Wizz Air under fire in the UK due to failing to pay money owed to passengers
The Hungarian low-cost carrier operating numerous short-haul flights between British cities is under fire from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The body issued an unprecedented statement raising “significant concerns” because the company did not pay a lot of County Court Judgments. In August, an analysis found that the Hungarian budget carrier was the worst airline for flight delays from UK airports in 2021.
The worst airline in the UK?
According to the Independent, Hungary-based Wizz Air came under fire by Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority for “unacceptable” treatment of customers. The authority’s consumer policy head, Anna Bowles, highlighted that Wizz Air has the highest number of those passenger complaints that enter into an escalated stage. That means a court decides on them since the airline cannot settle the issue with the passenger.
The Hungarian low-cost airline had 811 grievances per million passengers between July and September. That is the highest rate in the United Kingdom, much higher than in the case of EasyJet (245), Ryanair (235), or British Airways (166).
“Passengers have every right to expect their complaints and claims to be resolved quickly and efficiently and to be treated fairly by airlines,” the Independent quoted Ms Bowles.
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Wizz Air closes one of its flights to Portugal
CAA is concerned with Wizz Air because of the volume of complaints and claims received by alternative dispute resolution (ADR), the delays in processing and paying claims, and a lot of County Court Judgements against the Hungarian airline.
“We have made it clear to Wizz Air that its behaviour is unacceptable and that we expect overdue complaints and claims to be resolved in advance of Christmas”, Ms Bowles said.
“We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience we have caused our customers and we are working hard to put things right and resolve all outstanding claims as quickly as possible. The major disruption we navigated last summer meant that we have been dealing with an unprecedented number of claims. Despite this, 91 percent of claims have already been processed”, Wizz Air replied. The company added that they doubled the size of their customer services team and were committed to settling all the disputes.
Okosutas.hu wrote that Wizz Air would no longer fly to Porto in Portugal from next summer. That is because the flight time is too long (more than 3 hours) and the utilisation rate is low. Ryanair will remain the only service provider in that direction. As a result, ticket prices are expected to increase. Wizz Air continues to fly to Lisbon and Madeira in Portugal.
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Source: independent.co.uk, okosutas.hu