# The World’s Worst Airlines: An In-Depth Review
A friend in the travel industry recently posted a question on Facebook asking which airline people consider “the best.” Excluding answers driven by loyalty perks, the list was quite short: Southwest and Alaska Air in the USA, and Emirates, Qatar Airlines, and Singapore Airlines internationally. If he had wanted to spark a more heated debate, he could have easily increased the responses tenfold by asking which airlines to *avoid*.
“The world’s worst airlines” seems to have many more candidates than a competition to find the best ones these days.
In some respects, this is unfair. Air travel is safer than it has ever been. How many commercial plane crashes have you heard about in the last four years? Certainly, there have been some near misses and a recent incident of a gaping hole appearing mid-flight, but almost no one has died despite millions flying each year. The same cannot be said for journeys by bus, ship, train, or car.
However, the general perception is that the flying experience has deteriorated, and this feeling is not unfounded. Seat pitch has decreased, and seats are narrower to fit in more passengers. Few airlines still allow you to check a bag for free, leading to chaos during boarding as everyone vies for limited overhead bin space to avoid paying. When weather or technical issues arise, the high number of flights attempting to land can cause a chain reaction, delaying or canceling hundreds of flights.
These problems are largely universal, so we need to determine the criteria for judging the world’s worst airlines. Customer service, amenities, timeliness, safety, and the number of lost bags all contribute to both statistics and personal opinions. Reaching a consensus on the worst airline involves analyzing all this data collectively or ranking airlines based on individual factors.
Based on surveys, complaints, and fees, **Spirit** and **Frontier** have historically been the worst in the developed world. They also perform poorly in nearly every other category. There’s a reason why almost no one claims to love these airlines. While they may offer the cheapest fares, like the slightly better Allegiant, you get what you pay for with the lowest scores, ratings, and statistics.
Here’s who ranks at the bottom in different categories, outlining airlines to avoid if possible.
## The Worst Airlines in Terms of Safety
If we name the worst airline based on recent safety records, that would be **Yeti Air** of Nepal. It holds the grim distinction of being responsible for a fatal crash in 2023. A flight between Kathmandu and Pokhara crashed during descent, killing 72 people.
I once flew the same route in Nepal a few years ago. Fortunately, I was on Buddha Air instead of Yeti Air, though realistically, the chances of dying in a plane crash are very low. According to the [IATA’s 2024 report](https://www.iata.org/en/pressroom/2024-releases/2024-02-28-01/):
> At this level of safety, on average a person would have to travel by air every day for 103,239 years to experience a fatal accident.
It’s crucial to note that fatal airline accidents are extremely rare, with some years witnessing no commercial flight accidents globally. For instance, not a single U.S. airline had a fatal crash over a four-year period between 2014 and 2017, which is remarkable. So, any airline rated poorly due to fatalities likely experienced an incident several years ago.
Compiled from various reports, here are some of the top contenders for the worst airlines in the safety category:
### Aeroflot
Widely regarded as the worst large airline globally, Aeroflot is the Russian state carrier, and its planes are not known for being modern or up to world standards. The airline’s official accident statistics are also met with skepticism in a country where state media reports are unchallenged, and a flight carrying a Putin rival exploded mid-air last year. In this [global list from AirlinesRatings.com](https://www.airlineratings.com/safety-rating-tool/), Aeroflot scored zero out of 10. In fact, all six airlines scoring zero are Russian.
### Lion Air
Indonesia’s largest private airline serves around 40 destinations and was until recently banned from flying to the EU due to safety concerns. The airline has had 15 serious accidents over the years, including a fatal crash. AirlinesRatings.com gave it a 2 out of 10 for safety.
### Yeti Airlines