Qantas has taken out the top spot for the safest airline in the world, which is a huge win for them after receiving months of bad reviews and coverage in the media.
AirlineRatings.com awarded Qantas the number one spot, saying that they beat out last year’s winner Air New Zealand by “the finest of margins”.
“Our Top Twenty safest airlines are all standouts in the industry and are at the forefront of safety, innovation, and launching of new aircraft,” AirlineRatings.com Editor-in-Chief Geoffrey Thomas said.
“In fact, the safety margins between these top twenty airlines are very small, they are all outstanding airlines.”
“All airlines have incidents every day, and many are aircraft or engine manufacture issues, not airline operational problems. It is the way the flight crew handles these incidents that determines a good airline from an unsafe one,” he added.
The airlines in order of their safety rating, according to AirlineRatings.com are as follows: Qantas, Air New Zealand, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Emirates, Alaska Airlines, EVA Air, Virgin Australia/Atlantic, Cathay Pacific Airways, Hawaiian Airlines, SAS, United Airlines, Lufthansa/Swiss Group, Finnair, British Airways, KLM, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
According to Thomas, the editors analyze: crashes over 5 years, serious incidents over two years, audits from aviation’s governing bodies and lead associations; fleet age, expert analysis of pilot training, and COVID protocols in making their determinations.
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In November, Qantas won Choice’s Shonky award – which recognises the worst of the worst products and services taking advantage of Australians.
Choice awarded the airline the undesirable award and dubbed them “the spirit of disappointment” over their high prices, frequent cancellations, travel credits and long wait times.
“If there was ever a company that appeared to deliberately be going out of its way to win a Shonky award, it’s Qantas,” CHOICE travel expert Jodi Bird said.
“People are still paying premium prices to fly Qantas but it’s clear from the complaints we’ve heard, they’re not getting a premium service.”
Bird added that Australian’s travel credits were all but useless when they expired due to COVID related border closures.
“Qantas has made it difficult and confusing for their customers to use flight credits for cancelled travel,” he said.
The product comparison company found that on average callers spent 21 minutes waiting on the phone to Qantas before their call was answered – with some customers waiting up to 50 minutes.
“This includes forcing many people to spend extra money, putting limits on available flights, being unable to make bookings using credits online – the list goes on.”
“Qantas might call itself the Spirit of Australia, but we think Spirit of Disappointment is more appropriate,” CHOICE chief executive Alan Kirkland said.
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