Air India ranked most delayed airline after ‘completely unacceptable' record
The carrier's departures from UK airports were an average of 45 minutes and 48 seconds behind schedule in 2024, according to analysis of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data by the PA news agency.
The route with the longest average delay was Gatwick to Bangalore, with an average of one hour and 23 minutes across 50 departures.
Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, described Air India's performance as 'completely unacceptable'.
The airline said the disruption was 'primarily due to factors beyond our control'.
Guernsey-based Aurigny Air Services had the second-worst punctuality record for UK departures last year, with an average delay of 31 minutes and 12 seconds.
It was followed by Turkish low-cost leisure airline SunExpress (29 minutes and 36 seconds) and Air Portugal (25 minutes and 12 seconds).
Irish carrier Emerald Airlines recorded the best performance last year with UK departures delayed by an average of just 10 minutes and 30 seconds.
The analysis took into account all scheduled and chartered departures from UK airports by airlines operating more than 2,500 of these flights last year. Cancelled flights were not included.
The average delay for all these airlines was 18 minutes and 18 seconds, down from 20 minutes and 42 seconds in 2023.
Air India was acquired from the Indian government by Tata Group in January 2022 after racking up billions of pounds of losses.
The airline's UK operations are at Birmingham, Gatwick and Heathrow, with routes to a number of Indian cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Data from aviation analytics company Cirium shows the airline operated 56% more flights from UK airports last year compared with 2019.
This is projected to rise to 90% this year after increasing flight frequencies on several routes in March.
Aviation consultant John Strickland said there has been 'a lot of work going on to put the airline back on track' after it gained a 'poor reputation' for delays and cancellations.
This was partly caused by a lack of funds to purchase spare parts for aircraft, leading to some of its fleet being grounded.
Mr Strickland said: 'They're coming out of this period of malaise pre-the Tata takeover, and now have to put in work on their engineering, manpower, spare parts holding, all those factors.'
He said some of Air India's promotion of its new Airbus A350 first class product has focused on the quality of its service.
He noted: 'You can have great meals and a great crew, but fundamentally you've got to operate an airline which is as punctual and reliable as possible.
'That's definitely a work in progress for them.'
Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: 'These latest delay figures will come as no surprise to travellers, who can find themselves paying sky high amounts for air fares and in return receiving unreliable services.
'Air India had an average delay of 45 minutes. This is completely unacceptable.
'It's time for airlines to get their act together and start delivering the service their customers are paying for.'
A spokesperson for Air India said: 'During 2024, Air India's flights to and from the UK experienced occasional delays, primarily due to factors beyond our control.
'Proactive operational initiatives like self-check-in, baggage drop and automated boarding process have ensured smoother airport touchpoint experience and faster turnaround of aircraft, boosting on-time departures.
'The deployment of the new Airbus A350 and upgraded B787-9 aircraft on some of the UK routes has also helped enhance punctuality of our flight operations.
'Over the first three months of 2025, Air India's on-time performance has seen significant improvement on our direct flights from the UK to India, which also reflects on our NPS (customer satisfaction) scores.'
Depending on the distance of the route and length of delay, passengers booked on flights from UK airports that are running behind schedule are entitled to assistance such as a reasonable amount of food and drink, a means to communicate and overnight accommodation if required.
Passengers may also be able to claim compensation of up to £520 from the airline if the reason for the delay is deemed within its control, which could be a fault with the aircraft or pilot sickness.
CAA head of consumers Anna Bowles said: 'We expect all airlines operating in the UK to uphold high standards of service and reliability.
'While the majority of airlines have made progress in reducing delays, with the average falling, delays can cause significant disruption and inconvenience to passengers.
'Delays occur for many reasons, and we fully expect that airlines minimise the impact by providing timely information and upholding passengers' rights when it applies.'
