World's best and worst

The best- and worst-performing airlines in the world

Aside from variations in cabins and service quality, there's the major concern of how likely you are to get delayed. Fly on the wrong airline and your odds of a delay are as high as 55 percent; choose the right one and that number shrinks way down to just 11 percent. That's enough to make or break a vacation's spell, no matter where you're sitting on the plane.

But how do you know which airlines to steer clear of, and which ones to prioritise?