Are German airports and airlines among worst in Europe?
One survey ranked 250 airports worldwide based on customer satisfaction and punctuality, among other factors. German airports received pretty mediocre scores in the ranking, with the highest rated airport only managing the 100th position.
Another survey, titled the "worst airlines of 2025" included four major German airlines, which were given concerning scores for their reliability, compensation policies and customer satisfaction.
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German airports
Ranked 100 out of 250, Düsseldorf Airport was Germany's best performing, according to a survey by AirHelp, an online platform for passengers seeking compensation for cancelled or delayed flights.
Düsseldorf's overall AirHelp score - which was based on scores for on-time performance, customer satisfaction, and food and shops - was the same as that given to Belfast Airport in the UK, and the Toulouse-Blagnac and Lyon Saint-Exupery Airports in France.
Other major German airports pretty average rankings: the Berlin-Brandenburg airport ranked 136th, Munich ranked 144th, Hamburg ranked 153rd place, Frankfurt ranked 163rd and Nuremberg ranked 182nd.
Interestingly both Munich and Nuremberg scored as well as Düsseldorf in customer satisfaction, but landed further down in the ranking primarily for lower scores in on-time performance.
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German airports were affected by a series of worker strikes at the beginning of the year, resulting in hundreds of cancelled and delayed flights at
Munich
and
Düsseldorf airports
among others.
German Airlines
Flightright, another portal for customers whose flights are cancelled or delayed, compiled a ranking of "the worst airline in 2025".
Four German airlines which were included in the ranking were Lufthansa, TUIfly, Eurowings and Discover Airlines.
Flightright considered scores for airlines' reliability, their compensation policies and customer satisfaction in their ranking.
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In fairness, Flightright ranked Europe's top 20 largest airlines, so inclusion in the list alone doesn't necessarily imply that the German airlines are among the worst.
But with a reliability score of 3.0 (out of five) TUIfly tied with several other airlines for the 7th worst position.
Lufthansa was marked down for its "payment behaviour". Earning a score of 3.0 out of five, it was ranked 3rd worst in this category - although it was also tied with a number of airlines. Flighright says its payment behaviour score is based on "how quickly airlines pay compensation... as a result of delays and cancellations".
Discover Airlines, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, received the best overall score in the ranking, but interestingly it actually received the worst score for customer satisfaction among the German airlines, followed by TUIfly.
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