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BBC News
32 minutes ago
- BBC News
Computer science graduates struggle to secure their first jobs
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Times
an hour ago
- Times
My first British camping trip, aged 40 (plus 26 more glam options)
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We and three other families booked pitches in the South Downs, eschewing the luxurious bell tent and shepherd's hut options and borrowing a friend's Decathlon kit. With a petting farm attached and a craft brewery tap room 40 minutes' walk away (three minutes by car), Hale Farm in East Sussex had something for everyone, including a man called Gino who arrives on site in a coffee van each morning and an ice cream truck in the evening. Flushing toilets, hot showers and washing-up facilities were further reassurance that this was not the hair-shirt version I had been warned off in my childhood, where men shaved in sand and women had to walk to the nearest village to use the loo. No, I thought on our first night as I quaffed ice-cold Lady A rosé on a folding chair at sunset then ate perfectly barbecued curried lamb under a star-filled sky and full moon, this is not the wind-blasted endurance test I had been expecting. 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The spacious family-farm site has shared washrooms befitting a boutique hotel, 'moovie' nights in the cowshed, pop-up cocktail evenings and lakeside yoga on summer Saturdays. This year it's hosting a family-friendly music festival (September 13). Take it up a notch by glamping instead, ideally in Marabou, an out-of-Africa fantasy of timber-stilted canvas, with exquisitely picked and upcycled furnishings that bring the Masai Mara to the Pitches from £32, four nights' self-catering for eight from £570 ( Staying somewhere that your brood can run wild doesn't have to mean going feral. Penhein is all about getting kids outside: there's a natural playground, a wildlife hide, a stream to paddle in and trails to follow, as well as bookable activities, from junior bushcraft to the Mini Adventurers Club (both £35pp). Penhein's elegant alachighs (Persian-style yurts) are civilised indeed, with proper beds, private monsoon showers and en suite loos. If you like, you can try cooking on your fire pit. Alternatively, buy delicious prepped meals from the Pantry, made with local Three nights' self-catering for six from £465 ( The biggest luxury? Exclusivity. Which is what you get at Spot House Farm. Book this bijou site out on the edge of Romney Marsh and you will have it to yourselves. It has all that's required for a great outdoor gathering: four smart, handmade bell tents with crisp-sheeted beds, vintage fittings and wool blankets (designed by the farm's owner); a full field kitchen stocked with fresh eggs and coffee roasted on site; a hot open-air shower; woodlands and meadows to explore; and a big table for dining out under the Two nights' self-catering for ten from £1,193 ( There are four small pods at this forest-backed Tweed Valley site. Deer Hunter is cosy and perfect for families, with its double and sofa bed. You could spend hours sitting on its deck, watching for hedgehogs, deer and red squirrels. 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Or ramble across to the National Trust's Calke Abbey estate to hire a bike, find its 1,200-year-old oak tree and enter the atmospherically crumbling One night's self-catering for two from £99 ( Sitting pretty within the UK's only coastal national park, Stackpole Under the Stars is perfect for accessing some of the UK's best beaches, including the soft sands of Broad Haven South and Barafundle. It's a peaceful spot with ten pitches: five for campers, five for glampers. The latter include two yurts, two safari tents sleeping seven and a posh wooden barrel-shaped pod. Opt for the cheaper eco-package (bring your own sheets), then spend the savings on an on-site axe-throwing session (£8); under-eights can fling mini squishy axes instead. Details Pitches from £23, one night's self-catering for four from £115 ( Stay at the Original Hut Company and you get a bit of everything. The site is a delight, set amid ancient woodland with the River Rother running through. The shepherd's huts are classy and snug, with hobs inside and fire pits out. The Hub café sells camper hampers if you want to cook, local-sourced dishes if you don't. Meanwhile, the on-site activity centre offers paddleboarding, kayaking and canoeing as well as archery and bushcraft. If you can pull yourself away, roam through the orchards to magnificently moated Bodiam Pitches from £28, one night's self-catering for five from £150 ( During school holidays this award-winning glampsite, tucked in a nature reserve near the Suffolk coast, is for families