Airport rates the best and worst airlines at delivering luggage on time

There's nothing worse than landing in Britain after a week in the sun – cold, miserable, and with nothing but a week in the office to look forward to – and being forced to wait an aeon for your luggage to arrive.

But one UK airport is now naming and shaming those airlines and handling agents that are most regularly tardy with their customers' bags.

Gatwick's monthly reports list the airlines that most frequently use the airport – and how often they deliver every bag on a flight within 35 minutes of landing when using a "small" aircraft, and within 50 minutes of landing a "large" plane.

The most recent report – for October 2014 – lists Flybe (whose handling agent is Menzies) as the top airline for "small aircraft", with 100 per cent of bags on 84 flights returned to the terminal within the allotted time.

Other strong performing carriers included Aurigny – with 99 percent from 176 flights, and Aer Lingus – with 98 percent from 283 flights, both of whom also use Menzies. Ryanair, a client of Swissport, scored highly too, with 98 percent of bags on 231 flights delivered within 35 minutes.

At the other end of the scale were Royal Air Maroc, TAP Air Portugal, Air Southwest and Thomas Cook, with scores of 56, 57, 62 and 64 percent, respectively. Each uses the same handling agent – Aviator. Thomson Airways – which uses Swissport – also struggled, with 66 per cent from 199 flights.

For airlines operating "large" aircraft, Icelandair and Garuda Indonesia (both Swissport) scored highest, with both achieving a score of 100 percent of bags, from 28 and 22 flights, respectively. Monarch (Swissport; 96 percent from 360 flights), Emirates (Aviator; 96 percent from 93 flights) and Vietnam Airlines (Swissport; 95 percent from 20 flights) also fared well.

Airlines deemed to have met Gatwick's standards are those that score 95 per cent of above. By that measurement, the following airlines PASSED

Aer Lingus - 98.2 percent
Ryanair - 98.3 percent
Aurigny - 98.7 percent
Flybe - 100 percent
AirBaltic - 97.2 percent
Monarch (large aircraft) - 96.1 percent
Emirates - 95.7 percent
Icelandair - 100 percent
Vietnam Airlines - 95 percent
Garuda Indonesia - 100 percent
Aegean Airlines - 100 percent (from 4 flights)
Titan Airways - 100 percent (from 4 flights)
Onur Air - 100 percent (from 1 flight)
Swiftair - 100 percent (from 1 flight)
United Airlines - 100 percent (from 1 flight)

And the following FAILED:

EasyJet - 84.6 percent
British Airways - 92 percent small aircraft/93.8 per cent large
Norwegian - 80.8 percent
Thomson Airways - 65.8 percent
TAP Air Portugal - 57.4 percent
Vueling - 94.9 percent
Turkish Airlines - 72.4 percent
Air Europa Lineas Aereas - 80.7 percent
Monarch (small aircraft) - 70.7 percent
Royal Air Maroc - 56.3 percent
Air Malta - 80.7 percent
Ukraine International Airlines - 64.5 percent
Air Southwest - 61.5 percent
Thomas Cook - 64 percent
Wow Air - 87 percent
Germania - 77.2 percent
Virgin Atlantic - 87.6 percent
Air Transat - 86 percent
Air Nigeria - 90 percent
Niki - 0 percent (from 1 flight)