Wizz Air question now the UK is not in the EU

[Aniseedvan]

Hopefully someone can answer this as the forum is active compared to a few others I’ve looked at today.

I have an upcoming Wizzair flight Luton-Prague return. Reading up as much as possible given there are additional charges for everything (yes, travelling just with the under the seat bag, no together seats, etc!).
I’ve even emailed the Prague hotel to confirm they will be able to print our boarding passes for us, given we won’t be able to use the mobile app on the return, and we won’t be able to check in until 24 hours before, unless we pay.

What I can’t seem to get my head round is the following from their website:

• if you hold non-EU travel documents, you need to present yourself at the check-in counter to have your documentation checked and your boarding card stamped

So, as UK passport holders (bearing in mind we have no bags to check and will have our mobile passes on the way out and printed ones on the way back), do we need to have our passports checked and boarding cards stamped?

Any advice from recent travellers on this and anything else WizzAir would be most appreciated.

 

[CC 72100]

When I flew with Wizz from Bucharest to Gatwick in 2022, I just flew with a mobile boarding pass and didn't visit the check in desk

 

[Mojo]

l’m not sure what that statement on their website is supposed to mean. ls Prague an airport at which mobile boarding passes are not avaliable? lf you have a mobile boarding pass l can’t imagine why you’d need to go to a desk.

l flew from Kutaisi in Georgia a few years ago with them and it was an airport at which mobile boarding passes are not avaliable, printed boarding passes were given out at the desk for no charge.

 

[sonic2009]

Prague airport definitely takes mobile boarding passes, I used one recently with Easyjet.

Only interaction with a desk was to drop my bag off for the hold.

 

[Aniseedvan]

Thanks for all the replies! I’ve read various threads/horror stories where return flights needed a printed pass (bearing in mind we’re flying absolute basic, no priority, cabin/hold bags), and they were charged a fortune at the airport to do this.
It sounds like even though we’re not in the EU, a UK passport will mean no documentation checks are needed, just usual security.

Flying for a big holiday to the US last year was much easier!

 

[sonic2009]

One thing to note with Prague airport though, security is done before you go through to the gate area. So feel free to take drinks purchased from outside the airport to drink before going through the security, which is just before you go to wait to board.

 

[Aniseedvan]

One thing to note with Prague airport though, security is done before you go through to the gate area. So feel free to take drinks purchased from outside the airport to drink before going through the security, which is just before you go to wait to board.

Thanks - I spotted that thread. I guess if you want anything on the flight back to eat or drink you’ll have to purchase on the flight?

 

[sonic2009]

Thanks - I spotted that thread. I guess if you want anything on the flight back to eat or drink you’ll have to purchase on the flight?

Food is fine AFAIK, it's the liquids. But you can purchase these from shops before the security check, but they will ask if you want to seal them in a bag which will show security you've purchased within the airport, the prices though are more expensive.

 

[rg177]

If you've checked in online and it won't do a boarding pass on your phone - then the check-in desk will do it for free. The only inconvenience is the pain of queuing behind people trying to check in the kitchen sink.

Usually though this is for travel from countries where their citizens would require a Visa at the destination - so I've had it when travelling from Skopje and Sarajevo to Luton.

Anything out of London (to Bari, Skopje, Sarajevo and Podgorica) was just a bog-standard boarding pass on my phone. Same with a Reykjavik to Warsaw flight.

 

[Aniseedvan]

If you've checked in online and it won't do a boarding pass on your phone - then the check-in desk will do it for free. The only inconvenience is the pain of queuing behind people trying to check in the kitchen sink.

Usually though this is for travel from countries where their citizens would require a Visa at the destination - so I've had it when travelling from Skopje and Sarajevo to Luton.

Anything out of London (to Bari, Skopje, Sarajevo and Podgorica) was just a bog-standard boarding pass on my phone. Same with a Reykjavik to Warsaw flight.

Yes this is my worry - having to queue for weeks to get a boarding card stamped when we have no bags to check!

 

[Howardh]

I think the check-in check is for those who require a visa to enter the EU (but would normally not need x-in for bags), currently we (UK) don't although shortly we will be required to have the ETIAS visa-waiver. However I would tweet the airline just in case!

 

[Mojo]

However I would tweet the airline just in case!

l wouldn't bother. A brief Google search reveals others have contacted Wizz via social media on this topic and not received any sort of sensible or useful reply.

 

[Bletchleyite]

l wouldn't bother. A brief Google search reveals others have contacted Wizz via social media on this topic and not received any sort of sensible or useful reply.

