Some big charter airlines did very poorly in the survey for Holiday Which magazine.

But the proportion of members rating no-frills airlines as offering good value for money has dropped compared with two years ago, Holiday Which magazine found.

A sample of 20,000 Consumers' Association members were asked if they would recommend an airline they had used to a friend.

On average, fewer than 20% would definitely recommend charter airlines to a friend, compared with 40% who definitely recommended scheduled carriers and nearly 50% who did so for no-frills airlines.

Of the budget airlines Go, EasyJet, Buzz and bmibaby all scored 50% or higher.

However, Ryanair - which last month controversially axed jobs and routes at Buzz - only managed a satisfaction rating of 37%.

Good and bad

The airline which Consumers' Association members would be happiest recommending was Bournemouth-based short haul carrier Palmair.

Larger carriers Singapore airlines and Emirates also scored well with 80% and 77% respectively of Consumers' Association members that had travelled with these airlines saying they would recommend them to a friend.

At the other end of the scale Britannia Airways and Monarch Airlines scored poorly with only 24% and 20% respectively registering enough satisfaction to pass on a positive recommendation.

But the worse of the lot were some major charter firms - only 15% of Mytravel customers surveyed would recommend and a pitiful 8% of JMC passengers registered their satisfaction.

In total, only 10% thought their flight was poor value for money, but the proportion who reckoned budget airlines offered very good value for money dipped from 67% in 2001 to 63% in the latest survey.

"No-frills airlines are still just ahead of the pack when it comes to satisfying their customers.