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Transparent, independent, falsifiable methodology. Airlines, hotels and card issuers cannot pay for higher rankings or review removal. Last updated August 5, 2026.
How does FlightLogic rate airlines, airports and hotels?
FlightLogic scores airlines on a 0–10 composite of six weighted categories — service, seats, food, entertainment, punctuality, and value — with safety scored separately from IOSA and incident-history data. Airports are rated on three pillars with a separate lounge score, all assessed by the FlightLogic editorial team.
The FlightLogic composite score (0–10) is a weighted average of six passenger-experience categories, assessed editorially from independent public data and published passenger reviews. Category assessments older than 24 months are re-checked before an airline's score is refreshed.
Rank is derived from the overall score, not assigned separately. The rated airlines are ordered by their composite score; where two share a score, the higher safety score ranks first, and where those also tie, alphabetically. Rank is therefore a restatement of the published score — it can never contradict it, and no airline can be moved up or down without its category assessments changing first.
Ranks cover the airlines we have scored in full. Carriers in the A–Z directory without a FlightLogic score are unranked entity listings, not low-ranked airlines.
Safety scores (0–10) are independent of passenger experience ratings. Factors include IOSA certification, fatal accident history (10-year lookback), fleet age, regulatory compliance, and pilot training standards.
Star ratings are deliberately falsifiable — an airline qualifies only if it meets every condition, not just the score average:
FlightLogic airport scores (0–10) evaluate the passenger experience at major hubs using three weighted pillars, plus a separate lounge quality score that does not affect the overall airport rating.
Airport guides include Quick Answer summaries, terminal layouts, transport links, lounge access details, and region-specific FAQs (e.g. UK261 compensation for UK airports). Compare any two rated airports at /airports/compare.
For UK professionals on long-haul routes to the Gulf and Asia, FlightLogic publishes objective productivity notes beyond “Wi-Fi available”: estimated download speeds (Mbps), quiet-zone enforcement, cabin/lounge hygiene scores (0–10), and power at seat. These are editorial estimates and judgements from operators’ published information and published guest reviews — not speed tests or on-site measurements.
These fields appear on airport guides, rated airline profiles, and flight/lounge editorial reviews, always labelled as estimates.
The Verified Utility Index scores practical friction — not vague star ratings — on five pillars judged editorially from published sources and guest reviews, not OTA listings:
VUI is the primary lens for lounge assessments and utility-led airport / long-stay hotel coverage. See also the homepage pillars and hotel scoring below.
Hotel coverage lives in two places. Both follow the same integrity rule: no first-hand claim without evidence of the stay and a disclosed booking method (cash, points, press-rate or hosted).
/hotels/{country}/{city}/{slug}/Destination guides (for example Concorde Hotel Kuala Lumpur) always carry verified entity facts — address, star class, amenities, airport transfer notes and live booking handoffs. When a stay can be evidenced, the same URL includes an Our review section with a single overall FlightLogic score (0–10), pros/cons and a written assessment. Guides without a stay publish no score and say so on the page — they are entity listings, not ratings.
/reviews/hotels/
Standalone reviews in the editorial feed use four 0–10 pillars — experience, quality, service and value — plus a desk-assessment label, last-checked date and Quick Answer /
FAQ schema. These URLs live under /reviews/{slug}/, not under the city
hotel path.
Official or brand star classes (3★ / 4★ / 5★) shown on hotel cards are the property’s published classification. They are not FlightLogic ratings and are never averaged into our 0–10 scores. Airport-hotel curation may filter on star class for inclusion; the editorial score still requires a stay.
Browse city guides at /hotels/, airport picks at /hotels/airport/, and the editorial hotel feed at /reviews/hotels/. Integrity policy: /review-integrity/.
FlightLogic avoids generic stock photography. The table below is our brief for future original photos and licence-free airline and airport press images; until each one exists, pages keep their current image and its own credit (for example Wikimedia Commons).
Request raw license-free promotional kits from airline PR teams or airport press offices — never generic stock libraries. Avoid: Wide empty lounge interiors from Wikimedia that match thousands of other travel sites.