They truly are an awful airline. Ryanair might have awkward and unsavoury policies but they're clear and well known. Wizz just feel like they're making it up as they go along at times.

 

[Aniseedvan]

l wouldn't bother. A brief Google search reveals others have contacted Wizz via social media on this topic and not received any sort of sensible or useful reply.

Yes I had a look at their twitter page and thought better of it! I will report back once we’ve been and returned…

 

[CC 72100]

Usually though this is for travel from countries where their citizens would require a Visa at the destination - so I've had it when travelling from Skopje and Sarajevo to Luton.

Anything out of London (to Bari, Skopje, Sarajevo and Podgorica) was just a bog-standard boarding pass on my phone. Same with a Reykjavik to Warsaw flight.

Currently in this exact situation - London to Skopje accepted a mobile boarding pass as normal, straight to security.

Check in for the return flight (Skopje to London and its given me a quasi-boarding pass with a seat assigned etc. but "NOT A VALID BOARDING CARD" written at the top and an instruction to go to the check in-desk for an inspection of travel documents.

 

[bahnause]

Check in for the return flight (Skopje to London and its given me a quasi-boarding pass with a seat assigned etc. but "NOT A VALID BOARDING CARD" written at the top and an instruction to go to the check in-desk for an inspection of travel documents.

Isn't that the normal case for flights to the UK? The airline must compare the API passenger data with the travel documents.

 

[CC 72100]

Isn't that the normal case for flights to the UK? The airline must compare the API passenger data with the travel documents.

May be with Wizz, but not had that on any other UK-bound flights from Europe otherwise.

 

[Mojo]

Isn't that the normal case for flights to the UK? The airline must compare the API passenger data with the travel documents.

No it isn’t normal. Staff normally just check passports at the gate.

I suspect in the instance however in the post you have quoted, it is because the airport doesn’t support mobile boarding passes.

 

[rg177]

The explanation I've had before is for a Visa check. North Macedonian residents ordinarily require a Visa to enter the UK.

 

[zero]

Will I be able to get a mobile BP and go straight to security for one-way Luton-Sarajevo? (British passport)

 

[Bletchleyite]

Isn't that the normal case for flights to the UK? The airline must compare the API passenger data with the travel documents.

Normally that happens at the gate.

No it isn’t normal. Staff normally just check passports at the gate.

I suspect in the instance however in the post you have quoted, it is because the airport doesn’t support mobile boarding passes.

I'm almost certain that I had that on a Wizz flight back from Turkey on the first week of operation there, but then on checking again later on proper boarding passes were downloadable. I was initially a bit concerned that it was because they'd overbooked as it didn't show a seat number. I just put this down to the fact that Wizz Air are (as noted elsewhere on the Forum) just incompetent.

 

[CC 72100]

Will I be able to get a mobile BP and go straight to security for one-way Luton-Sarajevo? (British passport)

I'm going to say yes, on the basis of my trip out. You'll find out when you check in on the app whether you get a real boarding pass or a 'placeholder' one.

The explanation I've had before is for a Visa check. North Macedonian residents ordinarily require a Visa to enter the UK.

Seems like everybody on the flight had to do so, so I'm going with this theory. Paper boarding pass issued at check in desk (no charge in these circumstances, obviously) with same seat as per the 'boarding pass' in the app

 

[Chester1]

Seems like everybody on the flight had to do so, so I'm going with this theory. Paper boarding pass issued at check in desk (no charge in these circumstances, obviously) with same seat as per the 'boarding pass' in the app

Its the same at Marrakech. I think it was same at Tirana airport too. Moroccans snd Albanians both need visas. I guess its because there will be too many visas to check at the gate. Its OK to check a handul of passengers on each flight at the gate but not half of passengers.

It will be interesting to see how ETIAS and roll out of UK ETA is handled at UK and EU airports. The UK is continuing a slow phased approach focusing first on people who need visa waivers or full visitor visas. The big European group in the latter category is residents of European countries who have nationalities that require full visitor visas. The EU big bang approach of all 60 nationalities at once will be erm, "interesting"!

 

[Jamiescott1]

I booked a wizz air flight on my debit card (accidently used wrong card as usually always book flights on a credit card) and I've been charged a foreign transaction fee

 

[scrapy]

It will be interesting to see how ETIAS and roll out of UK ETA is handled at UK and EU airports. The UK is continuing a slow phased approach focusing first on people who need visa waivers or full visitor visas. The big European group in the latter category is residents of European countries who have nationalities that require full visitor visas. The EU big bang approach of all 60 nationalities at once will be erm, "interesting"!

