Personally, I quite like flying. I still get that feeling that if you're flying somewhere, it's worthwhile and usually something fun or worthwhile. In fact, it probably just reminds me of going on holiday, which is something I enjoy. A few of my friends and colleagues get nervous about flying, which is perhaps irrational bearing in mind it's one of the safest modes of transport. But what are the airlines with the worst safety records, and how likely are you to have an accident on a plane?

I'm not really fussy about who I fly with, but I've had various conversations with people about which of the major airlines is the safest. For those of you who remember the film Rain Man, according to Ray (Dustin Hoffman) Quantas is the safest, having had no accidents. That's fine if you only ever fly to Melbourne.

This week I stumbled on the Top 10 Most Dangerous Airlines on the AskMen website. Here's the rundown...

The Top 10 Most Dangerous Airlines are:

1. Cubana Airlines

2. China Airlines

3. Iran Air

4. Philippine Airlines

5. Kenya Airways

6. Egyptair

7. Pakistan International Airlines

8. Avianca

9. Thai Airways

10.Garuda

From what I can gather, the table is based on the number of fatalities, the number of fatal accidents and the number of completed flights. In total, between the top 10 they are responsible for 4,390 fatalities, many more than I would have thought. My perception is that air travel is safe, but bearing mind that there are 48 fatal accidents shared between these arilines, I might be wrong.

The thing that the statistics don't show are the number of accidents not involving fatalities. There will have been 1000's over the years and it would be interesting to see if the same airlines feature. The airline industry is governed by specific legislation, most notably for this topic, the Montreal Convention. There are 97 countires who have signed up, which includes the whole of the EU, the US and most of the major nations. Under those rules, the airlines are automatically responsible if someone has an accident and makes a holiday compensation claim.

Sadly, we are contacted by many people who have been involved in an accident. Gladly, we're usually able to help them get compensation.

Getting back to the list, although my perception is that air travel is safe, I was slightly concerned that I've been at so much risk because I've flown with 3 of the airlines that feature!