Airline Ratings: World’s Best Airlines 2026

[MEL_Traveller]

Well… it’s here! World's Best Airlines for 2026 by Airline Ratings

Get out the popcorn

Qatar #1 because of its value proposition, economy class, and award-winning business class. Not sure of the value proposition from Australia?

News.com(.au) has reported on the ratings, and says they are determined not from passenger feedback, but the airlinesratings team having flown or measured everything objectively.

Can’t seem to find that bit in the main article.

Anyway… enjoy.

 

[dajop]

Get out the popcorn

Indeed!

They have created different category for "hybrid" airlines which they state "hybrid airlines offer a mix of onboard service, modelling low cost or full service depending on the length of flight."

Yet AIr New Zealand is considered Full Service! What a load of absolute rubbish. They fit their exact definition of hybrid. Destroys any credibility IMHO.

Another anomaly I'm not sure I'd rank Air France as "full service" and Swiss as "hybrid". They seem very similar to me as do all the big 3 (LH/LX, AF/KL, BA/IB etc). One point of contrast IME in last 12 months, the "hybrid" carrier offered a full hot meal on a 2.5hr euro-business flight (OSL-ZRH) whilst the other "full service" carrier only offered a cold salad on a 3hr euro-business flight (CMN-CDG).! YMMV.

 

[chitown_boy]

Indeed!

They have created different category for "hybrid" airlines which they state "hybrid airlines offer a mix of onboard service, modelling low cost or full service depending on the length of flight."

Yet AIr New Zealand is considered Full Service! What a load of absolute rubbish. They fit their exact definition of hybrid. Destroys any credibility IMHO.

Another anomaly I'm not sure I'd rank Air France as "full service" and Swiss as "hybrid". They seem very similar to me as do all the big 3 (LH/LX, AF/KL, BA/IB etc). One point of contrast IME in last 12 months, the "hybrid" carrier offered a full hot meal on a 2.5hr euro-business flight (OSL-ZRH) whilst the other "full service" carrier only offered a cold salad on a 3hr euro-business flight (CMN-CDG).! YMMV.

TBF Air NZ has full service pricing

 

[cambriamarsh]

TBF Air NZ has full service pricing

On steroi_s! Often twice as dear or more than JQ

 

[Scarlett]

Can one of the mods please fix the spelling in the title. Driving my ocd crazy…

Thanks.

 

[markis10]

Why give air to another GT piece of rubbish, ps OP can fix the title

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Why give air to another GT piece of rubbish, ps OP can fix the title

To what?

 

[HS-TQE]

Air New Zealand would be closer to Virgin Australia's hybrid "Value Carrier" (LCC+ status) when it comes to their domestic and Short Haul International offerings.

Like with VA, NZ's Domestic/Short Haul Economy is basically LCC with PAYG, although NZ's business on Short Haul International is basically just their Long Haul product on their Widebodies.

 

[WilsonM]

This list hurts my head. There's so many non-sensical things - Qatar's Y, for example, doesn't really hold much compared to JL, CX or SQ. And as pointed out, NZ being a full service carrier is laugable.

I also absolutely despise LH being ranked highly for its Allegris seat - congrats, they installed a lie-flat seat with direct aisle access on a tiny fraction of its fleet. In 2026.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

How can Air France and KLM be in ‘full service’ yet BA and Swiss are in hybrid?

All four offer basic euro economy and full service in longer routes. There is no distinction.

Has the team at airline ratings actually flown any of these carriers they’re ranking?

 

[justinbrett]

Skytrax, hold my beer…

 

[WilsonM]

How can Air France and KLM be in ‘full service’ yet BA and Swiss are in hybrid?

All four offer basic euro economy and full service in longer routes. There is no distinction.

Has the team at airline ratings actually flown any of these carriers they’re ranking?

They're based in WA, so honestly, my guess is they haven't flown many of them. So instead I reckon they base it off US bloggers - for example, they for some reason at the moment love Air France/KLM as they have decently priced J awards across the Atlantic that you can get with multiple transferable points currencies with a CC.... oh.

 

[RooFlyer]

Ignoring the categorisation etc, what about the overall rankings, based on what we know, have read around here and poking around the internet?

For their 'full service' list, the top 10 seems pretty reasonable to me - not every rank, but generally.

For their hybrid list, those that I've flown on, mostly it hasn't been for a while, but it generally doesn't gel with my thoughts at all.

 

[markis10]

They're based in WA, so honestly, my guess is they haven't flown many of them. So instead I reckon they base it off US bloggers

Poor guesses from zero research. They have real journalists on staff based yes in WA but also in the UK and Singapore they have contributing writers and have a lot of editorial reviews, can’t see any blogger content.

 

[chitown_boy]

How can Air France and KLM be in ‘full service’ yet BA and Swiss are in hybrid?

All four offer basic euro economy and full service in longer routes. There is no distinction.

Has the team at airline ratings actually flown any of these carriers they’re ranking?

And AF serve cold mains in Euro J (SHAME!) whereas BA at least serve a hot meal - got them totally mixed up!

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Ignoring the categorisation etc, what about the overall rankings, based on what we know, have read around here and poking around the internet?

For their 'full service' list, the top 10 seems pretty reasonable to me - not every rank, but generally.

For their hybrid list, those that I've flown on, mostly it hasn't been for a while, but it generally doesn't gel with my thoughts at all.

