Ryanair and in-flight mobiles get thumbs down

Ryanair has been voted the worst airline by British travellers for the second year running.

A third of people in the UK polled by online travel community TripAdvisor voted the Irish no-frills airline their least favourite. 

The main reasons given were delays and cancellations, unfriendly staff, uncomfortable seats and poor legroom. A fifth of British travellers also put “price gouging” on their list, according to TripAdvisor.  

USAirways was voted the overall least favourite airline over Ryanair which came bottom last year, according to more than 2,500 respondents to the travel survey.

British Airways, which came top in the survey last year, slipped to third place overall but was voted top airline by travellers outside the US.

American Airlines was the favourite airline among worldwide respondents.

Travellers selected these airlines as their favourite primarily because of their friendly and helpful staff, good on-time arrival and departure records, and comfortable seats.

British travellers rate personal comfort more important than others, the poll revealed.

Heathrow and Chicago’s O’Hare were nominated the world’s least favourite airports, with Amsterdam’s Schiphol rated the best. The top three key features that make an airport great are that they are easy to navigate and get to the gate, clean toilets and good parking.

TripAdvisor travellers give a resounding “no” to the use of mobile phones in the skies with 90% of British and 78% of travellers worldwide voting against (see TravelMole Comment).  

Meanwhile, the poll revealed that British travellers take more time off than those from the rest of the world but are far less active when on holiday.

But, while environmental concerns about travel grow, British travellers are less enthusiastic than the rest of the world to embrace eco-friendly practices. 

When asked whether they plan to be more environmentally conscious in their travel decisions in the coming year, nearly one-third (27%) said, “no,” compared with only one-fifth (19%).

Forty-five percent of Brits said that they were unlikely to visit an environmentally friendly hotel or resort, compared with 30 percent worldwide.  

Nearly half  (47%) of Brits had between four and six weeks annual holiday entitlement during the past 12 months and 43% had six weeks or more, compared with just under a third of all travellers for the same period. 

Sixty-two percent of British respondents believe they need six weeks or more annual holiday and 85% intend to take up all their holiday entitlement during the next 12 months, compared with three quarters of all travellers.

Sixty-four per cent of people will opt to head to the beach and most likely to do little else. 

Only 12% of British travellers are very likely to go hiking, five per cent cycling, nine per cent sailing and seven per cent engage in an adventure activity, compared with 21, 10, 29 and 15 per cent respectively for all travellers.

Sixty-five per cent of British travellers said they never check their e-mail or voicemail when on holiday, unlike 42 per cent of all travellers.

More than 40% of Americans said unfavourable exchange rates will either prevent them from going, or limit their travel to Europe in the coming year.  

TripAdvisor’s TravelCast barometer of what’s hot in travel predicts the rising stars for 2008 to be:

  1.. Jerba, Tunisia

  2.. Makandi Bay, Egypt

  3.. Phangnga, Thailand

  4.. Kovalam, India

  5.. Sabaudia, Italy

  6.. Asilah, Morocco

  7.. Ko Phangan, Thailand

  8.. La Plagne, France

  9.. Yangshuo, China

  10.. Kotor, Montenegro

by Phil Davies