Completely screwed by Wizzair, a love story

// February 2nd, 2012 // Uncategorized

A love story

My son has lived and worked in Poland for 18 years and lives in Wroclaw. He is happy in Poland and we have therefore visited him regularly. Flights in the period have gone from infrequent to now regular. However in all those years of going back and forth we have never lost the idea that at every opportunity we are taken for a ride. Yes the much travelled and very fair mind British taxpayer is seen as easy meat.

I want to make the latest case something of a test case for the Government to finally take some sensible action. My son booked online a flight with the Hungarian based airline WIZZAIR who fly direct from Luton to Wroclaw, very convenient.

Seasoned traveller on this route he knows that the safest, quickest and cheapest way to travel is with hand baggage only, so we purchased smaller cases fit for that purpose and have used them successfully and continuously over many years without too much trouble, using a variety of airlines including WIZZAIR. In fact the baggage in question was used by my son on his way to the UK with the same airline.

My son booked his flight to Wroclaw for departure last Monday 30 January it was schedule to take at 08.05 from Luton. For some technical reason he could not print his boarding card and therefore it was necessary for him to queue up and go to a check in counter. He did this and at that counter the landing agent checked his bag for weight and size and told him it was ok to take as cabin baggage.

it would be helpful for you to know that had he checked this bag in online to go into the hold it would have cost him £13. If the check in attendant had said the bag must be checked in because of size or weight restrictions then it would be £26.

However my son knew his bag was ok to take on board [having done so on many occasions].

The actual flight was delayed for two hours and he did note that no one seemed concerned to get on with the departure when he was finally called forward. He did note that there was quite a lot of bags being carried [some people had more than one bag] Most of the bags seemed larger than his and when he got close to the gate he heard an adjoining Easyjet flight announcer say “our flight to ——— is experiencing larger than normal number of hand baggage items, if you wish to come forward and volunteer to check in your bags we will take them free of charge. Later investigation confirmed by Easyjet said that this was a policy if there was little room left in the cabin and it eased boarding. However on my sons flight there was no such intentions by the gate attendants. My son was pulled out with three other males [all travelling on their own, and all on one way] and told in no uncertain manner that his bag was not able to fit in the cabin lockers and must be checked in. My son protested making the point that he had travelled with this bag with WIZZAIR before, he had been cleared at check in, the size of the case had not changed between the check in counter and the gate. But the attendant was having none of it. My son was told it would cost £52. When he asked the alternative he was told that he would be refused entry on to the flight. Pretty much feels like they target individuals who have no alternative but to pay. He had £55 in change or an expensive card transaction to undertake. He offered the cash and was told that they did not give change at the gate, when he asked for a receipt it was met with “we do not have much time” but happily he stood his ground.

I wonder for a family who did not have that money! what would they do?

Anyway I made a claim on their website facility and the red type face below is the first reply

Dear XXXX XXXXXX,

thank you for contacting the Customer Relations Department.

Please be informed that should Passengers’ hand-luggage not meet the requirements appointed by our General Conditions of Carriage, section 14.1.6 of our GCC is applied:

“14.1.3 You may carry only one piece of Hand Baggage per passenger the weight of which does not exceed 10 kilograms and the size of which does not exceed 55x20x40 cm. These dimensions include wheels, handles and side pockets.

14.1.6 Should your Hand Baggage not meet the requirements defined in this paragraph 14.1 (especially the restrictions regarding the quantity and the weight of the Hand Baggage), Wizz Air reserves the right to refuse the carriage of your Baggage as Hand Baggage. In this case Wizz Air will carry the Baggage as Checked Baggage in consideration of the payment of the handling fee for Checked Baggage. Should you fail to pay the fee, Wizz Air reserves the right to refuse your carriage and/or the carriage of your Baggage. Wizz Air hereby excludes all liability for damages arising from such refusal.”

Please note that Passengers must be aware of these conditions as our General Conditions of Carriage has to be accepted during the booking procedure. Should Passengers not accept these conditions, the reservation cannot be finalised and confirmed. By Passengers ticking the box and accepting our GCC, our Company do assume reasonably that Passengers make their reservation in accordance with these conditions. What is more, the same information is printed on Passengers’ boarding pass as well.

