Wizzair Sucks » left-for-dead

Thank God for the freedom of speech and the internet! At least we can share our resentment for what is probably the worst airline on the planet!

admin — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 08:41:48 +0000

Letter from “Dan” sent to us on 09/08/2009:

Here is my story, in progress, as I am committed to do everything in my power to make it right!

To start off, I’d like to point out that this was our honeymoon flight, Cluj – Venice, to start off what should have been the beginning of our beautiful married life. I am a Platinum Star Alliance Member.

August 25th, 2009 10:30 AM: we got in a hurry at the CLJ airport, traffic and a new terminal barely visible made us get there 45 minutes before scheduled departure. Shock when we got to the check in desk, THERE WAS NO ONE THERE!!! Not a single person from WIZZ Air!!!

August 25th, 2009 10:32 AM: shocked and in disbelief, I rushed to the WIZZ ticketing counter to ask someone to get us boarding passes. Shock again, when the agent told us “tough luck”, grudgingly showing us a big sign that said that check in closes 40 min before departure. When I said there’s 43 minutes to departure and we have no luggage, he simply walked away….

August 25th, 2009 10:35 AM: frantically I called WIZZ Air Customer (or should I say lack of Customer) Service… for 60 EURO cents a minutes, I got to experience the worst customer service of my life!!! It ended in the lady agent slamming the phone in my face!!!!!! Ouch….

August 25th, 2009 10:38 AM: after paying about 3 EUROs to be abused over the phone, I realized that we might not make the flight… none of my desperate calls or my wife’s tears to the security desk, the ticketing agents or any person that seemed remotely official to call someone from WIZZ Air from the gate to give us our boarding passes had any luck…. We were being denied boarding this flight!!!!

August 25th, 2009 10:40 AM: back at the ticketing desk, I tried to see what flight accommodation they can provide us, considering that we have just been denied boarding our scheduled flight. Now comes the shock of all shocks, the mother of all surprises, when the agent told us that the next scheduled flight will be 2 days from now and we will be charged 120 EUROs for the both of us!!!! If we wanted to leave that day, there was only one option, to buy a new ticket and be re-routed through Germany. And we needed to be fast as the flight was leaving at 12:00 PM. By the way, the price for this was a whopping EUR 1,300!!!!!!!! Ouch, ouch….

My jaw dropped and I tried to explain that there are international regulations concerning denied boarding situations (didn’t knew at the time Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, but I am a frequent flyer and I know in the US all airlines are trying to accommodate passengers in their flights or code-share flights in situations like this.

August 25th, 2009 11:10 AM: we had no choice….. we paid the EUR 1,300 and got on board Lufthansa flight to Venice through Munich. Star Alliance partner Lufthansa had no issue checking us in 45 minutes before departure…..

So now, I’m left fighting WIZZ Air for some retribution for this “unpleasant situation” as they referred to it in their reply to my claim request. I’m planning on cancelling the credit card payment for the tickets, that covers about $250 and trying to recoup the rest through Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 either by suing them in small claims court in the US or reaching out to the Romanian authorities. If anyone has any experience as to what the best way would be to reach any civil authorities in Romania or Europe that would have a saying in this, please reply to my message.

Thanks for this website and I hope some of these stories and hopefully resolutions to issues presented here will help people be more informed before being trapped and screwed by WIZZ Air.

Dan

Lies, lies, and more lies

admin — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:38:33 +0000

The return leg of out return trip to Lviv was cancelled by Wizz Air. They didn’t inform of of the cancellation at any point, we found out via contacts in Ukraine. We found out that the whole Luton-Lviv route was being cancelled from May, which would have left us stranded in Lviv. They did confirm the cancellation when we phoned them at 65p per minute cost to ourselves. They informed us that we could fly home from Kiev at no extra cost. However when we had finally sorted out the best way to get to Kiev and rang them again they then said they had been wrong and that we would need to pay extra to book the flight from Kiev and claim a partial refund for the return leg cancellation from Lviv.

So they were asking us to do further business with them after cancelling our initial flight and not even bothering to inform us.

Their customer services email address say they will take 30 days to reply. When I sent a letter with Subject “Full Refund Required” it was bounced back to me several hours later as spam ! When I then sent the exact same letter but changing the Subject line so it didn’t mention refund it got through, though I have as yet still not received a reply to the email.

This is immaterial though as I booked with a credit card and went through my bank to get a chargeback which has been successful.

Funnily enough the day after the money was returned to my bank account WizzAir phoned me and said they would refund me if I cancelled the chargeback ! I happily informed them that the money was already safely back in my account.

