The airlines with the worst UK inbound delays revealed

More than a quarter of flights into the UK are delayed, new figures claim.

An examination of more than 850,000 flights into UK airports found that 26% arrived more than 15 minutes late.

Ryanair (23%), British Airways (26%) and Easyjet (Hamburg: 14862522.HM - news) (34%) were in the middle of the table of 35 airlines, while the best performing budget airlines were Flybe (18%) and Wizz Air (Frankfurt: WI2.F - news) (18%).

The editor of Which? magazine Richard Headland said: "Flight delays are one of the most annoying things about travelling.

"These figures show just how frequently flights fail to reach their destination on time.

"If you're unlucky enough to experience a severe delay, compensation is available and people should claim what they're rightly entitled to.

"We know that resolving complaints with airlines can be a very tricky process, so we're calling on the next government to legislate for a new, mandatory transport ombudsman."

Passengers who experience delays may be able to claim compensation under EU laws but airlines can escape payments if they are able to show disruption was caused by factors like extreme weather or airport strikes.

A spokesman for Air Transat said: "The statistics in this report do not take into account the delays caused by factors beyond our control such as weather and air traffic control.

"When these factors are excluded, our punctuality rate is in fact 78%."