only. That means it's a haven for kids then, but others will love it at other times. Sleeping options run from a converted horsebox to luxury tented lodges with country-style kitchens, four-posters, bunks and a den-like cupboard bed. There's a rich mix of nature-based activities, from goat walks and 'meet the animals' sessions to bow-making and whittling. Fresh-made stone-baked pizzas can be bought from a van on site, while Easton Farm Park, Framlingham Castle and Jimmy's Farm are all close One night's self-catering for six from £155 ( Want to switch off? Head to Welsh Glamping, squirrelled away in the remote Cambrian Mountains. There's no phone signal or wi-fi here, but there are 185 acres of wild farmland, woodland, rivers and waterfalls, plus star-spangled dark skies and smarter camping options. The bell tents are a bargain: you bring your own sheets but get an iron-frame bed and futons, a simple kitchen and private bathroom from £45 a night. The luxury log cabins, made from wood felled on site, offer cosiness and more mod-cons, from £120 a Two nights' self-catering for two from £90 ( • I love camping and have done for 40 years — these are my best tips Happy to pitch your own tent but want to upgrade the experience? Woodfire Camping supplies plenty of idyllic green space across its two sites at the foot of the South Downs. It also supplies the food on request. Each night big meals are made from scratch, prepared over an open fire — think spicy beef stew, flame-grilled chalk stream trout or ember-roasted beetroot (£10 to £20pp). You bring your own plates and cutlery, and wash them up after. All the joy of eating alfresco, en famille, none of the hassle of cooking. Details Pitches from £22 per adult, £10 per child ( Get an African savannah feel a ten-minute taxi ride from downtown Peterborough. Teal Lodge is one of four billowing canvas bolt holes looking over a grassy meadow to a tree-fringed lake. The owners used to live in Kenya, and have recreated a tiny piece of it here — you can even jump into their Land Rover for a wildlife safari. Use the lake to swim, fish and paddle (there are kayaks, free to borrow), build a den in the woods, dip in the outdoor bath or watch a movie on a projector, under the One night's self-catering for six from £188 ( Secreted in the rolling Welsh borders where a wooden bridge at the site's edge marks the meeting of England and Wales, Barnutopia is a place to roam free. It's great for big groups, who can spread across a range of good-value glamping spaces: comfy yurts, cabins, tiny houses, bunkhouses and lean-tos. And it's especially good for single parents — they get a 10 per cent discount year-round, plus the site runs single-parent takeovers on selected dates that include accommodation, breakfasts, suppers, marshmallow toasting around the campfire, scavenger hunts, donkey walks and the company of like-minded Three nights' self-catering for four from £245 ( The enormous beaches and wide horizons of the north Norfolk coast are perfect for outdoorsy breaks. And Wild Luxury is particularly perfect, offering easy outdoors access from the most comfortable in canvas living spaces. A handful of smart, spacious safari lodges — sleeping between six and ten — are dotted across two sites. One of them, Summerfield, is surrounded by woodland and birdsong, with possibilities for den-building and zip-wiring amid the trees, while Drove Orchards, near Holme Dunes, is a hop-skip from the sea, a nature reserve and great local Two nights' self-catering for six from £464 ( Their wheels no longer go round and round, but it's still gleeful to stay in one of the nine restored buses at this site overlooking the Lammermuir Hills. Each vehicle has been kitted out with cosy beds and wood-burning stoves but retains its essential bus-ness: kids (big and small) will love sitting in the driver's seat. 'Eco buses' have loos but share bathrooms and a Kitchen Bus, while the 'luxury buses' have cooking areas and en suites. While there, book a tour of the surrounding farm to meet alpacas, sheep and goats (£25 per adult, £15 per child).Details One night's self-catering for two from £145 ( Want to wake up and smell the apples? There are two handmade, individually designed yurts hidden away on this 22-acre family-owned Herefordshire orchard. Cai is great fun, with bright red-yellow decor and apple trees flourishing all round; Zephyr sits apart, on a raised platform, with big views towards the Marcle Ridge. Orchard-bathing is encouraged on site — the owners suggest walking barefoot between the trees, letting your senses be your guide and sampling the fruits. Community events and gatherings are often held here too. Details One night's self-catering for four from £75 ( Sitting between Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) and the sea, Nyth