REGARDING Flight: W6 2273
Date: Jan. 26th – 14:55 (departuretime)

Dear Mister Varady,

On January 26th at 12:00 our group of students was getting ready in Budapest to pack their belongings to go to the airport.
We wanted to book larger cabin luggage for only 5 people. So around 12:30 we tried to book some of WizzAir’s additional services online on my phone which had WiFi in the apartment.
However we forgot the onlinesecuritycode of a creditcard, so I did NOT go through with the online payment for the bigger cabinluggages.
We decided to pay for them at the gate, which was possible.
(A payment was made with a creditcard transaction at 14:34)

But there was a problem at the last boardingpass check, right before boarding. We had already paid for the bigger luggage, but ALL OF US (including students who had perfectly fine luggage) were denied acces to the airplane !?!?!?
Our group was not allowed to proceed because the gatesupervisor could not find our tickets in her system. (This is very strange because I checked in every passenger one month prior to the flight)
But she pulled us aside and we had to wait, while other passengers who came after us, were boarding the plane..

The younger lady at the gate contacted the reservationdesk of WizzAir at BUDport and talked to Mr. Bence Kiss (from BUDport) while we had to wait at the gate. Mr. Kiss confirmed our reservation to the lady at ground handling crew on the phone!
But the older lady at the gate did NOT want to reason with us OR the colleague who got instructions from Mr. Bence Kiss.
She was not interested in listening to anyone nor look for a solution to help get us on the plane !!

The only explanation I got from her (after 10 minutes) was that our ticketreservation did not show in her system..
She called her boss (Mr. Istvan Polacska – Duty Handling Manager) a nice gentleman who was a little bit more helpful but he also refused to: let us board, delay the plane or even contact Mr. Kiss for confirmation of our ticketreservations.
Instead he escorted us to BUDport’s helpdesk while our plane was taking off …

There I explained the situation face to face with Mr. Kiss and his colleauge Krisztina Hodozso.
They told me that the status of our tickets now was “no show.”
But we were definately ON TIME at the gate. Camera footage at the airport and mr. Kiss eventually confirmed we were on time nut ground handling denied that fact. However I have proof and tje BUDport employees told me we were right.

Then it all came together for us for the first time:
An unfinished online payment (i tried to book online earlier around 12:00) overruled and denied OUR ENTIRE RESERVATION and BOARDINGPASSES !!!!!!??????
Which is completely ridiculous and should never ever be possible !

I asked Mr. Kiss whom we could turn to, and hold responsible to solve this incident. But he told me that there was NO ALTERNATIVE nor ANY MANAGER available from WizzAir we could call to take our claim serious.
He tried to reach the boss of mr. Polasck because mr. Kiss wanted to discuss compensation for our group. But mr. Kiss told me the manager of mr. Polasck was not available for this big emergency ..

So we asked for mr. Polack and the lady (gatesupervisor) to confirm we were on time.
The lady and her boss mr. Polasck arrived.
But to add insult to injury the lady at the gate not only accused us of having INVALID TICKETS, but also for being late !? Which is a complete lie. Because there were still passengers boarding the plane who were standing behind us in the line.
Furthermore the gatesupervisor did not let me explain or hear feedback from mr. Kiss. She rudely walked away and it was clear that nobody,
Not WizzAir, nor the groundhandling crew took responsiblity for prohibting us to board our plane !!!

I asked mr. Kiss to do whatever he can to fix our situation. He said that he would ask his boss to figure out a solution and that we would probably get new tickets for the next day and accommodation for free.. Because he acknowledged the fact that this was NOT our fault.
But all of these hopes and promises were eventually turned down.
So I asked if i could talk to his manager but he would not give me the name of his boss that “tried to help us.”
Instead he gave me an emailaddress to communicate with his boss.

So I asked mr. Kiss if he at least could explain the situation so he typed a letter and I added some writing on it. He signed and copied this letter.

