Just how bad is Wizz Air?

[KitsPoint]

Looking at Feb half term, Wizz Air is coming in cheapest, and they fly from our nearest/most convenient airport. The alternative option is BA from Heathrow but that would be at least a £few hundred more plus extra hassle/expense of getting to Heathrow.

I've read that Wizz Air customer service is the pits - is it really that bad travelling with them?

Easyjet is our go-to so it's not like we're used to first class Emirates luxury! 😂
Main thing is are they likely to be on time or hideously delayed, or might they wildly change our departure times (which seems to happen every bloody time I book with Ryanair).

Thanks in advance for any intel!

@SweetPenelope

Anything to do with this?

https://www.caa.co.uk/newsroom/news/regulator-brings-enforcement-action-against-wizz-air/

People know airlines can make claiming comp hard but it's takes something quite special to rouse the UK CAA from their slumbers and take enforcement action over passenger rights.

Ive flown with them once. It was absolutely fine. No delays, no queues to check in at Luton (unlike Easy jet that was out of the airport) and flight your usual low cost budget. I do remember having to get in contact with them in advance which was incredibly difficult, but other than that no issues. I appreciate we may have just been lucky!

BA is better in terms of T5 terminal. Generally better organised we find in terms of boarding. No short haul airlines are great in my view. They are like buses really! When you fly further and use Business there are differences. Wizz Air is ultra low cost. DD has used them. Like the others is cattle herding into a bus and it gets you there. Probably late but good enough. Ultra low cost save on staff so they don’t have them available at all locations all of the time - the cars model doesn’t stretch that far!

That's right.

Ultra low cost save on staff so they don’t have them available at all locations all of the time

Sadly almost all the airlines have had to do that simply to cut down on employee costs, so as to keep ticket prices down.

If you look at BA a lot of their outstations don't have a permanent BA staff presence anymore and even at main base T5 at Heathrow was designed from the outset to allow a reduction in ground staff numbers..

That's fine until you get disruption and you find you have no excess person power to call on to help out with customers in the terminal.

I flew back from Rome with them (flew out with Ryanair). They cancelled the flight while we were in the departure lounge. There was no one to talk to inside, so everyone was completely lost. We had to go back through security and eventually a representative turned up and told us to book our own alternative flights.

I booked with them on their app as advised and then went round and round in circles trying to get reimbursed once I got home. I only ever got the compulsory EU compensation for cancelled flights. I never got refunded for either the cancelled flight or the new ones I had to book, which cost €800 for the three of us.

Needless to say, I wouldn't fly with them again.

In the end we’ve booked both ways with Wizz Air 😬 - staying with friends who said we’d definitely need to hire a car and that would have been very expensive if we didn’t fly in and out of the same airport.

BA would have been about £400 more, with a less convenient departure airport / departure times.

At least our expectations are low…! 😫 We fly out the day before we meet our friends and start the holiday-proper, and booked a lunchtime flight back so have some wiggle room for delays. 🤞

sometimes it's worth a punt for a good fare! go with low expectations (as I did recently with a bargain £35 return ryanair fare) and chances are it will either be totally fine or perhaps slightly delayed, which in your case wont matter too much.

You’ve done the right thing, BA are absolutely shite these days. I would never choose them for short haul if I could avoid it.

Multiple flights with them to Budapest, Wroclaw, Gdansk , Athens and most recently Malaga.
Never had a problem. Never had a cancellation. They fly out of Gatwick which is super convenient for me. Last flight to Malaga was £35 rtn .. I can’t get a peak time train to London rtn for that price.
People get the arse with low cost airlines because they fail to realise that the money is made on the ‘extras’ . Luggage, seat preference, food etc and try to get a ‘too big bag’ on the plane without paying the fee for that sized bag .. and then start complaining when they are charged the advertised price for such a bag.

In my experience. Follow the rules to the letter and they are no worse than any other.

Absolutely awful. I’d never fly with them
again.

@Slimagain

I'd agree with a lot of what you wrote ther..

People get the arse with low cost airlines because they fail to realise that the money is made on the ‘extras’ .

The important point I think many still fail to recognise is that many airlines are only making a.profit at all due to the extras.

The £35 uk to.eastern europe.returns, or £15 "ok as long as I arrive alive: fares don't get close to covering costs....

I do wonder if airlines make a profit from me. I never pay for any extras and only fly if it's cheap, 90% of the time.

As it happens I'm having my first ever Wizz Air flight next week. I've paid them £22 to fly me to Gdansk - The return flight is with Ryanair and that was about £30. Out of those flights £13 each way is tax.

Then after the tax has come out the airline has to cover airport passenger charges (often well into double figures) ground handling and take-off/landing fees (hundreds if not thousands of £) and once en-route various fees for overflight and/or ATC...and we've not got into aircraft/crew/fuel yet....

A lot of the above is propretary but if your total spend with an airline for a shorthaul sector ex UK is much sub £100, certainly out of the airports which levy high charges, the airline are probably carrying you at a loss..

Used them twice, first time was absolutely fine, second time flight was delayed by a few hours, the plane felt very shoddy and the cabin crew all looked like they were fresh out of junior school - but ultimately all okay and pretty much expected on a budget airline. All airlines get delays and some planes are in need of upgrading! And I guess the cabin crew can’t help looking young!

Absolutely fine when I flew with them.

I've not had quite such horrendous issues as some on here, but I've flown with them probably about 10 times now, and not one of those flights left on time!
But, I'd use them again - they are cheap and I just make sure I have wriggle room built into my holiday schedule to allow for delays.

@TheChosenTwo

the cabin crew all looked like they were fresh out of junior school

These days quite a few airlines in Europe, not just the LoCos, will recruit 18/19 year olds if they have some customer service experience, so sometimes you can encounter crewmembers who have come pretty much straight out of school/college but have also held down a customer facing Saturday job.

Nothing wrong with that as long as the airline's training is up to scratch and you've got some experienced crew in the supervisory chain to monitor and mentor.

The days of only recruiting mature individuals with lots of life experience post education has gone, if it ever really existed.

BA are just fine for most flights. T5 is much better than most airports. Their boarding process is smooth and organised and they have better trained staff. They are far better than many others for short haul. No one will fly you in luxury for bargain basement prices. Heathrow is convenient for us and I’ve always felt safe with them.

That’s nice, except the OP said it is a hassle and an inconvenience for her to travel to Heathrow and that BA flight times were worse.

How does your experience of the boarding process and a particular airport terminal have any bearing on this thread?! Bizarre.

FWIW I found T5 to be shambolic. Late flights, cancelled flights, lost baggage, dirty seating areas, queues for everything. Shocking. Not had a decent experience with BA in years now