Robin is small but very well formed. There are nine pitches for campers and a handful of options for glamping, each with a unique feel. Bluebell makes a fun off-grid family base, with its bunting-strung bell tent, rustic kitchen and fire pit. New for 2025, the Dome sits in its a private glade, offering hotel-style smartness — pretty decor, a super-king bed — and a covered camp kitchen outside, so you get the best of both worlds. Details Two nights' self-catering for four in a bell tent from £160 ( The Essex coast is big sky country, and the Lushna cabins at Lee Wick Farm ensure the biggest views. These budget-friendly huts are glass-fronted so both beds — downstairs and on the mezzanine — look out across the surrounding pasture and salt marsh. It's a short walk to a shingle beach and nature reserve; a mile away is Curve Wake Park, where you can kayak, paddleboard or leap off giant inflatables. The site's Secret Garden camping area is more basic but, with three pitches, very Pitches from £35, two nights' self-catering for five from £155 ( Channel your inner cowboy/girl at Loose Reins in north Dorset, where the log cabins have rustic finishes, rocking chairs on the verandas, stable doors and faux fleeces and furs so they feel fit for the American Wild West. Named Gold Panners, Ranchers and Trappers, three sleep two adults, two kids, while Foresters is a little bigger, sleeping five. The joys of the Jurassic Coast are close and, if you want to play real-life wrangler, Bushes Equestrian (a ten-minute drive away) offers horse rides for all Two nights' self-catering for four from £500 ( Feel the relaxing benefits of blue space at Kingfisher Lakes, where varied glamping options — yurts, safari tents, lodges with hot tubs — sit beside two lakes in the Yorkshire countryside. They all have decks or terraces with water views: watch for kingfishers, bring a rod to fish for huge carp or hire a kayak for the length of your stay (from £45). The Lily Pad yurt suits small families — compact and comfy. Hare's Hideout safari tent offers more space and has ramp access for Three nights' self-catering for four from £300 ( The joy of Loveland Farm's nine geodesic pods is that they're see-through on one side, so you feel immersed in nature, but they have every creature comfort. Each pod is unique, but all have outbuildings with private showers and kitchenettes. Eden is a fun choice: there's a tepee inside — a tent in a tent! — that contains a double bed, there's another bed on the mezzanine, and table football below. If the weather's fine, nearby Bude provides sand and surf, if it isn't, there's an indoor heated saltwater pool on One night's self-catering for four from £179 ( There are some lovely too-posh-to-pitch options at Cotswold Farm Park. Go minimalist with a budget glamping pod — a step up from camping, these come with bunkbeds, electric sockets and little else — or opt for the comfort of a glamping tent, which has more style and pretty much everything you could need. Either way, all overnighters enjoy free access to the Farm Park, with its rare-breed animals, giant sandpit, softplay and discovery barn, where you can hold chicks and watch ducklings take a One night's self-catering for four from £80 ( With one of Ceredigion's loveliest beaches, Llangrannog, three miles away, and chances to spot dolphins at Cardigan Bay just along the coast, Ffynnonwen is a fantastic site for sea-loving campers. If you don't want to pitch your own, the site has two simple bell tents, one amid the meadows, another tucked among the apple trees. You get real beds and real seclusion. Pick up veg grown on site, fresh eggs from the resident ducks and herbs from the communal patch then cook a feast in your camp Pitches from £44 for two nights, two nights' self-catering for four from £136 ( There's a pleasingly Hobbity vibe to these conical-roofed hideaways, tucked deep into Blelack Estate in the Cairngorms National Park. The solar-powered, off-grid timber retreats, raised and flanked by trees, have been integrated into the century-old Scots pine forest to cause minimal disturbance to nature but maximal immersion in it for guests: look out for blossoming heather and blaeberries (especially in August-September), woodpeckers, buzzards and sparrow hawks, scurrying red squirrels and roe deer drinking from the lochan. This is an excellent area for mountain-biking, hill-walking and castle-visiting Two nights' self-catering for four from £265 ( Sherwood Pines, originally part of ancient Sherwood Forest, was replanted in 1925 to counter wood shortages after the First World War. Now it is Forestry England's flagship site, with camping pitches, geodome tents and (slightly higher priced) bothies spread amid the trees. Glampers get their own kitchens and living spaces but share the site's solar-powered