The 10 best and worst airlines to fly with are revealed in this global ranking

From long delays to cramped seats, flying can be an unpleasant experience. The airline you fly with, however, can make a huge difference.

AirHelp, which offers legal assistance to passengers filing claims against airlines for delayed flights, has released a global ranking of the 10 best - and worst - airlines in the world.

To find the most and least efficient airlines, AirHelp analysed 34 airlines using three key criteria:

• Quality performance, based on data from airline review site Skytrax.com evaluating the airline product, as well as a rating of the airline experience both onboard and at airports.
• Delay time, which considers how many flights were on time in the last quarter of 2015.
• Claim processing, which looks at the number of airlines' wrongfully rejected compensation claims per quarter, and the amount of time it takes airlines to respond to, handle, and pay out a claim.

These are the world's 10 best airlines, followed by each carrier's country and AirHelp score. (Note, airlines with the same overall score are tied.)

• 10. Finnair - Finland: 7.8
• 9. British Airways - United Kingdom: 7.8
• 8. Croatia Airlines - Croatia: 7.9
• 7. Emirates - United Arab Emirates: 7.9
• 6. Air Canada - Canada: 8
• 5. Lufthansa German Airlines - Germany: 8.2
• 4. Air France - France: 8.2
• 3. Air Baltic Corporation - Latvia: 8.2
• 2. KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines - Netherlands: 8.5
• 1. Qatar Airways - Qatar: 8.9

Now, here are the world's 10 worst airlines, followed by each carrier's country and AirHelp score. (Again, airlines with the same overall scores are tied.)

• 10. Norwegian Air Shuttle - Norway: 7.1
• 9. Icelandair - Iceland: 7
• 8. Alitalia - Compagnia Aerea Italiana Spa - Italy: 7
• 7. Iberia - Spain: 7
• 6. Aer Lingus - Ireland: 6.8
• 5. TAP Portugal - Portugal: 6.8
• 4. Swiss International Air Lines - Switzerland: 6.4
• 3. Virgin Atlantic Airways - United Kingdom: 6.2
• 2. easyJet - United Kingdom: 5.8
• 1. Sata International - Portugal: 5.2

Visit AirHelp's website to see the full ranking.

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