BudgetAir.co.uk: most-reported complaints
Automated analysis of 866 public Trustpilot reviews published 2026-06-17 to 2026-09-23. TrustScore 3.9 from 42,485 total reviews — see the Trustpilot page. Quick answer: is BudgetAir.co.uk legit? Issues below reflect what reviewers reported, not findings of wrongdoing.
Reviewers most often report that customer support is unhelpful, with 77 reports accounting for 28% of identified complaints. Overcharging is the second most frequent issue, cited in 49 reports (18% of complaints), while misleading pricing appears in 42 reports (15% of complaints). Additionally, 32 reviewers (12% of complaints) state that support is unreachable. Trends for these issues are described as flat for unhelpful support and overcharging, falling for misleading pricing, and rising for unreachable support.
The company claimed its Trustpilot profile on 2014-05-10, uses Trustpilot’s paid features, uses Trustpilot’s AI-assisted replies, and last replied to a negative review on 2026-09-21. Trustpilot ranks it 32 of 32 in Airline Ticket Agency. We last checked this profile on 2026-09-23 and found 33 new reviews. These are facts Trustpilot publishes about the profile, as of our last harvest.
Forum footprint: 12 MoneySavingExpert forum discussions mention this company (browse). Roughly 0 of the top, relevance-sorted search results were posted in the last 90 days — an approximate figure by construction, not a true recency count. Recent thread titles: “BudgetAir.co.uk - can´t get hold of them at all to request refund for cancelled flights”, “BudgetAir.co.uk”, “Budgetair.co.uk very poor customer service”.
TrustScore over time
3.9 → 3.9 across 14 census measurements since 2026-08-12. Our own record, independent of Trustpilot’s display.
Reply behaviour over time
Solid: % of negative reviews replied to. Dashed: typical days to reply. Both as reported on this company’s Trustpilot profile, recorded whenever our census re-checked it and a figure had changed — the gaps between points are not equal: 2026-08-15 (86%, 1.6d) · 2026-08-18 (86%, 1.6d) · 2026-08-21 (86%, 1.6d) · 2026-08-24 (86%, 1.6d) · 2026-08-27 (86%, 1.6d) · 2026-09-01 (90%, 1.0d) · 2026-09-04 (90%, 1.0d) · 2026-09-07 (90%, 1.0d) · 2026-09-11 (90%, 1.0d) · 2026-09-14 (91%, 1.0d) · 2026-09-17 (91%, 1.0d) · 2026-09-20 (91%, 1.0d) · 2026-09-23 (91%, 1.0d).
Severity: 29% of this company’s 279 graded complaints were classified as severe (money lost, an essential service cut off, or a problem unresolved for months). See the harm index.
1★ share of negative reviews over time
Share of 1–3★ Trustpilot reviews that were 1★
In July 2026, 79% of 101 one-to-three-star reviews were 1★; in September 2026, 80% of 54.
Counted from July 2026 onward — the period for which our capture of 1★, 2★ and 3★ reviews is complete for all three. Months with fewer than 10 such reviews are omitted.
Reviewers here waited a median of 2.5 days between the experience and publishing their negative review (663 reviews record both dates).
Measured reply time: across 599 negative reviews that received a public reply, the median wait was 0.6 days — the company profile reports an average of under a day.
Reply quality: of 599 company replies to negative reviews analysed, 52% engaged with the specific problem and 33% were generic templates.
Review provenance: 683 company-invited reviews in the recent window average 4.27★, while 37 organic (uninvited) reviews average 1.35★.
27% of its 505 recent 5★ reviews came from accounts that had written only that one review when we captured it (the median across companies is about 39%). A high share is a reason to look closer, not evidence of fake reviews.
Sector benchmark: support unhelpful makes up 28% of this company’s complaints vs a 31% median across 122 ranked companies in its sector.
Review velocity: 4,330 of this company’s 42,485 Trustpilot reviews (10%) were written in the last 12 months.
What are the most common complaints about BudgetAir.co.uk?
