A survey of 8,000 passengers by British consumer information group Which? found Jet2 to be the country's most highly-regarded short-haul airline, with Hungarian-headquartered Wizz Air named the worst.
The top five was completed by Turkish Airlines, Finnair, Swiss and Aurigny, in that order, with Ryanair ranked second from bottom and British Airways, Eurowings and Lufthansa the rest of the five worst.
Wizz Air, Which? said, "operated just 56% of its flights on time, cancelled nearly 2% of them within 24 hours of departure and generally treated many customers to an awful time".
Past years saw Ryanair finish bottom of the pile, but what Brits saw as its better customer service meant the Irish airline jumped ahead of its central European rival.
While Ryanair's "rock-bottom fares" are hard to beat, passengers said the cost quickly shoots up" when seats and bags are booked, with Jet2 offering better value for add-ons than the Dublin-based Ryanair, which reported a €211 million profit for the quarter ending December 31 2022
And while Jet2 also "suffered some delays and cancellations" 72% of survey respondents said that "when this did happen Jet2 were available to help".
"Passengers said the [Jet2] cabins were clean and well maintained and boarding was well organised," Which? added.
For longer flights, passengers said British Airways and Lufthansa were best avoided, with the UK's de facto flag carrier labelled a "thoroughly mediocre airline for both short-haul and long-haul".