes will be listed on our Facebook and Twitter pages as well as an email outlining more information to those signed up to Airline Ratings.

We don’t cover incidents because every airline has incidents, mostly minor – every day. Also many countries and airlines do not report them so we are unable to give a fair comparison.

Please contact Airline Ratings Contact Us inside link and a member of our team will respond to you as soon as possible.