The association, which represents the airline industry, added: “The latest Civil Aviation Authority Consumer Survey reflects this commitment, showing passenger satisfaction at their highest levels since 2019.”
Graeme Bowd, who runs a consumer group on Facebook advising people on airline claims, told the BBC: “Weddings get missed, holidays get ruined and business meetings get cancelled and people find it extremely frustrating when their can’t get their compensation claims settled.”
The vast majority of the payouts detailed in the CAA’s data came from British Airways (BA) followed by Wizz Air, Ryanair and Easyjet.
BA paid £6.9m to passengers whose claims the airline had initially rejected or were not resolved.
Of 10,679 complaints made against the airline, 81% were upheld in favour of customers after being escalated to an independent complaint body.
BA said the “vast majority” of its flights run without issue.
In the same 12 month period to last October, Wizz Air handed over £1.7m to customers, Ryanair paid £1.68m, and EasyJet shelled out £371,000 in passenger compensation.
The CAA’s data refers to complaints handled by the UK’s two biggest adjudicators – the Consumer Dispute Resolution Limited (CDRL) and the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR).
A minority of issues are dealt with by smaller adjudicators.
EasyJet said: “We always pay compensation if it is due and have an easy form customers can claim through on our website.”
Wizz Air declined to comment. Ryanair has been approached for a response.
Bowd said BA used “several stock excuses” such as “adverse weather” or “Air Traffic Control restrictions”.
But he said: “When we check out these excuses we often find they’re not valid at all, but it’s very difficult for ordinary airline passengers to check for themselves.
“I think the general principle is that they don’t expect everybody to claim,” Bowd said. “For those that do, if they can be fobbed off and frustrated for long enough, most of them will give up.”