Our Company maintains the right for the ground handling agents to check the measures of Passengers’ luggage with the example frames placed at the gates due to safety reasons. Please mind the fact that the room in the storage compartments on board are limited.

In conclusion, due to the reasons mentioned above, as your luggage was unsuitable for carrying it on board, the agents acted appropriately in accordance with our GCC; therefore, you are not entitled to have the baggage gate fee refunded in this case.

Thank you very much for your understanding. I consider your case to be settled.

We look forward to welcoming you on board soon.

All the best,

Zsolt Bojti

Customer Relations Department

Wizz Air Hungary Kft.

Member of Wizz Air Group

BUD International Airport Building 221

H-1185 Budapest

Fax:     +36 1 239 6280

Email:  customerrelations.bud@wizzair.com

Web:    wizzair.com

Unsurprisingly I was not best pleased with this reply and so wrote again to the respondent

In common with your airlines practices you have totally ignored what was written, and the matter is most definitely not closed.

you stated

Our Company maintains the right for the ground handling agents to check the measures of Passengers’ luggage with the example frames placed at the gates due to safety reasons. Please mind the fact that the room in the storage compartments on board are limited.

In conclusion, due to the reasons mentioned above, as your luggage was unsuitable for carrying it on board, the agents acted appropriately in accordance with our GCC; therefore, you are not entitled to have the baggage gate fee refunded in this case.

if this is the foundation of your policy and reasons for excluding my son XXXX XXXXXX from taking his case on board can you

  1. explain why we have pictures of larger cases being taken on board?
  2. explain who you conversed with at Luton to substantiate the conclusion you came to?
  3. have you actually seen Mr XXXX XXXXX’s case?
  4. can you please explain why the girl at the check in desk said the case was fit to fly in the cabin?
  5. can you confirm that your gate staff are in fact incentivised to collect charges? be very careful to be truthful on this one

I thank you for your answers to these questions which in the circumstances are not unreasonable

in your replies you need to consider

  1. THE CASE WAS WITHIN WEIGHT LIMITS AS CHECKED BY THE CHECK IN DESK – WOULD YOU LIKE TO MEET WITH ME AT THE DESK WITH THE POLISH GIRL WHO WAS ON DUTY?
  2. THE CASE IS WITHIN THE LIMITS SET FOR SIZE – DO YOU WANT ME TO SEND IT TO YOU?
  3. YOUR AIRLINE HAS CARRIED THIS BAG ON AT LEAST SIX OCCASIONS IN THE LAST THREE YEARS, WITHOUT A HINT OF CHECKING

It is grossly ignorant of you to simply dismiss this case and I want it escalating to a higher authority.

Your without prejudice

XXXXX XXXXXX

As a result the same person made this reply

Dear XXXX XXXXXX,

thank you for your kind reply.

Please be informed about the followings. Should you have any further questions after this, please do not hesitate to contact me. Our Department wishes to be at your service should you have any doubts concerning your case.

Please note that the questions asked in your first letter is noted as ‘I/x’ and the questions asked in the second letter are noted as ‘II/x’.

I/1.: I can inform you that it is possible for Passengers to have their hand-luggage checked at the check-in desk. Having read your message, our Department assumes that the agent at the check-in desk confirmed that the weight of your hand-luggage wass acceptable in accordance with section 14.1.3 of our General Conditions of Carriage. Should you not have located your hand-luggage into the frame positioned at the check-in desk, it is assumed that the agent’s confirmation did not concern tha size of your luggage as it is measured with the frame. Please note that it is a possiblity that Passenger has his luggage checked-in at the check-in desk if he finds that this step is necessarry due to the oversized nature of the luggage. Please also note the agent at the check-in desk cannot predict the exact decision of the agents at the boarding gate as on the way from the check-in desk to the boarding gate Passenger may locate something into the luggage or can take items our of it. BUT THIS NEVER HAPPENED AND NO WEIGHT CHECK WAS MADE AT THE GATE- IT WAS ARBITARY

I/2.: I can inform you that the actual size and weight of the luggage matters at the boarding gate. This is due to the fact that some pieces of luggage may be smaller when it is empty than the size when it is packed due to the nature of the material it is made of. Therefore, our Department assumes that sending the luggage to our Department is not necessary in this case and will not affect our decision. As a consequence, our Department relies on the decision of the ground handling agents who saw the actual size of the hand-luggage at the boarding gate. THIS MEANS YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU LIKE & YOU DO