bathrooms. Other facilities include a play area, a nearby Go Ape course and a handy bike wash — the forest has a wide network of trails, from gentle loops to gnarly downhills. Details Two nights' self-catering for six from £216 ( A short drive from north Norfolk's beaches and tucked into the Stiffkey Valley, two smart safari tents sit on a 350-acre farm. Roll-up gabled fronts and west-facing decks for watching the sunset make them as romantic as can be, while the interiors feature furniture by Norfolk designer of the moment Birdie Fortescue. Home-cooked meals can be arranged and plonked in your fridge, to be enjoyed before a nice hot open-air bath. And you can pick your own sunflowers. Details A night's self-catering for two from £200 ( Are you more into camping or glamping? Or neither? Let us know in the comments
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
4chan will refuse to pay daily UK fines, its lawyer tells BBC
A lawyer representing the online message board 4chan says it won't pay a proposed fine by the UK's media regulator as it enforces the Online Safety to Preston Byrne, managing partner of law firm Byrne & Storm, Ofcom has provisionally decided to impose a £20,000 fine "with daily penalties thereafter" for as long as the site fails to comply with its request."Ofcom's notices create no legal obligations in the United States," he told the BBC, adding he believed the regulator's investigation was part of an "illegal campaign of harassment" against US tech has declined to comment while its investigation continues. "4chan has broken no laws in the United States - my client will not pay any penalty," Mr Byrne began investigating 4chan over whether it was complying with its obligations under the UK's Online Safety in August, it said it had issued 4chan with "a provisional notice of contravention" for failing to comply with two requests for said its investigation would examine whether the message board was complying with the act, including requirements to protect its users from illegal content.4chan has often been at the heart of online controversies in its 22 years, including misogynistic campaigns and conspiracy are anonymous, which can often lead to extreme content being posted. 'First Amendment rights' In a statement posted on X, law firms Byrne & Storm and Coleman Law said 4chan was a US company incorporated in the US, and therefore protected against the UK law."American businesses do not surrender their First Amendment rights because a foreign bureaucrat sends them an email," they wrote."Under settled principles of US law, American courts will not enforce foreign penal fines or censorship codes. "If necessary, we will seek appropriate relief in US federal court to confirm these principles."They said authorities in the US had been "briefed" on their response to Ofcom's statement concludes by calling on the Trump administration to invoke all diplomatic and legal levers to protect American businesses from "extraterritorial censorship mandates".Ofcom has previously said the Online Safety Act only requires services to take action to protect users based in the UK. UK backs down Some American politicians - particularly the Trump administration, its allies and officials - have pushed back against what they regard as overreach in the regulation of US tech firms by the UK and EU. A perceived impact of the Online Safety Act on free speech has been a particular concern, but other laws have also been the source of 19 August, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said the UK had withdrawn its controversial demand for a "backdoor" in an Apple data protection system - saying she worked with the President and Vice President to get the UK to abandon its days later, US Federal Trade Commission chairman Andrew Ferguson warned big tech firms they could be violating US law if they weakened privacy and data security requirements by complying with international laws such as the Online Safety Act."Foreign governments seeking to limit free expression or weaken data security in the United States might count on the fact that companies have an incentive to simplify their operations and legal compliance measures by applying uniform policies across jurisdictions," he 4chan does successfully fight the fine in the US courts, Ofcom may have other options."Enforcing against an offshore provider is tricky," Emma Drake, partner of online safety and privacy at law firm Bird and Bird, told the BBC. "Ofcom can instead ask a court to order other services to disrupt a provider's UK business, such as requiring a service's removal from search results or blocking of UK payments."If Ofcom doesn't think this will be enough to prevent significant harm, it can even ask that ISPs be ordered to block UK access." Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.