| Page | Subject | Target asset | Alt text (live) |
|---|---|---|---|
virgin-clubhouse-lhr-review | quiet-workstation | /images/editorial/lounges/virgin-clubhouse-lhr-workstation.webp | Quiet work corner with integrated power and QR-code table service at Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse London Heathrow Terminal … |
ba-first-lounge-t5-review | buffet-hot-food | /images/editorial/lounges/ba-first-lounge-t5-buffet.webp | Best business class airport lounge buffet selection featuring premium hot dining options at BA Galleries First London He… |
centurion-lounge-lhr-review | espresso-station | /images/editorial/lounges/centurion-lounge-lhr-espresso.webp | Espresso station and Assaf Granit à la carte hot dishes at American Express Centurion Lounge Heathrow Terminal 3. |
no1-lounge-gatwick-review | buffet-hot-food | /images/editorial/lounges/no1-lounge-gatwick-buffet.webp | Premium hot buffet dishes and self-serve dining at No1 Lounge London Gatwick North Terminal. |
qatar-al-mourjan-lounge-doh | buffet-hot-food | /images/editorial/lounges/al-mourjan-doh-dining.webp | Halal à la carte and premium hot buffet selection at Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge Doha. |
plaza-premium-lounge-amman | buffet-hot-food | /images/editorial/lounges/plaza-premium-amman-buffet.webp | Hot Arabic and Western buffet options at Plaza Premium Lounge Queen Alia International Airport Amman. |
ba-concorde-room-t5-review | espresso-station | /images/editorial/lounges/ba-concorde-room-t5-dining.webp | À la carte table service and cocktail bar at British Airways Concorde Room Heathrow Terminal 5. |
lufthansa-first-class-terminal-fra | buffet-hot-food | /images/editorial/lounges/lufthansa-fct-fra-dining.webp | Premium dining and waiter service at Lufthansa First Class Terminal Frankfurt. |
Original top-down photography — passport, metallic card, boarding pass on walnut or slate — shot on modern mobile hardware with unique lighting. Avoid: Issuer logo SVGs or aircraft hero shots unrelated to the card product.
| Page | Subject | Target asset | Capture notes |
|---|---|---|---|
ba-amex-premium-plus-review-uk | card-lifestyle | /images/editorial/cards/ba-amex-premium-plus-lifestyle.webp | Show card (prop or mock), UK passport, BA boarding pass stub; no issuer stock art. |
ba-amex-review-uk | card-lifestyle | /images/editorial/cards/ba-amex-free-lifestyle.webp | Emphasise companion-voucher journey — two boarding passes optional. |
amex-preferred-rewards-gold-review-uk | card-lifestyle | /images/editorial/cards/amex-gold-uk-lifestyle.webp | Gold card metal finish, passport, Heathrow T3 tag on pass if available. |
barclaycard-avios-plus-review-uk | card-lifestyle | /images/editorial/cards/barclaycard-avios-plus-lifestyle.webp | Walnut or slate surface; soft window light from one side. |
barclaycard-avios-review-uk | card-lifestyle | /images/editorial/cards/barclaycard-avios-free-lifestyle.webp | Simpler composition than Premium Plus; emphasise zero-fee positioning. |
virgin-reward-plus-review-uk | card-lifestyle | /images/editorial/cards/virgin-reward-plus-lifestyle.webp | Do not reuse generic 787 tail photos as hero. |
virgin-reward-review-uk | card-lifestyle | /images/editorial/cards/virgin-reward-free-lifestyle.webp | Match Reward+ composition for series consistency. |
best-uk-airline-credit-cards | card-lifestyle | /images/editorial/cards/uk-airline-cards-guide-hero.webp | Top-down, high contrast, slight colour grade unique to FlightLogic. |
best-travel-credit-cards | card-lifestyle | /images/editorial/cards/uk-travel-cards-hub-hero.webp | Hero for /best-travel-credit-cards; 1200×514 crop safe zone centre. |
Save captures under public/images/editorial/. Set useTargetSrc: true in src/data/contextual-visuals.ts when the file is ready to swap the hero image.
FlightLogic targets sub-200ms Time to First Byte (TTFB) for static HTML on UK cellular
networks. Pages deploy to Cloudflare Pages with UK edge PoPs (London, Manchester) serving cached HTML via s-maxage and stale-while-revalidate — see public/_headers in the
repository. Enable in the Cloudflare dashboard: Tiered Cache, Brotli, Early Hints, and Auto Minify
(HTML/CSS/JS).
Entity reviews with full LocalBusiness metadata carry a bundled [Review, FAQPage] JSON-LD array injected immediately before </head> — with absolute flightlogic.co.uk image and logo URLs and addressCountry: "GB" (ISO 3166-1 alpha-2, not "UK").
Monetized outbound links never use obfuscated JavaScript routing or generic anchor text. Each paid
link states what you are opening — flight search links name the airline and market; insurance and
hotel links name the provider and destination where relevant. Credit-card pages do not use paid
apply links; they use educational CTAs into our UK airline credit cards guide
(creditCardGuideLabel). Helpers live in src/data/affiliate-policy.ts
(contextualFlightSearchLabel, etc.).
Stay-search links route through a first-party handoff (/go/stay) that performs one
server-side redirect to Booking.com. The handoff exists to attach our partner identifier at the
edge and log the outbound click — it never changes the destination you were shown, accepts no
arbitrary URLs, and the anchor still carries the * label and rel="nofollow sponsored".
Full disclosure rules: How we flag affiliate links.
Google's May 2026 broad core update penalises scaled, repetitive content that adds nothing new. FlightLogic aims to add practical detail that generic summaries miss — Wi-Fi suitability for calls, quiet-zone rules, dietary handling (pork-free prep, allergy handling) and terminal-specific ride-app pick-up points. These are compiled from operators' published information and published guest reviews, and estimates are labelled as estimates; they are not on-site measurements.
Every entity review displays the date it was last checked. Affiliate blocks, navigation, and
disclosures use data-nosnippet so crawlers weight the review itself — not sidebar
boilerplate.
