Reader’s letter: Wizz Air employee verbally abused passengers

“On the 30th of June, I arrived at the airport. My flight from Warsaw to Bergamo was scheduled for 6:45 pm. The flight was delayed twice, then canceled” – one of our readers shared her nightmare story with us via email. Below you can read her letter substantially unchanged.

Around 9:30 pm we received a notice of cancellation. All the passengers were advised to go to the customer service. I was second in line, and a representative of Wizz Air collected my personal details asking if I would like to reschedule my reservation. She went to the room and I assumed she was working on booking my next flight and making reservations for the hotel. There were two more Wizz Air employees assisting passengers.

As I was waiting I heard from the person on the right that they were trying to reschedule for the next day but no flight was scheduled. At almost 11 pm, a person who I believed was helping me returned to the counter and asked if I needed anything. You can imagine my confusion. I simply asked if she forgot about me. At this point, emotions at the counter were rising because an employee of the airline denied assistance and advised passengers to make reservations for the hotel independently and call Wizz Air the next day.

By midnight, several passengers received confirmation about the flight scheduled for 2nd and 3rd of July but no word from the hotel. Some of the passengers booked flights for different airlines and made hotel arrangements independently.

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I agreed to take a flight on the 2nd of July and asked for a hotel room.

Wizz Air employees refused to provide support for hotel reservations arguing that they were not obliged to do so.

I requested an employee ID and said that I would make reports. That was the moment when the Wizz Air representative raised his voice, telling me to get out of the airport otherwise he would call security and “make sure I would never be able to enter the airport again and set my foot on the plane”. Other passengers overheard the argument and took my side offering support and providing their phone numbers in case confirmation from witnesses was needed. An old couple wrote their name and number stating “you report this and we will confirm everything that happened”. More than 10 people offered their support and gave their phone numbers.

I firmly stood my ground saying that I would not leave until I got a hotel room since my flight was in two days and I had no place to go.

• Read also: Reader’s letter: continuous Wizz Air cancellations in Paris

Employees of the airline continued to be extremely rude but had printed confirmation for the hotel for me and other passengers. Transportation was not available though. People who had been waiting for the bus for two hours decided to take a taxi or an Uber. I was among a group who left the airport around 4 am by Uber paid by my credit card. Hotel was almost 30km away from the airport.

On the 2nd of July, the flight was canceled again, I lost valuable time and missed two important meetings. No other flights were available. LOT had openings for the 3rd of July but the tickets cost over USD 500. Finally, I decided to take the bus along with a couple other passengers. The trip to Bergamo took 27 hours and I had to change buses three times.