I/3.: Again, I can only refer to the answer in I/2. as the size of the luggage may alter due to the nature of the material the luggage is made of. IT IS AT MOST 300 METRES FROM CHECK IN TO DEPARTURE GATE, ARE YOU SAYING THE CASE GREW IN SIZE – MY ONLY REMARK CAN BE – STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES

II/1. As for your assumption of discrimination, I can assure you that our ground handling agents do their bests in order that our General Conditions of Carriage is applied to all our Passengers. In this case, we are really sorry to hear that you were not pleased with the service of handling agents at the airport. THIS IS A CHANGE FROM YOUR FIRST REPLY AND YOU IGNORE THAT THE HANDLING AGENTS ARE NOT CARRYING OUT THE POLICY AT ALL AND IT IS YOUR POLICY

The handling agents at the airport who should represent Wizz Air but are actually an external company,HERE WE GO A BODY SWERVE, WHO BANKS THE MONEY TAKEN FROM PASSENGERS AT THE GATE  were obviously not doing their duty as it should be expected SO YOU AGREE IT WAS A MISTAKE. Low cost airlines rarely have their own “representatives” at the airports IRRELEVANT THE CONTRACT IS WITH WIZZAIR AND THE MONEY IS PAST TO WIZZAIR. We rely instead on buying services from an agent operating at the airport, training them and providing them with a long and detailed set of rules. Unfortunately, we have limited means for controlling how they apply our rules. Please accept our sincere apology for the inconveniences caused by the uncomfortable situation.SO YOU AGAIN ADMIT THAT THERE WAS A MISTAKE

We are doing our best to keep their service levels as high as possible to fit our dedicated standards. Acts of similar behaviour will be met with appropriate consequences. All necessary step will be taken – on a general and a personal level alike – to keep similar inconveniences from happening in the future.WHAT ON EARTH DOES THIS MEAN IT IS LIKE WE WILL MAKE YOU DO AND PAY WHATEVER WE THINK FIT WITHOUT WARNING

II/2.: Again, I can only refer to my previous answer. Our Department relies on the decision of the ground handling agents at the airport YES AND THE CHECK IN GIRL SAID OK BUT THEN SHE ALSO KNOWS YOU CAN DOUBLE YOUR MONEY AT THE GATE. Our Department cannot overrule the decision of the agents at the airport without any hard evidence by Passenger which supports that the measures of the hand-luggage did in fact allign with the attributes appointed by our General Conditions of Carriage. Therefore, our Department did not assume the necessity of further investigation with the airport.

II/3.: Again, I can only refer to my answers given in I/2. and II/2.

II/4.: Again, I can only refer to my answer given in I/1. and I/2.

II/5.: As I stated in my previous message, our Company does maintain the right for the ground handling agents to check the measures of Passengers’ hand-luggage. One of the reasons for this is that the ground handling agents are to have our General Conditions of Carriage. The other main reason for this is that the room in the compartments on board are limited.NO NO NO THIS IS NOT THE CASE IF YOU LOOK AT EASYJET THEY WOULD TAKE CONFORMING HAND BAGGAGE FOR FREE IF THEY THOUGHT THE OVERHEAD LOCKERS WERE GOING TO BE FULL Should such regulations be not obeyed, numerous safety issues would emerge due to the limits of the room of the compartments on board.

Our Department would like to offer our assistance in this case; therefore, should you feel that further investigation is to be progressed, please be so kind as to send the receipt regarding the payment at the boarding gate and any official report (written or validated photo) confirming that your luggage met the requirements set in section 14.1.3 of our General Conditions of Carriage. Otherwise, I regret to inform you that, as no further investigation can be progressed, our Department considers your case to be settled.

Thank you very much for your understanding.

All the best,

Zsolt Bojti

Customer Relations Department

Wizz Air Hungary Kft.

Member of Wizz Air Group

BUD International Airport Building 221

H-1185 Budapest

Fax:     +36 1 239 6280

Email:  customerrelations.bud@wizzair.com

Web:    wizzair.com

12 Responses to “Completely screwed by Wizzair, a love story”

  1. Magyar Csaba says:

    Stop whining about wizzair you morons!