Support unhelpful
77 reports · 28% of complaintssteady“sent from pillar to post without a resolution”
The company replied on 2026-08-31: “Hello Sainabou, Thank you for sharing your feedback. First and foremost, please accept our heartfelt condolences for your loss during this difficult time. We sincerely regret that your flight…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“customer service was rude and dismissive”
The company replied on 2026-06-26: “Hello Virgil Valentin, Thank you for sharing your experience. We are truly sorry to hear about the stress and frustration you and your family experienced at the airport during your journey,…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“customer service didn’t help”
The company replied on 2026-07-25: “Hello Cassandra, Thank you for sharing this review. Having a booked flight cancelled within two days and receiving unhelpful support is not the experience BudgetAir aims to provide. Airlines…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
Overcharging
49 reports · 18% of complaintssteady“customer service was rude and dismissive”
The company replied on 2026-06-26: “Hello Virgil Valentin, Thank you for sharing your experience. We are truly sorry to hear about the stress and frustration you and your family experienced at the airport during your journey,…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Charged me £75 extra and did not help”
The company replied on 2026-07-09: “Hello Phulmaya, We're sorry to hear that you didn’t have a smooth experience with us, but thank you for sharing it. When a name correction is requested, the rules depend entirely on the airline…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“refused to hand over the car keys unless I purchased their own insurance”
The company replied on 2026-09-13: “Hello Sam, Please note that car rental services are provided directly by third-party suppliers, and we are unable to locate a reservation in our system using your review details. We will send you a…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
Misleading pricing
42 reports · 15% of complaintsfalling“they manipulate about the dates. They scammed me”
The company replied on 2026-07-25: “Hello Benard, Thank you for bringing this to light. Facing an unintended date on a flight reservation creates a difficult situation, so having clear clarity here is important. After carefully…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“refused to hand over the car keys unless I purchased their own insurance”
The company replied on 2026-09-13: “Hello Sam, Please note that car rental services are provided directly by third-party suppliers, and we are unable to locate a reservation in our system using your review details. We will send you a…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
“the link somehow converted it to the longer layoevr, now I'm stuck with a stopover lasting 17 hours.”
The company replied on 2026-08-26: “Hello Simon, Thank you for sharing this feedback. Having a short layover unexpectedly turn into a 17-hour stay is far from ideal when planning a trip. The flight details, including the total duration…”
Our classifier read this reply as a deflection.
Support unreachable
32 reports · 12% of complaintsrising since 2026-09“Calling customer service is a nightmare aswell”
The company replied on 2026-07-15: “Hello Elena., Thank you for sharing this feedback, The concern you have raised, caused by last-minute schedule cancellation, is completely acknowledged. When an airline cancels a flight less than 24…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: refund.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“Got my ticket 4 hours before takeoff”
The company replied on 2026-09-20: “Hello Charlie, Thank you for your review. We sincerely apologize for the delay and concern caused by the timing of your ticket delivery. We take your experience seriously and would like to…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
“it's more than a year of Budget Air holding onto my money without returning it.”
The company replied on 2026-08-23: “Hello Christopher, Thank you for your feedback, and we understand that you are seeking a refund! We are happy to confirm that your return flight from Paris has been fully refunded. We have sent an…”
Our classifier read this reply as a template response.
Other
32 reports · 12% of complaintssteady“Neither I nor my wife got any miles for this trip”
The company replied on 2026-07-25: “Hello Amir, Thank you for sharing this feedback. Missing loyalty miles, trouble locating booking details on the airline app, and experiencing a flight delay is a challenging situation after a trip.…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“You book a return ticket and you pay for it . They only confirm one way”
The company replied on 2026-07-25: “Hello Bilal, Thank you for bringing this to light. Booking a return trip only to see one flight confirmed can certainly cause confusion, and having a smooth experience is key. Checking the details…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: a replacement.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“you can’t rectify or reroute it, neither can you refund!!”
The company replied on 2026-09-19: “Hello Felix, We are extremely sorry for the inconvenience. We understand your concern regarding the ticket destination error. Please note that route changes and rerouting policies are set directly by…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
Refund refused
27 reports · 10% of complaintssteady“deny I booked returned seats, meaning I wasn’t sat to my son”
The company replied on 2026-07-24: “Hello Kelly, Thank you for taking the time to share this review. When seat selection is purchased during booking, those specific seating preferences are meant to be secured as requested for the…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to make contact.
1 reader marked this review helpful on Trustpilot.
“refunded my money to BudgetAir, who are illegally holding and refusing to give me my refund”
The company replied on 2026-09-16: “Hello Rofiyna, We sincerely apologize for the frustration caused by this situation. We have already taken action on your file and successfully processed your refund. Our team is currently generating…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: refund.
“I lost my ticket money out ot £581 paid, I only recover £161. Losing £420 in a twinkle of an eye”
The company replied on 2026-09-02: “Hello Cele, Thank you for leaving your review. Having a rebooking request rejected and receiving a partial refund due to fare conditions is a very disappointing experience. When a change request is…”
Our classifier read this reply as a substantive response.
It promised: to escalate.
Method: reviews are classified into a fixed complaint taxonomy by an automated reader; every category shown is backed by at least two verbatim quotes from distinct reviews. Trends are computed from dated review counts only. Negative reviews are deliberately over-sampled for evidence depth; headline percentages use an unbiased recent sample only. Report updated 2026-09-23.