The CAA and consultancy Hassell Inclusion examined airline website home pages for ease of booking assistance, information on passenger rights and access to customer service.
The CAA said it wanted “to shine a light on the important area of digital accessibility and exclusion give the wide-ranging consequences poor accessibility can have for consumers”.
The report concluded no airline “fully delivers on accessibility” and said carriers needed to do better to accommodate the estimated 20% of passengers who have some form of special needs.
It added: “Whilst there are airlines who deliver on a very good, good or basic level of accessibility, there are some which are below what we would consider to be an acceptable level and urgently require improvement.”
BA scored seven out of 10 for its digital consumer journey. It was praised for its “helpful” accessibility statement, easy to find contacts and freephone number but criticised for the lack of booking assistance. Emirates, easyJet, Aer Lingus, KLM and Virgin Atlantic also drew praise.
At the bottom of the list, Jet2, Ryanair and Tui scored poorly. None had an accessibility statement and Ryanair and Tui charged customers for calling their assistance number. Tui and Jet2 also provided no assistance during the booking process.
BA said it carried more than 500,000 customers each year who needed assistance each year. “We are taking on board all the feedback,” it said. Tui said it would make improvements, including a freephone number for its Assisted Travel Team.
The report advised airlines to talk to consumers with different needs and to address barriers at different points, “not just in siloed parts such as the website or app”.