It was 9 pm by now and mr. Kiss said that we have to pay for ALL COSTS , EVERYTHING ourselves !!!???

Please remember that you are dealing with a group of students who do not have a lot of money to spend. They saved a year to go on this trip.
Since no company took responsiblity and our claim was pushed back at the BUDport desk (even though the employees stated we were right) everybody of our group was FORCED TO PAY THEMSELVES (!?) for:
- New tickets .. for the next day
- Sleep in modest accommodation AND PAY
- Pay for a modest dinner OURSELVES.
- Get new traintickets from Eindhoven Airport to Breda.

This entire time we were not allowed to talk to a manager who took care of our situation. We were not even offered one cup of coffee or anything !!
Let alone the missed examns of some students for not getting back home on time.. and all of this because of a mistake in your website / database.
Hereby I request a full financial compensation for our new ticketreservation, the extra accommodation we had to book and the trouble we have been through the past two days.

Sincerely,

Roderick van Roosendaal

Upon check-in of my hand luggage which didn’t fit the measurement box for small cabin baggage (due to a small- really small- plastic at the wheels), I was asked quite rude to step away from the queue and wait until a “lady” would come to charge for big cabin luggage fee. While I was waiting several other passengers had the same issue – due to minor size differences (really small) they had to queue for payment. Most of them were very angry that for quite small baggage’s (which are standard for cabin) they had to pay 35 euros. To make things even worse the fee could be paid ONLY WITH A CREDIT CARD due to whatever financial reason. I only had cash (euro) with me..like any other human being on the planet. I asked the “nice lady” what should I do, as I don’t have a credit card with me to pay. The answer was: “I don;t know, check with my colleague, it’s not my problem, ask the other passengers to pay for you with their credit card !?!?!?” There were also other passengers in my situation, all were angry and couldn’t believe how a company can treat their customers with such non-sense and create such a miserable customer experience. Was lucky to find one passenger that accepted to pay with his credit card the fee and could board on the plane. I’ve heard so many people talking in the bus to the plane that this is too much and they will never fly with Wizz.
Can someone blame them?

I am reaching out to you as a mother to share my terrible experience with Wizz air during this holiday season. I am based out of London and my son is a first year student in Amsterdam – first time living away from home. This Christmas was a special time for us since my mother turned 80 and the whole family got together from all parts of the world for her 80th birthday. Almost two months ago I bought a ticket for my son to also join the celebration and the family for Christmas. We have all been looking forward to it and planning it for a long time. But it was not to be.

On the 20.12.2013 when my son was due to fly from Eindhoven to Sofia with W6 4326 I received a call from him that he was not let on the plane and instead left at the airport in Eindhoven. He had a ticket, he was checked in, he had a boarding pass, he went through security check and passport control all the way to the gate when he was told that he cannot have his boarding pass on a mobile device it had to be printed. As you can imagine he could not go back to find a printer to print it. And no one from your staff will help him do anything about it.

He was told and I was told “these are the Wizz air rules” your boarding pass has to be printed. Yes he made a mistake but one would think that airline staff is there to guide you, help you, make your trip comfortable and seamless and most importantly help you reach you destination. Turns out Wizz air employees are not there to provide customer care, guiding and helping customers when they are unsure or have omitted to do something (which happens all the time when people travel). Instead Wizz air staff seems to be there to catch you when you have forgotten or misunderstood something, when you haven’t carefully studied the fine print and missed some rule or condition. Wizz air staff seems to be there to penalizing the customers for every mistake they make and make their trip miserable.

My son was not fined for not having his boarding pass printed. 4 days before Christmas he was bluntly and heartlessly taken off the plane with no chance to get another flight in the next 4 days. No one tried to help him. No one offered an alternative. No one cared that this is a kid trying to get to his family for Christmas. What kind of customer service is that??? No one could print his boarding pass even with a fine? I am a million mile frequent traveller – I have had my boarding passes re-printed many times, I have seen many people lose their boarding passes between check-in and gate – the wonderful staff at the gate printed another one. But yes, that was not Wiz air, those were other helpful, customer oriented airlines that I have travelled with.