    32 kg baggage allowance, compared to ryanair of 15kg.

    You can choose flight delay warranty too.

    Try getting to the same destinations with another airline and see how much you will pay and see how far you will get!

    This site must be one of the most senseless and stupid sites the internet has ever known! Get a life!

  2. Lufthansa User says:

    Irrelevent. Did you read the post?
    Airlines should really not be allowed to get away with this.
    And yes, I can get to where I want for almost the same money as these “low cost” airlines at much greater comfort and style. It is unacceptable to demand extra money from passengers complying with the regulations.

  3. Gee rash says:

    What a load of bollocks. Stop complaining you whinging ingrates. Go and take a poxy bus if you are so pissed off with wizz air. Or go on Ryanair and pay money for the pleasure of doing a shite on board.

  4. MR R says:

    I previously worked for wizz air at ltn airport and no practice such as this occurs. There are about 15 hand baggage stands to check your baggage with at the check in desks. The only thing I can assume happened which often happens with low cost airlines is the customer did not take into account the size of the wheels of the bag and these made the bag over sized. Often complaints like this occur as boarding staff let people off the over sized bags frequently and then when its busy they are forced to charge. Complaints like this could be easily avoided if during every boarding every bag was checked and charged for but then there would be other people moaning… to avoid this measure your bag including the wheels! I have measured the gauge and they give you an extra cm or two anyway! I hope this gives a bit more of a human insight into what occured and helps anyone else who experianced the same problems.

  5. Hi, I recently had an issue with Wizzair also, could not board the flight because I didn’t have a boarding pass and also was on time, local Wizzair staff was also really rude and didn’t want to print my boarding pass because the system was closed and I was in the queue waiting a really long time. I got a reply from this same guy ( I think he specializes in these kind of letters). But I’m not done with them. I think also like most they should go bankrupt and get denied access to all airports!! Let’s do it!! The war has begun!!

  6. Slavica Toshevska says:

    i WAS CHARGED 51 POUND,FOR A BAG THAT FIT IN THEIR METAL DISPLAY BUT STILL WITH A EXCUSE THAT THE BAG MUST FELL INTO THE BOX SMOOTHLY
    SINCE THE BAG HAS PLASTIC HANDLES AND WHEELS AND THE DISPLAY IS METAL- LOGICALLY , YOU HAVE TO PUT THE BAG CAREFULLY ,WITHOUT DAMAGING THE BAG OR THEIR BLOODY DISPLAY
    THE BAG FIT IN-BUT YET I WAS FORCED TO PAY 51 POUND,AND HUMILIATED BY THE STAFF SHOUTING THISONE ???CANT GO ON THE FLIGHT WITHOUT PAYING!!! I CALLED FOR THE POLICE ON THE AIRPORT,MANAGER ..ANYBODY WITH COMMON SENSE – NOBODY CAME.. OFCOURSE I PAID-OTHERWAYS WOULD COST ME EVEN MORE-NEW FLIGHT,LOST DAY,STRESS AND HUMILIATION FROM STAFF THAT NEEDS TO BE NOCKOUT AND YET NOBODY IS TAKING THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS BEHAVEOR !!!
    SINCE THIS IS A COMMON ISSUE WITH THIS COMPANY- ANY AIRPORT MUST TAKE RESSPONCIBILITY FOR ALLOWING THIS THUGS HAVING RIGHT TO LITTERALY RISK PEOPLES LIVES
    IF THEY ARE NOT CONCERN FOR ANY COMPLAINTS,THEREFORE THAY ARE NOT CONCERN FOR ANYTHING THAT MAY HAPPEN TO U ON THEIR FLIGHT!

  7. Ali says:

    My solution is, why whine? Simple dont use Wizzair :D I mostly travel between London & Prague and its normally over weekends. The average cost of the flight from Luton to Prague is £100 for flight + £15 for 757 & around £8 for public transport to reach Victoria stations, my total expense is avarage £130 (or more). I normally carry only a laptop with me for this over sized baggage is never a problem. However I realised why the hell am I waisting around 4 hours of my life travelling from Lonton to Luton to Fly to Prague to save £20 or £30? No Thanx. No Wizzair. British Airways is best. It flies me from London to Prague for £150 (average price) instead of Luton to Prague for £130.

