Wizz Air

We know that many passengers have already taken steps to resolve their claims through the courts or through Wizz Air’s Alternative Dispute Resolution body - AviationADR (Consumer Dispute Resolution Limited).    We anticipate that many of these claims will include sums that are out of scope of the review and/or these will be concluded sooner or around the same time they would have been had Wizz Air reviewed them. For this reason, Wizz Air will exclude these claims from its review.

We know that if you are owed money, you will be anxious to receive this as soon as possible.  It will take Wizz Air some time to review all claims accurately and thoroughly. Wizz Air has committed to do this and contact passengers eligible for a payment by 30 September 2023.

If you made an expenses claim to Wizz Air which does not fall into the exclusions above and you believe Wizz Air owe you money, we ask that you please be patient and do not contact Wizz Air before 30 September 2023. This will help it focus its resources on the claims review and mean that everyone is reimbursed as soon as possible.

Wizz Air will provide contact details for a dedicated team to handle queries from any passengers who were not contacted but believe they are owed money for their replacement flights, care or transfer costs after 30 September 2023.

If you made a claim to Wizz Air for a flight due to depart from or arrive into the UK before 18 March 2022 your claim will not be automatically reviewed by Wizz Air.  However, if your flight disruption occurred within the last six years, you can contact Wizz Air and ask it to reopen your claim providing it related to one or more of the following:   

1. replacement flight costs (because a replacement flight was not offered, or the replacement offered was unsuitable, for instance because it was days later, and earlier comparable alternatives were available)
2. costs incurred on transferring passengers who were re-routed via alternative airports or to another close-by destination agreed with the passenger
3. care expenses, typically for overnight accommodation

Wizz Air’s undertaking to review these cases at your request does not apply if: 

• you have already taken steps to escalate it to a court or to Wizz Air’s Alternative Dispute Resolution body
• you only claimed for meals and refreshments
• the total amount you claimed for all of the above costs combined was less than £20 per booking
• your disrupted flight was not due to depart from or arrive into the UK

To get Wizz Air to reopen your claim please contact them by replying to your previous email exchange with them.

If you cannot access your previous email exchange with Wizz Air for whatever reason you can contact the airline’s Existing Bookings line on 0330 977 0444 (domestic rates apply – please check with your phone provider) providing the information below, or as much of that information as you can to help Wizz Air locate your claim.

• booking number
• case number
• flight date and route
• name of passengers

If Wizz Air’s review determines that you are due monies, then Wizz Air may give you the option of receiving your refund as WIZZ credits.  You are under no obligation to accept WIZZ credits.  Wizz Air should not make any payment to you in WIZZ credits unless you have confirmed that this is your preferred method of payment.

We believe that Wizz Air has in the past provided an option for passengers to be paid in WIZZ credits, instead of cash. We understand that WIZZ credits were usually 120% of the equivalent cash amount (to reflect an uplift for choosing to accept WIZZ credits).

If Wizz Air’s review concludes that you are due additional monies due to elements of your claim being previously rejected, it will deduct the cash equivalent amount already received, not the higher value of WIZZ credits when it calculates the additional amount due.

Covid travel restrictions that previously applied to UK departures and arrivals ended on 18 March 2022.  This meant that the number of passengers travelling to and from the UK increased and unfortunately so did delays and cancellations.

If you disagree with the outcome of Wizz Air’s review of your claim and, providing Wizz Air did not conclude the outcome of your original claim more than a year ago, there is still time to escalate your case to Wizz Air’s Alternative Dispute Resolution body, AviationADR (Consumer Dispute Resolution Limited). 

If you do this, please tell Wizz Air that you have taken this course of action.  Details of how to escalate a claim to AviationADR are set out on their website: https://www.aviationadr.org.uk/.

If it is too late to escalate your case to Wizz Air’s ADR body you can find guidance on commencing court proceedings from your local Citizens' Advice Bureau or on the Government’s website. 

UK Regulation (EU) No. 261/2004 ensures that airlines care for passengers and compensate them in certain circumstances when flights are disrupted.  The regulation does not apply to other losses that arise from flight disruptions (often referred to as ‘consequential losses’) like extra car-parking charges or missed pre-booked items booked independently of the flights such as hotels.   Some travel insurance policies cover these types of losses, so you may wish to check this with your travel insurer.

Some passengers may also be entitled to the compensation set out in Article 7 of UK Regulation (EU) No. 261/2004 for delayed and cancelled flights.  This compensation does not apply if the airline can prove that the cancellation or delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances which could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken. Whether an airline can rely on the extraordinary circumstance’s exemption is often determined on a case-by-case basis, depending on the facts. If an airline claims extraordinary circumstances to defend paying compensation, then this is typically something that a court or an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) body can consider.

Further information about extraordinary circumstances can be found on the CAA website.