Yes I pay a bit less for Wizz air flights. But dear Sir, is competitive price a good reason for extremely poor customer service and more importantly customer disrespect. My son was treated like a criminal who was trying to get on the plane without a ticket. He pleaded with your employees to help him but the answer was “sorry, these are the rules”

I am shocked and very disappointed. My son had to pay additional fee to change his flight to fly out of Dortmund the next day. He had to catch a train to go to Dortmund, stay in a hotel in Dortmund overnight and travel to Sofia the next day. Needless to say he missed his grandmother’s 80th birthday and almost missed Christmas with his family, not to mention the emotional trauma on a young student having to spend all his savings to cover the expenses caused by a small mistake he made and the huge lack of empathy and real customer care on the part of WIzz air employees.

All of them kept repeating “These are the rules of Wizz air. There is nothing we can do.”

I would like to understand if this is true. Is this how Wizz air employees are trained? Is this your customer care policy? Seems like no reason is small enough reason to take a customer off a plane, why is that? In my 20+ years long career great strategists have thought menthat customer is “king” and that good customer service means we have to do everything we can for a customer to have the best possible experience and return to use our services again.

After what happened to my son the only reason my family will return to use your services will be if there is absolutely no other choice. I will make it my mission to ensure that all 200,000 employees of my company know what kind of treatment my child received at Wizz air right before Christmas. Further I intend to share my Christmas story with my colleagues at various publications in Bulgaria, UK, the Netherlands and more. Given my global position at my company my contacts extend pretty much all over the world.

And since I do not believe that a customer that has paid his ticket and has checked in should be taken off the plane on a technicality, which can be rectified with the help of the airline staff, I also intend to write to the European commission for consumer rights’ protection. I believe this is a case of discrimination and disrespect of consumer rights. I wanted to be upfront and let you know of my intentions.

I hope you had a better experience during this season of joy and special time with family and friends.

Kind Regards,
Albena

P.S. I submitted a complaint and here is the response I received, which I thought was handled unprofessionally, to say the least.

From: Albena D (UK – London)
Sent: 31 December 2013 12:10
To: ‘Wizz Air Customer Relations PL 2′
Subject: RE: Claim: O3IN4F

Dear Sirs,
I am disappointed to see that you didn’t even read my claim and didn’t try to understand the issue.

1. I am complaining about the customer service at Eindhoven airport not Sofia

2. My son didn’t have a chance to print his boarding pass but he did present it on a mobile device. The boarding pass was there. I believe that a good customer service is to help the customer print it if necessary for a fee, but to take him off the plane I think is extreme, heartless and NOT good customer service.

3. The action of paying a fee to use a different flight was forced by the fact that your staff did not let him on the plane.

4. Why could you fine him and allow him to change the flight and couldn’t fine him and allow help him print his already existing boarding pass?

I am not happy with this response. I would like my case to be forwarded to a manager. Alternatively I will forward it to your CEO directly.

Regards
Albena

From: Wizz Air Customer Relations PL 2 [mailto:customerrelations.pl2@wizzair.com]
Sent: 31 December 2013 10:59
To: Albena D (UK – London)
Subject: Claim: O3IN4F

