Not all airlines or airports are created equal, and some are far more likely than others to disrupt your plans when you’re trying to leave town. So, how do you know which to avoid and which to seek out? A new study just revealed this year’s best and worst airlines and airports around the world, which could do wonders to help you avoid unnecessary travel day headaches.

The rankings were created by AirHelp, a startup that advocates for passengers’ rights and compensation. They looked at the on-time performance and quality of service for 72 airlines and 141 airports around the world to determine what earned the bragging rights to top the lists. For the carrier ranking, they considered three factors: on-time performance, quality of service (according to sentiment on a variety of review sites), and a claims-processing score, which essentially measures how well a company handles customer complaints

The 10 best airlines of 2018

1. Qatar Airways (89 per cent on-time performance)

2. Lufthansa (76 per cent)

3. Etihad Airways (86 per cent)

4. Singapore Airlines (85 per cent)

5. South African Airways (85 per cent)

6. Austrian Airlines (80 per cent)

7. Aegean Airlines (90 per cent)

8. Qantas (89 per cent)

9. Air Malta (86 per cent)

10. Virgin Atlantic (82 per cent )

The worst airlines of 2018

1. Jet Airways (65 per cent on-time performance)

2. Aerolineas Argentinas (85 per cent)

3. Iberia (84 per cent)

4. Korean Air (64 per cent)

5. Ryanair (86 per cent)

6. Air Mauritius (69 per cent)

7. EasyJet (79 per cent)

8. Pakistan International Airlines (61 per cent)

9. Royal Jordanian Airlines (83 per cent)

10. WOW Air (75 per cent)

To select the best airports in the world, AirHelp used a slightly different formula. They looked at on-time departure stats, and quality of service (sampling online reviews for everything from terminal comfort and passenger facilities to check-in and security). They also took into account general passenger sentiment by looking at how passengers either complained or praised certain elements of their airport experience on Twitter.

The 10 best airports of 2018

1. Hamad International Airport, Doha (DOH)

2. Athens International Airport, Athens (ATH)

3. Tokyo Haneda International Airport, Tokyo (HND)

4. Cologne Bonn Airport, Cologne, Germany (CGN)

5. Singapore Changi Airport, Singapore (SIN)

6. Nagoya Chubu Centrair Airport, Nagoya, Japan (NGO)

7. Viracopos International Airport, Campinas, Brazil (VCP)

8. Amman Queen Alia Airport, Amman, Jordan (AMM)

9. Guararapes-Gilberto Freyre International Airport, Recife, Brazil (REC)

10. Quito International Airport, Quito, Ecuador (UIO)

The worst airports of 2018

1. Eindhoven Airport, Eindhoven, Netherlands (EIN)

2. Bordeaux Merignac, Bordeaux, France (BOD)

3. Edinburgh Airport, Edinburgh (EDI)

4. Boryspil International Airport, Kiev, Ukraine (KBP)

5. Manchester Airport, Manchester, United Kingdom (MAN)

6. Stockholm Bromma Airport, Stockholm (BMA)

7. Paris Orly, Paris (ORY)

8. Lyon-Saint-Exupery Airport, Lyon, France (LYS)

9. London Stansted Airport, London (STN)

10. Kuwait International Airport, Farwaniya, Kuwait (KWI)

Source: airhelp & thrilllist

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