Air China revealed as the most likeliest airline to compensate travellers over delayed and cancelled flights

Travel disruptions have become an even bigger inconvenience in recent times with air travel in particular often bringing out strong frustrations from those travelling. Whether it be flight cancellations or flight delays, air travel has become more of a nightmare for travellers.

Fresh research from one of Southeast Asia's leading personal finance portals, MoneySmart, showcased the top 12 airlines that caused flight delays and cancellations in the past year. This was obtained from surveying 1730 Singaporeans that experienced air travel from May 2022 until May 2023.

The last 12 months have seen travellers from Singapore grow frustrated with travel and flight disruptions as the term 'travel insurance claim', increased in the number of searches online by an astonishing 401 per cent.

When it comes to the airline with the most delays to flights, the Singaporean surveyors found Air India to be the most culpable as 78 per cent of passengers, nearly four out of every five, who flew with them experienced delays. Behind Air India as the second highest airline with delays was Air China, with 70 per cent of the survey respondents encountering a delay when flying with them.

Very marginally behind Air China and in third spot was Cebu Pacific Air, the low-cost airline from the Philippines, which caused 69 per cent of its Singaporean travellers to be met with delays. Bangkok Airways, Air Asia, China Airlines, British Airways and All Nippon Airways followed behind with flight delays ranging from 62 per cent to 43 per cent with the respective airlines.

The national carrier for Singaporeans, Singapore Airlines, was the ninth most culpable airline for flight delays in the past year as 38 per cent of passengers did not see their flight leave on the scheduled departing time. Also, low-cost Singaporean airline, Scoot, made the list, ending up in the eleventh spot for flight delays, due to 37 per cent of Singaporean travellers experiencing a delay with them.

Philippine Airlines and Japan Airlines were the tenth and twelfth-ranked airlines for flight delays with 38 per cent and 37 per cent of passengers experiencing a delay with them respectively.

The survey revealed the most frequent time duration for delays was one to three hours, with 40 per cent of respondents claiming that, whilst 38 per cent of Singaporean travellers in the past year reported that their delays exceeded four hours.

With flight cancellations, Air India was also the most culpable, as 71 per cent of respondents claimed the airline cancelled a flight they were set to board. Cebu Pacific Air and Air China followed in second and third place with 65 per cent and 64 per cent of passengers experiencing a cancelled flight respectively.

Singapore Airlines was revealed as the tenth-highest airline with customer cancellations as 26 per cent of respondents claimed this. The rest of the top 12 included the same airlines from the most delays results, apart from Scoot, with Cathay Pacific taking its place in the customer cancellations list.

The survey found that the most likely time spent trying to get onto a replacement flight ranged from one to three hours, with 27 per cent of respondents saying this.

Regarding compensation, 42 per cent of the survey respondents claimed they did not receive direct compensation from the airline they flew with when it came to delayed flights. Scoot was found to be the airline least likely to give compensation over delayed flights, compensating just 23 per cent of travellers.

Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Airlines were also found to not compensate generously to their passengers over delayed flights, compensating 27 per cent and 30 per cent of travellers respectively. Air China was found to be the most accommodating and helpful to travellers, compensating 71 per cent of them.

With compensating travellers over cancelled flights, 32 per cent of respondents stated they did not receive direct compensation from the airline they flew with. Air India was found as the airline least likely to compensate its travellers over cancelled flights with 43 per cent obtaining compensation.

The most likely to offer compensation over cancelled flights were again Air China, helping out 74 per cent of travellers. Singapore Airlines was just behind having been found to compensate 73 per cent of travellers.

The cause of these much more common travel disturbances has led to the respondents of the survey portraying a negative attitude towards future air travel arrangements. This is as 62 per cent felt stressed during their travel disturbance whilst 58 per cent claimed that they have concerns over future disruptions.

Also, 47 per cent felt disappointed over how the airline they booked to travel with handled their respective delays or cancellations. Furthermore, and quite crucially, 39 per cent claimed they would not want to fly with the same airline again due to how their disruption was dealt with.

To be able to defend themselves with travel disruptions and obstacles going forward, 65 per cent of respondents mentioned the importance of them always pre-arranging travel insurance now due to how common disruptions are.

Singapore General Manager at MoneySmart, Abel Lee, touched on the reveals of the survey and highlighted the need for travel insurance. He stated: "Our survey has uncovered very recent negative experiences by modern travellers, and we recognise the critical role travel insurance plays in mitigating these risks. Travel insurance offers a peace of mind, ensuring that unforeseen disruptions are met with comprehensive support and financial protection that one may not necessarily receive from airlines."