Wizz Air left its passengers boiling for half a day in 40 °C waiting room

Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air’s Dortmund plane collided with a flock of birds. Passengers had to wait half a day for a replacement plane in the 40-degree passenger lounge.

Another delay

Rtl.hu received an outraged letter from a Wizz Air passenger during the day on Thursday. The woman, who asked not to be named, reported that the Hévíz-Dortmund flight was due to take off at 10.25 AM on 18 August, but for some technical reason, the flight did not take off and passengers waited for hours for the plane to depart, to no avail.

“It is currently 35 degrees in the terminal. We’ve had one drink coupon since this morning. Departure times change every two hours. Outrageous. The plane left two minutes ago without passengers,” the passenger wrote in an early afternoon letter.

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Technical problem

On Friday, rtl.hu managed to speak to the writer of the letter on the phone, who gave more details about her unpleasant experiences at the airport. She said that, before the scheduled departure time, the waiting passengers were told that the flight would be delayed for two and a half hours due to a technical problem.

“They said that they had to call a mechanic from Budapest. He arrived three hours later, and shortly afterwards they said that the plane could not go any further. The plane finally flew away without passengers. At three in the afternoon, they were told that a replacement plane was expected from Poland. At six o’clock, there was still nothing.”

No information from anyone

According to the passenger, Wizz Air employees were not in control of the situation, no one was able to provide any help, and passengers only looked at the Wizz Air app for some information. In addition, the conditions at Hévíz airport were not much better than in a station lounge.

“Twice we got a €4 drink ticket from Wizz Air, and once we got some vegetables and rice from the airport staff.” It was about 40 degrees in the afternoon in the lounge. There were lots of people with babies and children. Some people gave up and went home. “A father was going to take his son to Dortmund for a football match, but after 3 hours they decided there was no chance of their getting there for the kick-off.”

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Replacement plane came from Budapest

Finally a replacement plane came, and at 7:45 PM, about two-thirds full of passengers, it set off for Dortmund. “The pilot said that a bird flew into the engine of the plane in the morning which is why it malfunctioned. The replacement plane expected from Poland did not arrive because they could not contact it. So they were finally the ones who came from Budapest.”

After all this, the plane landed in Dortmund at 9.15 PM, writes rtl.hu. No compensation is due for the half-day stay in Hévíz because it was due to technical reasons beyond Wizz Air’s control, the dissatisfied passenger added. Wizz Air said that the delay was due to no fault of the airline and that they would like to apologise to all those affected by the inconvenience.

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Source: rtl.hu