Consumer guides (UK261, Avios, credit cards, insurance) are fact-checked against primary sources — Civil Aviation Authority guidance, UK air passenger rights regulations, issuer terms, and gov.uk travel advice — and carry the editorial-team byline plus last-reviewed date. Information only; not regulated financial or legal advice.
Flight, lounge and hotel editorial reviews are desk assessments written by the FlightLogic editorial team from published specifications, policies and passenger and guest reviews, and each page carries a desk-assessment label. A review becomes first-hand only with evidence of the trip (booking confirmation, boarding pass or stay proof), which is then cited on the page with how it was paid for: cash, points, press-rate / press-comp, or hosted. Hotel property guides without a stay never invent a score — see How we score hotels.
FlightLogic does not currently publish reader-submitted reviews. Feedback emailed to hello@flightlogic.co.uk informs what we re-check and rate next, but is never displayed as a rating or blended into a score. Any future consumer-review feature will require proof of travel and comply with the UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 rules on fake reviews.
Our scores and verdicts are the honest opinions of the FlightLogic editorial team, based on the facts stated in each review — the cabin, route, sources and last-checked date are disclosed so readers can judge the basis for themselves. If an airline, airport, or venue believes we have a fact wrong, email hello@flightlogic.co.uk: we correct verifiable factual errors promptly and note material corrections on the page. Opinions and scores are not negotiable and cannot be purchased, but they are always re-assessed when the underlying product demonstrably changes.
No. FlightLogic operates independently. Airlines cannot pay to improve rankings, remove reviews, or receive preferential placement. Our methodology is published transparently on this page.
Overall rankings refresh quarterly. Safety scores update monthly. Individual airline pages reflect new reviews within 48 hours of verification.
Customer service (20%), seat comfort (20%), food and beverage (15%), in-flight entertainment (10%), on-time performance (20%), and value for money (15%). Safety is scored separately and does not directly affect the overall passenger experience score.
Rank is derived directly from the overall score rather than assigned separately: rated airlines are ordered by composite score, ties broken by the higher safety score and then alphabetically. A rank can never contradict the score published beside it, and no airline can move without its category assessments changing first. Carriers without a full FlightLogic score are unranked directory listings, not low-ranked airlines.
Scores are editorial assessments by the FlightLogic editorial team. They draw on published punctuality statistics (OAG, Cirium), the IATA IOSA safety registry, regulator data (CAA, EASA, FAA), and airline-published product specifications, plus first-hand flights and lounge visits only where a review names who travelled. FlightLogic does not currently publish consumer-submitted reviews, and no score is ever based on payment, commission, or airline sponsorship.
Not at present. Reader feedback emailed to hello@flightlogic.co.uk helps us decide what to re-check and which airlines to rate next, but it is not published or blended into scores. If we introduce consumer reviews in future, they will require proof of travel and be moderated in line with the UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 rules on fake reviews.
5-Star airlines score 8.5 or higher overall with a safety score above 9.0 — meaning strong, consistent performance across service, seats, food, entertainment, and punctuality, with no unresolved safety concerns. It is a composite quality signal, not a guarantee of a flawless flight.
FlightLogic reviews are desk assessments: they are based on operators’ published specifications and policies, regulator and punctuality data, and published passenger and guest reviews, and each one says so on the page. A review is called first-hand only when it cites evidence of the flight, stay or visit (for example a booking confirmation); none currently does. We do not accept press trips or comped stays unless explicitly disclosed on that specific review.
Airport scores (0–10) combine three pillars: On-Time Performance (departure reliability from OAG data and passenger reports), Passenger Experience (staff, queues, cleanliness, wayfinding), and Facilities & Comfort (dining, retail, seating, amenities). Lounge quality is scored separately and does not affect the overall airport score.
Airport on-time data draws from OAG punctuality statistics and passenger-reported delay experiences. Experience and facilities scores combine passenger survey submissions, editorial assessments, and publicly available airport quality indices. Lounge scores are based on FlightLogic editorial lounge reviews and passenger submissions.
Directory listings provide verified entity facts (IATA/ICAO codes, hub, alliance, fleet size) and FAQs for carriers not yet fully rated. They do not include a composite 0–10 score until our editorial team publishes a complete rating. Rated airlines are marked with a badge in the directory.
Hotel reviews are desk assessments from the hotel’s published information and published guest reviews. A hotel review is first-hand only when it cites evidence of the stay and discloses how it was booked (cash, points, press-rate or hosted). On property guides under /hotels/, that is usually a single overall 0–10 score with pros, cons and a written assessment. Standalone hotel reviews under /reviews/hotels/ use four pillars — experience, quality, service and value — also on a 0–10 scale. Official star classes (3★/4★/5★) are the hotel’s published classification, not a FlightLogic rating. Guides without a stay carry facts and booking links but no score.
The Verified Utility Index (VUI) scores practical friction on five pillars: connectivity, work space, dietary needs, getting around, and rest & leisure. It is used for lounges, airport hotels and similar utility-led stays. Its inputs are editorial judgements and estimates from published information and guest reviews, not on-site measurements; Wi-Fi speeds in particular are estimates.