Dear Madam,

Thank you for contacting our Customer Relations Department.
I am very sorry to hear that you are not satisfied with services provided by the Sofia Airport services. Let me assure you that Wizz Air strives to attract passengers not only with the low fares, but also with high quality of services. Thank you for letting us know about the problem. Your claim has been forwarded to the manager who is responsible for our airport services. We will take the necessary steps to remedy that situation.
According to our General Conditions of Carriage which have been accepted by passenger upon making a booking I kindly inform:
9.5 Online check-in service is available on certain routes under the following conditions. Children under 14 years shall be accompanied and checked-in online by a Passenger above 16 years. In some countries the regulations regarding to the travel of minors may differ from the above and in this case those regulations apply. You can check in online from 14 days up to 3 hours before the Scheduled flight departure time on the Website. You shall print the online Boarding Pass and present it together with your valid Travel Documents at airport security and boarding gate. If the Passenger cannot present the Boarding Pass and/or the same travel documents used at online check-in at airport security and/or boarding gate, we may refuse the carriage. The Passenger who checked-in online shall be present at the boarding gate ready for boarding no later than 30 minutes before the Scheduled Departure Time of the flight. Passengers with Checked Baggage must present themselves together with their baggage at the baggage drop desk not later than 40 minutes before the Scheduled Departure Time of the flight. At some airports the check-in desks function as baggage drop desks as well. […]
Based on the above, I regret to inform you that the passengers from the booking O3IN4F did not fulfil the check-in procedure.
Accordingly, please be informed that we are not able to issue requested refund. Please note that in the system we have information that your son paid the missed flight fee and flew on the 21st of December; therefore we are not able to issue a refund for this flight.
Thank you for your time and understanding.
Yours faithfully,

Julita Sledziewska
Customer Relations Department | Wizz Air Hungary Ltd. (member of Wizz Air Group)
BUD International Airport | Building 221 | H-1185 Budapest, Hungary
customerrelations.pl2@wizzair.com| wizzair.com

Twitter: @wizzair
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Original message:

Dear Sirs,

On the 20.12.2013 when my son was due to fly from Eindhoven to Sofia with W6 4326 I received a call from my him that he was not let on the plane and instead left at the airport in Eindhoven. He had a ticket, he was checked in, he had a boarding pass, he went through security check and passport control all the way to the gate when he was told that he cannot have his boarding pass on a mobile device it had to be printed. As you can imagine he could not go back to find a printer to print it. And no one from your staff will help him do anything about it.

Yes he was told and I was told “these are the Wizz air rules” your boarding pass has to be printed. Yes he made a mistake but one would think that airline staff is there to guide you, help you if something goes wrong, make your trip comfortable and seamless and most importantly help you reach you destination. Turns out Wizz air employees are not there to provide customer care when customers are unsure or have omitted to do something (which happens all the time when people travel). Instead Wizz air staff seems to be there to catch you when you have forgotten or misunderstood something, when you haven’t carefully studied the fine print. Wizz air staff seems to be there to penalizing the customers for every mistake they make and make their trip miserable.

My son was not fined for not having his boarding pass printed. 4 days before Christmas he was bluntly and heartlessly taken off the plane with no chance to get another flight in the next 4 days. No one tried to help him. No one offered an alternative. No one cared that this is a kid trying to get to his family for Christmas. What kind of customer service is that??? No one could print his boarding pass even with a fine? I am a million mile frequent traveller – I have had my boarding passes re-printed many times, I have seen many people lose their boarding passes between check-in and gate – the wonderful staff from other airlines at the gate printed another one. I guess it is not impossible.

I would like an explanation if this is the way Wizz air treats customers and I hope Wizz air has the courtesy to compensate my son for the stress he and I went through before Christmas.

Regards
Albena

And btw by 60 euros you could have bought the most expensive shampoo, conditioner and razors… And plenty of water in the duty-free.
God… seriously everyone lacks of logic here?!

This type always upsets me who try to blame a company whereas all the things could have been avioided if they had READ everything and got prepared correctly. You are time-wasters and the best is that when some prick shouts with the employees while he was the dumb one not payinh attention to the details ALL WRITTEN ON THE WEBSITE.

Anyway why did not you try to get your boarding pass printed somewhere else apart from your apartment? I mean I really doubt that you were in the middle of nowhere. Once in the middle of the night I popped in a London hotel and asked the receptionist to be so kind and print out my coach tickets and he helped me out without any hesitation…

Grow up and take responsibilty! You are an adult!