Wizz Air lets down its passengers? The aeroplane sent to Frankfurt-Budapest flight was too small

On Saturday morning, Wizz Air disappointed 50 passengers at Frankfurt Airport when the airline announced a few minutes before 10 am that not all the passengers will be able to board the Frankfurt-Budapest flight for which the time of departure was originally scheduled for 8.35 am. Wizz Air employees informed their customers that only those could get on the aeroplane whose seat was situated in rows 1 – 27. Priority boarding tickets were not taken into consideration.

According to a passenger, there was huge chaos during the selection process. Firstly, only those were permitted to get through the gates whose tickets matched the criteria mentioned above. Later on, other passengers were also selected randomly from the crowd. Furthermore, the QR scanner did not work well – it accepted tickets in the 30th row while rejected some which were registered in the 3rd row.

As the passengers reported to Hungarian news portal Index, the first announcement of Wizz Air was that there was a technical problem with the aeroplane; therefore, a new aircraft would be sent to deliver the passengers. Afterwards, the airline confessed that a small aeroplane was sent which did not have a sufficient number of seats.

Eventually, the aeroplane departed with half of the passengers, while the 50 remaining people were left at Frankfurt Airport.

After the gates had been closed, the disappointed 50 passengers were led out from the hall where people were checked-in to an external Wizz Air stand. As the passenger described the situation to Index, the employee sitting there could not help them at all; however, they were informed on the call that everything would be arranged at the stand. Later on, a report was shown to the passengers in which they outlined the situation: instead of 232 seats, 180 seats were provided on the aeroplane sent by Wizz Air.

In the afternoon, Wizz Air informed its customers at Frankfurt Airport that they MIGHT be delivered home to Budapest by Sunday afternoon. Then, passengers could sign up for accommodation at a local hotel.

According to the reporting traveller, it was a deadlock situation: if they leave, no compensation will be provided; if they stay, the time of their return to Budapest remains uncertain. This was the reason why some people gave up on indemnification and travelled to Dortmund to get back to Budapest with another flight.

Wizz Air’s excuse

According to Wizz Air’s response provided to Index, the original Airbus A321 aircraft of the W6 2314 Frankfurt – Budapest flight needed to be changed due to technical problems. The airline immediately sent another A320-type aircraft whose passenger capacity was lower than the originally scheduled aeroplane. As they reported – despite the fact that Wizz Air has the newest and most modern fleet of aircraft –, complications might occur during peak time. They added that today’s unfortunate situation can be explained by the fact that aircraft manufacturers are not able to keep up with the purchase order of airlines which are dictated by the growing number of passengers. This is a general problem of the industry that concerns Wizz Air as well. Not long ago, 113 modern Airbus A320 aircraft were operated by the airline, which will be extended by 254 new aircraft of Airbus A321. As they wrote, the airline does as much as it can to avoid such complications in the future and apologises for the inconveniences.

15:30 – Passenger is still at Frankfurt Airport

In the afternoon, the passenger reported to Index that she gave up on waiting. No Wizz Air employee arrived at the airport for their assistance, neither could they get any help after calling the (premium rate) phone number of WizzAir. However, they did not understand why the passengers did not get any official document about the occurrences. The employees of the airport could not help them either; everyone was fed up with Wizz Air. No food or water  – nothing – was provided to the passengers left behind.  And there was no information about the compensation. “The whole situation is outrageous and disgusting,” said the lady who decided to leave after making a screenshot that will serve as proof of her waiting hours at the airport.

Featured image: www.facebook.com/wizzaircom/

Source: index.hu