Nosedive! Passengers are falling out of love with BA

IT was once known as ‘the world’s favourite airline’.

But British Airways is now one of the worst, according to thousands of holidaymakers.

The nation’s flag carrier was criticised for uncomfortable seats and poor meals in a poll by Which?

It marks a dramatic fall from grace for the airline, which in 2015 was voted the best short-haul option in the same survey.

The poll of more than 6,500 travellers has seen BA hit third-frombottom for short-haul travel. It is second-worst for long haul.

It comes at the end of a dismal year for the company due to IT glitches, strikes and cancellations. Last month, an IT meltdown caused delays of up to 24 hours. There were similarly severe systems failures in 2017.

This year’s chaos came 12 months after hackers stole the data of half a million BA customers in a breach which led to a £183million fine.

Consumer champion Which? asked passengers to describe service, boarding and cabin environment on flights.

Overall, BA suffered a customer satisfaction score of 55 per cent.

BA said: ‘Our own data shows customer satisfaction scores have increased as we deliver our £6.5billion investment for customers on new aircraft, new food, new lounges and new technology.’

For the fourth year Ryanair was voted worst overall, at 44 per cent. Passengers accused the budget carrier of treating them like ‘cash cows in cattle class’cabins.

By contrast, British airline Jet2 scored 79 per cent. Flyers described service as ‘friendly’ and ‘efficient’. It was second only to Channel Islands airline Aurigny.

American Airlines was voted the worst long-haul carrier, scoring 48 per cent. One passenger said: ‘The cabin was scruffy, the staff rude, the food awful.’

Virgin Atlantic was at 72 per cent and was voted best for flying from the UK to the US.