Budget airline Jetstar has lashed out at an international passenger survey after being named the worst performing airline in the world for its frequent delays and overall customer satisfaction.

An airline and airport survey released on Friday by consumer advocacy group Choice found passengers rated the Qantas-owned budget airline lowest or equal lowest in six of nine categories including punctuality, comfort and meals.

Jetstar claimed the survey was flawed because it did not include ratings for Virgin Australia-owned rival Tiger Airways.

Choice said it did not receive enough responses from Tiger passengers to merit inclusion.

”Choice seem to enjoy criticising airlines without understanding the safety standards we operate to or recognising the role of low cost carriers in making travel more affordable for millions of Australians,” Jetstar said in a statement.

The survey, which collected 11,273 responses from eight different countries, ranked Jetstar 73rd for overall satisfaction, earning it the lowest possible rating of one star.

It found more than one in three Jetstar passengers (37.2 per cent) had experienced flight delays with the airline – which on average were almost four hours long.

Jetstar was ranked worst of all airlines for onboard comfort (4.51 out of 10), check in process (6.43), boarding (6.13), staff satisfaction (6.64), meals (2.32) and punctuality (6.04).

But despite the findings Jetstar questioned the results.

“Weather is often the source of delays, particularly in the more tropical destinations we operate to, and we’ll always put safety before schedule,” Jetstar said in a statement.

“We know how important it is to get customers to their destination on time, and we recognise there is room for improvement.”

Qantas was the highest-ranked Australian carrier, at 36th in the world, while Virgin Australia was next-best ranked 51st.

The survey deemed Emirates as the best airline in the world with an overall satisfaction rating of 8.29.