Air India tops Singapore travellers’ survey of most delays & cancellations

SINGAPORE: According to a survey conducted by MoneySmart, Air India ranked first place as the carrier with the most delays and cancellations.

Nearly two out of five respondents (38 per cent) said they experienced a delay with Singapore Airlines flights. The national carrier, however, tied with Philippine Airlines to come in ninth on the list of top airlines with the highest number of flight delays.

Financial adviser MoneySmart surveyed more than 1,700 Singaporeans regarding delays, flight cancellations, and compensation received from May 2022 to May 2023, publishing the results recently on its site.

The company noted, however, that the results it published are from data collected from the travellers and not statistics from flight cancellations or delays as reported by the airlines themselves.

The top three airlines with the most delays are Air India (71 per cent, Air China (79 per cent) and Cebu Pacific Air (69 per cent) respondents said they experienced a delayed flight with these carriers.

Rounding out the top ten are Bangkok Airways (62 per cent), Air Asia (47 per cent), China Airlines (46 per cent), British Airways (46 per cent), All Nippon Airways (43 per cent), Singapore Airlines (38 per cent), Philippine Airlines (38 per cent), Scoot (37 per cent), and Japan Airlines (37 per cent).

Forty per cent of the travellers surveyed said they were only delayed by one to three hours, although 38 per cent said that the delays they experienced lasted even longer.

Air India, again, topped the list for the longest delays, with 23 per cent of passengers saying their delays lasted between 7 and 9 hours.

Second, on the list is All Nippon Airways, with 33 per cent of those who travelled with the carrier saying the delay they experienced lasted 4 to 6 hours.

As for cancellations, 71 per cent of those surveyed said the Air India flight they took was cancelled. Cebu Pacific Air came in second, with 65 per cent experiencing a cancellation, and Air China placed third, with 64 per cent saying they had a cancelled flight with the carrier.

Surprisingly, almost a third of those surveyed, or 32 per cent, said they did not receive direct compensation from airlines for the cancelled flights, while 42 per cent of those whose flights were delayed said they had done so.

To its credit, Air China topped the list of passengers who received compensation for delayed (71 per cent) or cancelled (74 per cent) flights.

Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines topped the list when it came to how quickly carriers got travellers replacement flights. One-third of those surveyed (33 per cent) said they waited only 1 to 3 hours for replacement flights from SIA. /TISG

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