The plan is for ETIAS details to be entered at online check in and possibly functionality to be stored on app for future flights. This should be able to be verified with the passport details electronically.

 

[rcsn319]

So, as UK passport holders (bearing in mind we have no bags to check and will have our mobile passes on the way out and printed ones on the way back), do we need to have our passports checked and boarding cards stamped?

Any advice from recent travellers on this and anything else WizzAir would be most appreciated.

Flew with Wizz recently and they seem to still consider british passports as EU.
As long as your pass has a barcode on it and doesn’t say visa check on it, you shouldn’t need to go to a desk.

(The home printed passes show your full passport details and should also show “EU/EEA/GB” on the last line)

 

[Cloud Strife]

It will be interesting to see how ETIAS and roll out of UK ETA is handled at UK and EU airports. The UK is continuing a slow phased approach focusing first on people who need visa waivers or full visitor visas. The big European group in the latter category is residents of European countries who have nationalities that require full visitor visas. The EU big bang approach of all 60 nationalities at once will be erm, "interesting"!

Airports aren't the issue, but land border crossings. ETIAS and the EES present huge challenges, because the existing border crossing infrastructure cannot cope with systematic scanning of every document.

 

[Chester1]

Airports aren't the issue, but land border crossings. ETIAS and the EES present huge challenges, because the existing border crossing infrastructure cannot cope with systematic scanning of every document.

Both are a problem. It will slow down some airports and the contingency plans may or may not work. Macron pushed to delay EES roll out until after the Paris Olympics. That indicates what the French government thinks of the roll out plan!

A Select Committee meeting earlier this week discussed next stage of UK ETA roll out. EU and EEA citizens are slated to need to use it from next spring. The intent seems to be spend 2024 adding all the other nationalities that don't require visas to enter the UK.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Both are a problem. It will slow down some airports and the contingency plans may or may not work. Macron pushed to delay EES roll out until after the Paris Olympics. That indicates what the French government thinks of the roll out plan!

Airports are far less of an issue, because carriers will be obliged to check whether someone has the ETIAS before travelling. It's likely that the check will be integrated into online check-in systems, meaning that travellers simply won't get a boarding pass if they require the ETIAS and they don't have one. The EES may cause some delays in non-EU lines as border police will no longer have discretion in dealing with overstays, but that's about it. The amount approaching border control without the ETIAS should be minimal - the only time it should occur is when someone in transit decides to come into Schengen for whatever reason. ETIAS may cause some real issues with cross-border trains however - which is why it's not required for carriers to connect to the carrier interface.

The major issue comes at the land borders, where some of them simply don't have the capacity to scan every single document crossing the border. The queues on some borders (such as the Croatian-Montenegrin border crossings) are already intolerable on some days, and that's with EU travellers being routinely waved through on exit.

 

[Chester1]

Airports are far less of an issue, because carriers will be obliged to check whether someone has the ETIAS before travelling. It's likely that the check will be integrated into online check-in systems, meaning that travellers simply won't get a boarding pass if they require the ETIAS and they don't have one. The EES may cause some delays in non-EU lines as border police will no longer have discretion in dealing with overstays, but that's about it. The amount approaching border control without the ETIAS should be minimal - the only time it should occur is when someone in transit decides to come into Schengen for whatever reason. ETIAS may cause some real issues with cross-border trains however - which is why it's not required for carriers to connect to the carrier interface.

The major issue comes at the land borders, where some of them simply don't have the capacity to scan every single document crossing the border. The queues on some borders (such as the Croatian-Montenegrin border crossings) are already intolerable on some days, and that's with EU travellers being routinely waved through on exit.

I agree in the long run but enrolling people onto EES will cause chaos at Schengen airports (and at St Pancras). I think I read that first travel procedures will take four minutes per passenger. When most passengers are on system it should be a very efficient but I am not going to book a holiday to the EU for a few weeks after its launch!

Wizz Air probably has an advantage for a budget carrier because its used to dealing with a significant number of visa nationals. As you point out ETIAS should be done through the apps but stuff will envitably go wrong somewhere so there will need to be back up procedures in place.

One factor that may ease situation for airlines is ETIAS or UK ETA enabling visas to be removed for some people. A Schengen - UK visa waiver deal for non citizen residents would be more appealing to the UK, especially under a Labour government. US green card holders don't require visas to enter Schengen so I suspect the lack of a deal is due to British opposition. Residency in EU / UK + UK ETA / ETIAS should be enough combined. There has been a lot of whining about the slightest problem for British or EU Citizens but millions of residents on both sides require visitor visas.... For me that is a higher priority than allowing more Citizens to travel on ID cards.