A cancellation costs you more than a delay — and the airlines differ wildly
Cancellation is the outcome that loses you a day and the one that triggers a refund. Some carriers do it five times as often as others.
Computed from 10,423,751 flights · January 2025 – August 2026 · recalculated whenever new data lands
Cancellation is the failure that costs a day rather than an afternoon, and it is the one that triggers a refund entitlement where a delay does not. Finnair cancelled 8.27% of its flights; KLM Cityhopper cancelled 0.03% — a 275.7-fold difference between two airlines flying the same skies.
Booked once, that gap is easy to dismiss: two per cent against half a per cent sounds like nothing. Booked four times a year for a decade, it is the difference between one ruined trip and four.
It is also the difference that pays. A cancellation obliges the airline to refund the unused portion if you decline the alternative — automatically, in your original form of payment, whatever the reason including weather. A delay, in the United States, obliges it to do nothing at all.
| Airline | Cancelled | On time | Flights |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finnair | 8.27% | 71.44% | 3,554 |
| Iberia | 7.84% | 78.53% | 3,916 |
| Blue Islands | 5.33% | 61.76% | 5,632 |
| Aurigny | 4.56% | 71.81% | 6,487 |
| PSA Airlines | 4.34% | 74.62% | 241,957 |
| easyJet Europe | 4.1% | 73.28% | 10,471 |
| Republic Airways | 4.08% | 78.49% | 361,482 |
| Spirit Airlines | 3.68% | 73.11% | 134,443 |
| QantasLink | 3.35% | 78.79% | 60,060 |
| Brussels Airlines | 3.21% | 70.83% | 2,773 |
| Air India | 3.12% | 58.61% | 3,783 |
| Rex Airlines | 2.69% | 76.99% | 10,587 |
| Qatar Airways | 2.68% | 79.69% | 6,708 |
| Qantas | 2.62% | 81.39% | 56,272 |
| JetBlue Airways | 2.56% | 72.73% | 234,468 |
| Loganair | 2.53% | 81.47% | 33,064 |
| KLM | 2.51% | 72.76% | 21,027 |
| American Airlines | 2.3% | 74.42% | 995,350 |
| Envoy Air | 2.3% | 80.22% | 315,435 |
| Virgin Atlantic | 2.23% | 79.89% | 14,105 |
| Lufthansa | 2.11% | 79.21% | 14,065 |
| Aer Lingus | 1.96% | 77.89% | 30,932 |
| Azul Linhas Aéreas | 1.92% | 86.88% | 23,274 |
| Air Canada | 1.91% | 76.12% | 3,672 |
| Frontier Airlines | 1.85% | 73.21% | 205,332 |
| Jetstar | 1.83% | 76.42% | 51,116 |
| SkyWest Airlines | 1.77% | 78.97% | 852,935 |
| Swiss International Air Lines | 1.76% | 66.95% | 8,571 |
| Virgin Australia | 1.73% | 80.36% | 91,731 |
| British Airways | 1.72% | 79.57% | 162,488 |
| Emerald Airlines UK | 1.7% | 80.31% | 9,157 |
| Delta Air Lines | 1.62% | 81.62% | 1,038,728 |
| Gol Linhas Aéreas | 1.61% | 87.48% | 22,796 |
| SAS | 1.43% | 86.47% | 7,471 |
| SunExpress | 1.38% | 70.18% | 4,845 |
| Etihad Airways | 1.32% | 80.12% | 2,350 |
| Alaska Airlines | 1.28% | 79.1% | 293,372 |
| Air France | 1.27% | 73.94% | 8,029 |
| Singapore Airlines | 1.23% | 70.52% | 2,528 |
| Eurowings | 1.22% | 78.63% | 7,802 |
| Icelandair | 1.22% | 82.63% | 2,127 |
| BA CityFlyer | 1.18% | 79.6% | 22,175 |
| LATAM Brasil | 1.17% | 78.54% | 26,356 |
| Austrian Airlines | 1.14% | 82.64% | 2,185 |
| Turkish Airlines | 1.04% | 81.47% | 7,324 |
| United Airlines | 1.02% | 78.96% | 830,269 |
| Southwest Airlines | 0.89% | 76.57% | 1,390,634 |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 0.73% | 81.45% | 40,187 |
| Allegiant Air | 0.65% | 74.1% | 127,163 |
| easyJet | 0.63% | 75.24% | 209,564 |
| Emirates | 0.63% | 79.1% | 8,074 |
| Wizz Air UK | 0.62% | 76.81% | 14,207 |
| Norwegian | 0.61% | 82.16% | 3,435 |
| Vueling | 0.52% | 79.47% | 13,269 |
| Ryanair UK | 0.44% | 71.63% | 21,549 |
| Ryanair | 0.25% | 72.4% | 169,399 |
| Wizz Air Malta | 0.19% | 79.88% | 8,325 |
| Jet2 | 0.18% | 68.71% | 65,903 |
| Wizz Air | 0.16% | 80.72% | 9,413 |
| TUI Airways | 0.13% | 59.17% | 31,897 |
| BA Euroflyer | 0.07% | 68.15% | 15,484 |
| KLM Cityhopper | 0.03% | 76.49% | 3,199 |
Airlines by cancellation rate, worst first.