Which Airlines Pay Flight Compensation? 2026 Honesty Ranking (Jan-Jun Data)
TAP Air Portugal earns the title of the most honest airline of 2026, based on AirAdvisor’s passenger compensation claims analysis. TAROM ranks last, or least honest.
To come up with the final rankings, we first analysed 68,283 claims from 59 airlines from January to June 2026. Only the 22 airlines with at least 100 qualifying claims made it into the final ranking, representing 10,760 claims.
With the data set in place, each of the 22 airlines was judged on successful claim resolution under Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 (EU261) or its UK equivalent, UK261. Under Article 7 of EU261, that means €250, €400, or €600 per passenger, depending on flight distance, so the claim resolution and court rates matter.
Key takeaways
TAP Air Portugal ranks first as the most honest with an AirAdvisor Honesty Score of 93.0/100.
TAROM lands in last place overall, partially because 46.7% of TAROM compensation claims were sent to court.
Successful resolution rates range from 88.7% for TAP to below 1% for AeroItalia, Air Europa, and easyJet.
Court escalation ranges significantly too, from zero to as high as almost one in two claims for TAROM.
Using airlines with sufficient data only, passengers receive compensation payments in as little as 7 days to as long as 130 days.
The Honesty Score measures only how airlines handled claims filed through AirAdvisor between January and June 2026.
Final result: 2026 AirAdvisor Honesty Score rankings
Most honest airlines
Rank | Airline | Honesty Score (/100) | Qualified claims | Successful to date | Sent to court | Avg. days to payment* |
1 | TAP Air Portugal | 93.0 | 159 | 88.7% | 0.6% | 10 |
2 | LOT Polish Airlines | 89.7 | 239 | 82.8% | 0.0% | 18.9 |
3 | Wizz Air | 83.2 | 866 | 72.7% | 1.2% | 11.4 |
4 | Iberia | 79.8 | 892 | 67.3% | 1.5% | 10 |
5 | Brussels Airlines | 78.8 | 212 | 64.6% | 0.0% | 23 |
6 | Air France | 74.2 | 753 | 59.0% | 2.9% | 27.9 |
7 | Aegean Airlines | 73.8 | 247 | 56.3% | 0.0% | 16.2 |
8 | KLM | 70.8 | 1,314 | 51.5% | 0.2% | 16.7 |
9 | ITA Airways | 70.7 | 669 | 51.7% | 0.7% | 33 |
10 | SAS | 68.3 | 350 | 47.7% | 0.9% | 52.7 |
*Average days to payment is not included in the final Honesty Score.
Least honest airlines
Rank | Airline | Honesty Score | Qualified Claims | Successful to Date | Sent to Court | Avg. Days to Payment |
1 | TAROM | 23.3 | 122 | 3.3% | 46.7% | 110 |
2 | AeroItalia | 29.1 | 174 | 0.6% | 28.2% | N/A |
3 | Ryanair | 34.2 | 991 | 2.1% | 17.8% | 80** |
4 | Air Europa | 34.6 | 761 | 0.1% | 13.8% | N/A |
5 | Lufthansa | 37.7 | 970 | 2.3% | 9.1% | N/A |
6 | easyJet | 38.8 | 286 | 0.3% | 3.5% | N/A |
7 | SATA / Azores Airlines | 40.1 | 171 | 4.1% | 5.8% | 130 |
8 | Eurowings | 41.1 | 211 | 3.8% | 2.8% | 67.4 |
9 | Condor | 44.1 | 161 | 8.1% | 1.9% | 7 |
10 | Vueling | 53.5 | 571 | 28.7% | 9.3% | 10 |
**Ryanair payment time was only available for part of Ryanair’s successful claims and should therefore be treated as indicative, not directly comparable.
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How AirAdvisor’s Honesty Score works
Qualified claims
Of the 59 airlines with data available (68,283 AirAdvisor-only claims), we only used airlines with at least 100 qualified claims. Qualified claims are those either still in progress or already successful (10,760 total) during our January to June 2026 time period.
Claim resolution rate (60%)
This is the claims already won or successful out of the total qualified claims, and accounts for 60% of the total score. Higher scores are better.
Court avoidance rate (40%)
Using the formula: 1 - (claims sent to court ÷ qualified claims), we calculated the court avoidance rate, where higher scores are better. It was assigned 40% of the total score.
For example, TAROM’s court avoidance rate is 53.3%, which means that 46.7% of claims were taken to court by AirAdvisor for resolution.
Compensation payment timeframe
Average days to payment is used for informational purposes only because the data wasn’t consistently available for each airline.
What “honesty” means
"Honesty" refers only to how airlines handled qualified passenger compensation claims in AirAdvisor's dataset. It doesn’t measure airline safety, general customer service, corporate ethics, or overall airline quality.
