Error in Wizz Air’s ticket booking system, here is how you may regain your money

A Hungarian travel news website drew attention to a recent error in Wizz Air’s online ticket booking system. They automatically add a so-called system surcharge fee to each booking regardless of whether you must pay it or not. Below, you may read how you can reclaim that sum.

According to utazomajom.hu, they received many messages from their readers that Wizz Air automatically charges a so-called system surcharge fee to each booking. That is not the Hungarian government’s departure tax (or excess profit tax), which the Irish low-cost airline, Ryanair, passed immediately to its passengers. That is why the company received a gigantic fine in Hungary in August.

Wizz Air’s system surcharge fee is entirely new, but it is already on their website. However, you only have to pay it if you made your booking by automated systems. That is how the Hungarian budget airline would like to direct more and more passengers to their online booking system on their website.

However, something went wrong with the change because the system added the new fee to almost all tickets booked on their website. The extra fee is currently EUR 10 per booking. In the case of the return tickets of a family of four, that makes a significant amount of money. Furthermore, many people do not even notice it since the system adds it to the final sum only at the last step of the purchase.

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Utazómajom wrote to the low-cost airline. Wizz Air answered that the new fee applies only to the tickets booked in automated systems. They said it rarely happened that their AI made an identification mistake. Therefore, some of their passengers are needed to pay extra fees.

Their team continuously develops the system to avoid such errors. Until then, they suggested their passengers restart the booking process if they experience such a mistake. Regaining the money in case of error is easy with the help of their customer service, Wizz Air added.

Utazómajom wrote that the company’s mobile application does not contain this error. If you want to be 100% sure you are not charged mistakenly with that fee, you should book your ticket using their app.