    This so called London-Luton airport was never London-Luton, its Luton airport yes .. 30 kilometres (around 20 miles out of London).

    Pay a bit more & not whine, simple, wizzair can go to hell.

  8. Frank says:

    Why whine? Cause they’re methods are extremely vexatious and foggy. In one airport they tell you your handbag is ok, in another one they ask you for 52£ or more (or less, they do really whatever the want), in another one at the check-in they tell you it’s ok, then right before you’re boarding they tell you it’s not ok and they ask for money threatening you won’t get on board and they’ll call the police. That is not how a serious company works. Furthermore: every EU citizen has the fundamental right to move around the EU and they can’t LEGALLY forbid you to take transportation (that you bought a ticket for) because allegedly you have a handbag that they don’t particularly prefer in that case (and they like in another case). The right to move around europe and take transportation is a civil right on which the EU is based upon. Also they should be the ones suggesting solutions when this kind of things happen: e.g. suggesting you leave the luggage, or that you bring just the most important things on board and you leave the others etc.. not just threatening you and yell at you.
    I guess they do it only because they still have got a monopoly as a low-cost company on some routes. If there was another just slighty more correct everybody would choose that one, and wizzair would totally fail.

  9. Hi

    MANAGED TO GET MY ISSUE RESOLVED! READ BELOW :)

    i had issues with Wizzair. i needed to change a name which i paid the £78.00 and they did not change on the booking email but still charged me.

    i tried to call the 09069590002 with no lucky.
    i tried 08442492075 which gave me the number below
    i tried 08442492075 with a very rude guy with no luck who hung up on me
    i spoke to my credit card company to claim the money back
    i emailed all email address for Wizzair with no luck.

    in the end i contacted the handling agencies for Wizzair at Luton airport on : 01582 395 241 and they corrected the booking name within minutes and was a lovely guy helping. so happy i have now managed to resolve the error.

    if you dont have luck with Wizzair, i do recommend contacting them just to see if they can help at all. im not sure if they can deal with cancellations etc but always good to just give it a go :)

    hope this helps some of you

    Jess

  10. Julie says:

    WORST Airplane EVER!!! WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE!! WORST EXPERIENCE. NEVER EVER AGAIN!!! PLEASE DO NOT USE wizzshitair!!! SHOULDN’T EXIST !!!
    3 days ago , In one airport they told me my handbag is ok,but this morning in another airport they asked me for 62 euro / ACTUALLY DEMANDED / INSULTED AND THREATENED ME not to get on board and called the police. IN THE END I PAID-OTHERWAYS WOULD COST ME EVEN MORE-NEW FLIGHT,LOST DAY,STRESS. BULGARIAN AIRPORT STAFFS + WIZZ AIR = HORROR !!! THEY LET IN OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAD BIGGER LUGGAGE THAN ME!! ! THEY DONT SPEAK ENGLISH AND TREATED ME LIKE A CRIMINAL !!! On the plane, people next to talking loud and was stinky. so sat in an empty sit as soon as sat down they asked me leave or pay 60 euro for that ! i didn’t want any hassle, just sat back next to the loud and smelly people. I felt that moment i was in a communist prison this morning. Never felt happier when i got off that plane.
    What a day i had, thank you guys for sharing your stories, make me feel much better.
    Hope for the better world

    • arsecheese says:

      sometimes the ripe smell of a sweaty womans arse is too much to bear in the confines of an aircraft. I agree that you should get a refund. You should complain to the centre for preventing arse smells in flight (CFPASIN). They are based in Geneva and deal regularly with Wizz Air. If you think Wizz air is bad you should fly with Congo airlines – the smell of rind cheese and tag nuts is overpowering – something has to be done.

  11. xxx says:

    Listen. Did wizzair staff checked your bag, did wizzair staff asked 60+ EUR for your bag. stop complaining. Wizzair is the airline, not checking agency. Complain to service providers. They do the checking, boarding, baggage handling and e.t.c. I flew with them many times and have to say, that Wizzair is much better that Ryanair.

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