Court referrals are AirAdvisor's decision, taken only after the airline rejected or ignored a claim we judged eligible under EU261/UK261.
Why TAP ranks first, and TAROM ranks last
The difference in points between the highest and lowest scores is large: TAP scores 93.0 and TAROM 23.3, a gap of almost 70 points.
TAP Air Portugal: the most honest airline
159 qualified claims
88.7% successful resolution rate
0.6% sent to court
~10-day payment time
Total score: 93.0/100
TAP is top, but our second-place airline, LOT, actually scores better (0%) for claims taken to court. Aegean Airlines and Brussels Airlines also had zero. TAP’s claim resolution rate is the highest overall, though, so it’s the combination that wins out.
In third place, we find Wizz Air, but the drop in claim resolution is significant: 72.7% compared to TAP’s 88.7%.
TAROM: the least honest airline
122 qualified claims
3.3% successful
46.7% sent to court
~110-day payment time
Total score: 23.3/100
TAROM's court-escalation rate is the highest of any airline in our dataset. The airline also has a very low claim-success rate. The next highest sent-to-court rate is for AeroItalia; 18.5 percentage points lower than TAROM.
TAROM's success rate (3.3%) isn't the lowest. Air Europa's 0.1% is. TAROM ranks last because it scores poorly on both measures.
Do big airlines handle claims better? KLM vs Ryanair vs Lufthansa
Among the seven airlines with the most claims, size predicts nothing. The airlines that rarely pay are the same ones we most often have to take to court.
Airline | Qualified Claims | Successful | Sent to Court |
KLM | 1,314 | 51.5% | 0.2% |
Ryanair | 991 | 2.1% | 17.8% |
Lufthansa | 970 | 2.3% | 9.1% |
Iberia | 892 | 67.3% | 1.5% |
Wizz Air | 866 | 72.7% | 1.2% |
Air Europa | 761 | 0.1% | 13.8% |
Air France | 753 | 59.0% | 2.9% |
KLM has the highest number of qualified claims but the lowest sent-to-court rate. Wizz Air has the highest successful claim rate and a low sent-to-court rate.
Air Europa has the lowest successful claim rate and a high sent-to-court rate. Ryanair’s sent-to-court rate is the highest.
Ryanair (991 claims) and Lufthansa (970) had about three-quarters of KLM's volume (1,314), but we took them to court 45 to 90 times as often.
We can safely say that a similarly large number of qualified claims doesn’t guarantee similar success or court rates.
“Passengers should not have to become legal experts just to receive compensation they are entitled to. What these figures show is that the experience after a disruption can vary enormously depending on the airline.”
With some carriers, the overwhelming majority of qualified claims can be resolved without going anywhere near a courtroom. With others, legal escalation is much more common. For passengers, that can mean months of additional waiting and uncertainty,
says Anton Radchenko, Founder and CEO of AirAdvisor.
Days vs. months: the difference in payment times
Payment times range from 7 days (Condor) to 130 days (SATA / Azores Airlines) among airlines with enough paid claims.
No one wants to wait ages just to get the money they’re owed, so claim payment timeframes are important. Of the airlines for which data was available, this is how they stack up:
Averages based on fewer than 20 paid claims are indicative only.
SATA's average is the highest (130 days) and is roughly 13 times TAP or Iberia's.
TAROM combines a high court rate with slow payment.
Aegean and KLM are relatively quick: both average under 17 days.
Why your airline affects how fast you get paid
In our data, the airline you flew can change the average wait from 7 days (Condor) or 10 days (TAP, Iberia) to 110 days (TAROM) or 130 days (SATA / Azores Airlines).
In 2025, according to Eurostat, nearly 1.1 billion air passengers were carried in the EU. That leaves a lot of opportunities for disruptions like flight delays and cancellations, and the potential for related compensation claims.
Being owed compensation doesn't mean the airline will pay quickly. Depending on the airline, the following will be affected:
How quickly a claim is accepted;
Whether repeated follow-up is required;
Whether legal escalation becomes necessary;
How long payment takes.
What to do if an airline rejects your claim
If the airline rejects your claim, ask for the reason in writing, then challenge it with evidence, based on the EU261 passenger rights rules.
Request the reason for the denial in writing.
Send in any additional evidence.
Remember the time limits, which are:
6 years in the UK (5 in Scotland)
5 years in Spain
3 years in Romania
5 years in France
3 years in Portugal
4. Continue your dispute either with a dedicated flight compensation company like AirAdvisor or the appropriate government body:
UK departure: the airline's ADR scheme (AviationADR or CEDR); if the airline has none, the UK CAA.
EU departure: the national enforcement body of the country you departed from. For example:
AESA (Spain)
ENAC (Italy)
ANPC (Romania)
ANAC (Portugal)
ECC (Germany)
MTV Tourisme et Voyage (France)
Check your flight in 2 minutes, and we'll handle the follow-up.