To anyone defending WizzAir, either because they are deluded enough to think this company is on a par with cheap flight airlines such as RyanAir or because thay are lucky enough to have had good experiences with WizzAir I can only encourage you to book with WizzAir and take the consequences. For everyone else, don’t touch WizzAir with a bargepole. They are a complete shambles and their customer service is non-existent and simply an excuse to rip you off at 65 pence per minute.

WIZZ AIR review : 13 May 2009 : by S Engel

admin — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:04:12 +0000

I advise you not to fly with this company. We had a multiple bad experience with Wizzair. Our flight from Budapest to Eindhoven had a 6 hour delay. We were given no information about the reason for the delay and me and my husband suspected a technical problem. According to wizzair regulation we were entitled to rebook for another flight. But when we tried that, we have found out that we have to pay the other tickets ourselves. After coming home I have tried to get my money back. The reply came after 2 months! And the money was sent via an account of some agency despite I have provided two accounts of our own to be repaid directly. I am still waiting to see if I will get any of my money back. Hope this comment would save someone losing time, money and nerves with Wizzair. For us it was definitely the first and the last time flying with Wizzair.

Unhappiness in Paris… left for dead.

admin — Thu, 14 May 2009 10:00:12 +0000

Not for the first time, budget airline Wizzair has pissed on (happiness is a worn pun) its customers by canceling a flight and leaving them to fend for themselves for the night. Around 80 Hungarian passengers were left stranded at Beauvais Airport in the wastelands outside Paris last Wednesday after their flight was pulled due to some technical fault or other. The travelers were forced to stay the night but received only a food coupon worth €4.

Wizz Air review by D Pattison

admin — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:46:18 +0000

Zagreb – London Luton. Passengers boarded with 20 minute delay. Passenger taken off the plane. One hour delay announced. After five hours two completely different information – call center operator no 1 – passengers will start boarding any minute, call center operator no 2 – flight is not cancelled, it is technically just delayed. Come back tomorrow morning at 5 am. Flight scheduled for 8.00 am. Wizzair did not organise hotel accommodation, transportation for passengers. Couple of small kids present – around 3 years old. No Wizzair representative at the airport. Airport Zagreb did not take over the initiative to help passengers. Wizzair does not have a phone number on their web page where passengers from Croatia can call. They had to contact their friends from UK – a friend has spent 150 GBP to find out latest information which was anyway a complete lie made by call center people, who can hardly speak English. A typical customer ignorance. The airplane took of at 4pm next day – with 24 hours delay. Wizzair manipulated the passengers, airport staff and simply has put on the same plane passengers from 2 different days.

Wizz Air review by B Zemljic

admin — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:46:18 +0000

Arrived at Wroclaw airport Friday 18th – flight to Luton cancelled. No Wizzair staff at airport. No explanation, no information. By the time we got seen, last flight to any London airport that day had left. Offered (if room) seats on Wizzair Monday, or pay 1800 (£450) for 2 tickets Ryanair to East Midlands that day. Took tickets and were assured would get refund from Wizzair. No offer of food, hotel, phone calls – as stated in their documentation. No warning of cancellation – again as stated. Got claim form from airport staff – but looking at details, only applied if we get a Wizzair flight – even though their Conditions of Carriage say that an alternative Low-cost carrier is acceptable.

Wizz Air review by A Warrington

admin — Tue, 05 May 2009 10:46:18 +0000

Luton-Zagreb-Luton. Free seating scrum like no other, but anyone can pay £5 to sit in one of the 12 over-wing emergency exits. You are also invited to pay another £5 for priority boarding which you may or may not be given. Usually on time, but no contingency plans for flight delays or passenger care when things go wrong. There are no Wizz staff or agents in Zagreb and the Wizz air crew only seem to have lip service for the airport. You can call a premium rate customer service line in Hungary for flight information (if you get through). Zagreb airport staff have heard it all before and treat Wizz passengers like unwelcome guests. Apparently Wizz are supposed to have taken delivery of new A320 Airbus jets, but most of the seats seem to be from another aircraft. Friday 11th April 2008, they delayed the plane for 20 hours in Zagreb telling passengers that the aircraft had been struck by lightning. 17:00 became 20:00 which became 22:00 however the crew had left hours before. The airport told us to be in the airport at 06:00 the next morning for a 08:00 departure, but the crew did not turn up again until 10:00 when they haggled with ground staff over catering costs and landing fees until mid afternoon. My suggestion to anyone thinking of flying Wizz is that this airline is best suited to the very young and/or the very poor.