--- title: Airlines: Worst Customer Service in Airline Industry description: Customer service is one of the few things airlines have total control over, but apathetic employees can tarnish a carrier’s reputation canonical: https://time.com/4726939/airlines-worst-customer-service/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-10T18:55:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:49.667Z og:title: These Airlines Have the Worst Customer Service og:description: These airlines could learn a thing or two about customer appreciation og:url: https://time.com/4726939/airlines-worst-customer-service/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaee7d207815873b6/6988c177cf40a869dac471a0/airlines-worst-customer-service.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: New York Scenics og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: These Airlines Have the Worst Customer Service twitter:description: These airlines could learn a thing or two about customer appreciation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaee7d207815873b6/6988c177cf40a869dac471a0/airlines-worst-customer-service.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # These Airlines Have the Worst Customer Service by [Melanie Lieberman / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Melanie Lieberman / Travel + Leisure Apr 10, 2017 6:55 PM UTC  A Spirit Airlines passenger aircraft (Airbus A320) takes off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City, New York. A Spirit Airlines passenger aircraft (Airbus A320) takes off from LaGuardia Airport in New York City, New York.Robert Alexander—Getty Images by [Melanie Lieberman / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Melanie Lieberman / Travel + Leisure Apr 10, 2017 6:55 PM UTC Plenty of things can make a flight unpleasant: rough skies, weather-related cancelations and delays, even [tarantulas roaming the cabin mid-flight](http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/offbeat/tarantulas-on-plane). But how an airline’s staff and crew handle these mishaps—and treats passengers—can turn an annoying (or creepy-crawly) situation into a complete nightmare. Customer service is one of the few things airlines have total control over, but poorly trained or apathetic employees can tarnish a carrier’s reputation. Every year, _Travel + Leisure’_s [World’s Best Awards](http://www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best) survey asks readers to weigh in on travel experiences from across the globe—to cast their votes for the top hotels, islands, cities, spas, and more. Readers ranked airlines on a number of categories, including cabin comfort, food, value, and customer service. And when it came to the latter, some carriers failed to perform in 2016. “I am not a complainer,” said _T+L_ reader Beth McKieman. “But this was by far the worst flight experience I have ever \[taken\].” During her flight with Royal Air Maroc, Morocco’s national carrier, McKieman reported that a request for a tissue was met with “a glare and a shrug” from “a surly crew.” And travelers flying with the domestic budget airline, Frontier, described a remarkable drop in customer service. “This airline is on a downward slide,” said one reader, while another added: “even their once great flight attendants have become robotic and mostly uncaring_.”_ It’s not just cranky gate agents and brusque flight attendants that account for bad customer service. Of Volaris, a Mexico-based low-cost airline, one reader postulated the mobile version of the website was specifically designed “to make you book by phone at \[an\] extra charge.” And don’t even get them started on the cabin comfort. Of course, there are plenty of [airlines out there that are treating travelers right](http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/worlds-best-airlines-customer-service)—and the world’s worst airlines for customer service could learn a thing or two about hospitality. ## No. 9 United Airlines, Domestic ## No. 8 Air India, International ## No. 7 Egyptair, International ## No. 6 Volaris, International ## No. 5 Royal Air Maroc, International ## No. 4 easyJet, International ## No. 3 Frontier Airlines, Domestic ## No. 2 Allegiant, Domestic ## No. 1 Spirit Airlines, Domestic “We’ll never fly spirit again no matter what the rate,” said reader Amy Barwick of the low-cost carrier, “because you’ll end up paying the difference in further frustrations later.” Spirit continues to bottom out with _T+L_ readers, who were routinely dismayed by the airline’s lack of customer service. “I know \[flight attendants\] are there for safety,” said another survey respondent, “but I’m not sure they would put passengers first \[in\] an emergency.” Many readers interacted with rude employees, and just as many said it’s impossible to speak with a customer service representative. Even on Twitter, “Spirit Autopilot” tries to deflect complaints with bot-generated responses. _This_ [_article_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/airlines-airports/worlds-worst-airlines-customer-service) _originally appeared on_ [_TravelandLeisure.com_](http://www.travelandleisure.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4726939/airlines-worst-customer-service/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4726939/airlines-worst-customer-service/"},"headline":"These Airlines Have the Worst Customer Service","datePublished":"2017-04-10T18:55:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:49.667Z","description":"\"Even their once great flight attendants have become robotic\"","url":"https://time.com/4726939/airlines-worst-customer-service/","keywords":["Living","Aviation","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaee7d207815873b6/6988c177cf40a869dac471a0/airlines-worst-customer-service.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melanie Lieberman / Travel + Leisure"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltaee7d207815873b6/6988c177cf40a869dac471a0/airlines-worst-customer-service.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New York Scenics","caption":"New York Scenics","creditText":"Robert Alexander—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4726939/airlines-worst-customer-service/","name":"These Airlines Have the Worst Customer Service"}}]}] ```