The top ten is just stoopid.

Instead of ‘world’s best’ they really mean ‘top ten airlines aussies might be familiar with’.

What about the first class offerings of Air France, Lufthansa, Japan Airlines and Emirates? That should push those airlines to the top 5 along with SQ.

Edited to add: there is a ‘part 2’ where they drill down into cabin awards: World's Best Airline Cabin Awards 2026

Air New Zealand gets ‘best economy class’ because of the space? How can they award any airline with 3-4-3 seating on a 777 the winner for ‘space’?

SQ gets best first class. Really?

QF and EK get best premium economy… which is probably right… they are more ‘business lite’.

Best catering goes to Turkish, which I agree. TK’s catering is by Do&Co, who also provide catering for BA, EK and OS. It’s a premium caterer. But air france also has excellent food!

 

[RooFlyer]

The top ten is just stoopid.

Instead of ‘world’s best’ they really mean ‘top ten airlines aussies might be familiar with’.

What about the first class offerings of Air France, Lufthansa, Japan Airlines and Emirates? That should push those airlines to the top 5 along with SQ.

Look, not defending their methodology, but First class is just a tiny proportion of their overall offerings, so the weighting shouldn't be so much. And I don't think its just a list of airlines Aussies might be familiar with. In that 'full service' list there are a number that I don't think Australians would fly a lot (Starlux, LOT, Transsat, Virgin Atlantic ... ). Yes, of course some do, maybe many in total, but a different league to SQ, QR, QF, BA etc.

So, reading their top 10 of the 'full service' list, I'm sorta nodding. 'YMMV'

And about the 'full service' Vs hybrid distinction. Note the preponderance of European airlines in the 'hybrids'. I reckon the split has largely been made to account for 'Eurobusiness' and also the generally coughpy domestic 'business' product of north American airlines. Should 'Eurobusiness' be compared directly with the short or medium haul business of Qantas, SQ etc? It could, but then your fantastic First Classes and any decent Economy Class would be totally sunk by the 'business that is really economy'. But the AF and KLM anomalies noted.

And, sticking my neck out further, they seem to give quite a lot of weight to Economy in distinguishing the two lists, perhaps a stranger territory to many of us here, and I think that's good. Can buy-on-board meal experience be compared directly to all-included?

Every ranking will have faults, some screamingly obvious ones, but I don't mind them, esp when the methodology is clearly explained (no so much here, though). And I bet GT has a laugh when reading comments from people who hate the whole thing and say it isn't worth presenting.

 

[Bundy Bear]

My back up flights to London is on CX so I guess if you can't go on Qatar then its the next best option.

 

[SYD]

My back up flights to London is on CX so I guess if you can't go on Qatar then its the next best option.

If you’ve scored an Aria seat, it is better than QSuite IMHO.

CX F&B has recovered considerably since the post COVID lows plus I’m seeing more reports suggesting that QR continues to slide (or at least isn’t as consistent as it used to be).

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Look, not defending their methodology, but First class is just a tiny proportion of their overall offerings, so the weighting shouldn't be so much. And I don't think its just a list of airlines Aussies might be familiar with. In that 'full service' list there are a number that I don't think Australians would fly a lot (Starlux, LOT, Transsat, Virgin Atlantic ... ). Yes, of course some do, maybe many in total, but a different league to SQ, QR, QF, BA etc.

So, reading their top 10 of the 'full service' list, I'm sorta nodding. 'YMMV'

And about the 'full service' Vs hybrid distinction. Note the preponderance of European airlines in the 'hybrids'. I reckon the split has largely been made to account for 'Eurobusiness' and also the generally coughpy domestic 'business' product of north American airlines. Should 'Eurobusiness' be compared directly with the short or medium haul business of Qantas, SQ etc? It could, but then your fantastic First Classes and any decent Economy Class would be totally sunk by the 'business that is really economy'. But the AF and KLM anomalies noted.

And, sticking my neck out further, they seem to give quite a lot of weight to Economy in distinguishing the two lists, perhaps a stranger territory to many of us here, and I think that's good. Can buy-on-board meal experience be compared directly to all-included?

Every ranking will have faults, some screamingly obvious ones, but I don't mind them, esp when the methodology is clearly explained (no so much here, though). And I bet GT has a laugh when reading comments from people who hate the whole thing and say it isn't worth presenting.

I get the feeling a team member from AR did a single flight on LOT, or maybe a couple, and thought it was great. So that’s how they made it on the list LOT doesn’t appear on anyone else’s list!

Hybrid is european because shorthaul is just basic economy, bottle of water and a tiny snack like a chocolate or bag of cookies. But long haul is ‘full service’.

But that then makes no sense as AF and KL are clearly hybrid. And finnair? Well its long haul economy is certainly not full service… it’s a tiny main meal with a glass of wine and everything else has to be paid for. And they don’t even give out pillows.

First class might be a tiny market, but if we’re naming the ‘world’s best airlines’, those that offer the full product range should get points for that.

Seats aside in eurobusiness… some airlines do it exceptionally well… catering, lounges, priority services, an actual ‘separate cabin’ with full curtains, and of course fares which can be substantially lower than we’re used to in AU. I rather like USA domestic ‘first’. Double drinks before takeoff and then another round in the air… you can overlook just about anything at that point