// February 2nd, 2012 // 12 Comments » // Uncategorized
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
- explain why we have pictures of larger cases being taken on board?
- explain who you conversed with at Luton to substantiate the conclusion you came to?
- have you actually seen Mr XXXX XXXXX’s case?
- can you please explain why the girl at the check in desk said the case was fit to fly in the cabin?
- 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
- 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?
- THE CASE IS WITHIN THE LIMITS SET FOR SIZE – DO YOU WANT ME TO SEND IT TO YOU?
- 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
I will paraphrase the beginning of this message because I think the context can be applied to all positive comments that miraculously find their way to our holy shrine dedicated to the customer service that is Wizzair.
