Experiences of travelling with Wizz Air

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Hi,

Can anyone share their experiences travelling with Wizz Air? I know they're not popular, and I remember not enjoying my only flight with them from Vilnius to Athens back in 2018, but I can't quite remember why. The memory seems very hazy. I only ask because I'm considering making use of their £69 flights from Austria/Hungary to Dubai at some point, and while 5 and a half hours flight time seems easy after the hellish 16 hour flights on Qantas I took between Australia and the USA earlier this year, I know Wizz are hated.

If it helps, I regularly fly Ryanair (have six times over the past two months) and less often, easyJet (twice over the past two months, and I actually prefer Ryanair) and have no problem with them at all. I find them very good value for money and principally, I don't usually care about having food on board as I stock up at the airport, and a backpack that just about fits under the seat is normally all the luggage I need.

What I do hate though, is the tiny weeny tables on British Airways and easyJet NEOs, primarily because I pass flights by working on my Mac. I know Wizz have the same aircraft.

Surely nothing can be as bad as Air Mauritius for 13 hours was!

Thanks

 

[KT550]

It's been a couple of years since I last flew W!zz but I don't remember it being too bad.
As long as you expect the tables to be small and the seat cushions thin, you probably won't be too disappointed.

From what I remember, they are hot on baggage rules, so be sure to adhere to the dimensions/weight included in your ticket price.

I think the negative views in the media stem from their poor handling of long delays, cancellations and any applicable compensation.
As with a lot of low cost airlines, they don't have spare crews and aircraft hanging around, so if your allocated aircraft picks up delays during the day, a late night flight could be heavily delayed.

Although their booking website does show Dubai DXB as a destination, it does state flights operate to/from Abu Dhabi, which makes sense as the Wizz group has a sister airline based there, so check that before
making plans etc.
The flights from Europe seem to be operated by the Maltese subsidiary though.

Hope that helps.

 

[joncombe]

I used them a week or so ago. It was fairly chaotic on the way out as a change to the type of plane meant many people got assigned a different seat, including me at boarding. Unfortunately not all passengers noticed or were notified at boarding which led to a lot of people claiming someone was occupying their seat. Some passengers had a seat on their boarding pass that no longer existed as it was now the emergency exit row with no A or F seats. I got moved to the emergency exit row with loads of leg room which was nice though only a port hole of a window. They were strict on luggage but the flight was punctual.

In the way back it was smoother with no seat changes and punctual. The crew weren't the most attentive with the refreshment trolley so you pretty much have to flag them down so they don't go racing past your row. Overall they are ok if you play by the rules and don't try to bring a larger bag then booked etc. Also if you don't pay for a seat you can't check in until 24 hours before, though the app doesn't make this clear.

 

[atillathehunn]

As others have said - the issues are with refunds, disruptions, delays and cancellations. I have used them only three times in the past 12 months. They were on time and unremarkable. the departures were from Germany, Bosnia and Italy - none of the departure points gave too much attention to the baggage size or weight. There was potential that one of our flights would be quite badly delayed, but they knocked an entire rotation out of the plane's schedule and in the end we were on time.

I can't comment on the table, but I can't imagine it being a luxuriously large table.

They are by no means the worst airline I have flown.

Edit: I don't know what prompted me to think about this but I did have a return ticket booked with them from Eindhoven to Rome for about a tenner each way. This ticket was within the first 2 weeks of opening the route and they cancelled both with about 4 weeks notice. They did do a full refund and without too much effort. I was still on the hook for new flights to Rome, but this is a risk.

 

[thejuggler]

I used them a week or so ago. It was fairly chaotic on the way out as a change to the type of plane meant many people got assigned a different seat, including me at boarding. Unfortunately not all passengers noticed or were notified at boarding which led to a lot of people claiming someone was occupying their seat. Some passengers had a seat on their boarding pass that no longer existed as it was now the emergency exit row with no A or F seats. I got moved to the emergency exit row with loads of leg room which was nice though only a port hole of a window. They were strict on luggage but the flight was punctual.

In the way back it was smoother with no seat changes and punctual. The crew weren't the most attentive with the refreshment trolley so you pretty much have to flag them down so they don't go racing past your row. Overall they are ok if you play by the rules and don't try to bring a larger bag then booked etc. Also if you don't pay for a seat you can't check in until 24 hours before, though the app doesn't make this clear.

Good to read they reassigned seats when the aircraft was changed. A few years ago they didn't, so everyone was seated for an A320, but it was an A321 with no one sat in the rear. G calcs were out and it only just left the ground.

 

[Cloud Strife]

I only ask because I'm considering making use of their £69 flights from Austria/Hungary to Dubai at some point, and while 5 and a half hours flight time seems easy after the hellish 16 hour flights on Qantas I took between Australia and the USA earlier this year, I know Wizz are hated.

Wizz are fine if everything goes well, but as soon as there's a problem, they really go to hell. Their customer support is pathetic, and they will actively sabotage you by refusing to provide assistance, even if the fault is at their end. The issues they've been having are mainly with the Wizzair UK operations (flight numbers starting with W9), but there are plenty of stories from this summer of them leaving people for days in places like Tirana because of their flight crew shortages.

Make sure that your accommodation in Dubai is fully cancellable and refundable, and be prepared to be stuck there for a few days.

What I do hate though, is the tiny weeny tables on British Airways and easyJet NEOs, primarily because I pass flights by working on my Mac. I know Wizz have the same aircraft.

It's the same on Wizz Air, unfortunately.

 

[yorkie]

On a previous booking, Wizz messed around a lot, as they kept changing their schedules. I vowed to only use them if there was no alternative.

On a recent occasion I did travel with them as there was no viable alternative and the flight only cost me about £30. We were the last to check in and got allocated the very last row. No window views but overall it was a good result as there were only 4 of us on that row (compared to very nearly 100% occupancy in the rest of the aircraft) and so we were able to spread out, with middle seats unoccupied.

The main benefit of the middle seat not being occupied for people of our build is that the legroom isn't atrocious if you can avoid having the bag underneath the seat in front of you; the width of the seat is ample, though the padding is lacking it's not as uncomfortable as it may look. Another reason I don't like someone being in the middle seat is that all too often they take advantage and encroach.

If I'd had a randomer encoroaching from the middle seat and had to have my bag under the seat in front of me, the flight would have been nowhear near as tolerable as it was.

By being in the last row, we were among the first to disembark, and therefore we avoided potentially lengthy queues at passport control.

I am glad I didn't pay for the seat, as their seat selection fees are really expensive (incidentally different passengers on the same flight were quoted different prices for the same seats and even shown different availability of seats)

I have no trust for them as a company and I hope I can avoid using them again. If I do use them again, I will be only doing so if the amount I pay them is extremely low and there is no viable alternative.

There is no way I'd choose to travel with them if there is any viable alternative!

They make Lumo look decent!

The in-fight experience is no worse than Ryanair (indeed Ryanair can be worse but it really depends on the crew) however the unreliability is even worse, and at least with Ryanair the seat selection fees aren't completely unreasonable.

Avoid unless on a tight budget or it's unavoidable.

 

[route101]

I used them in the summer from Romania to Luton. The aircraft was quite a tatty A320. Got me from A to B.