In June 2022, my partner and I were due to fly from London to Athens with Wizz Air, but as we were sitting in the terminal waiting to board, it cancelled the flight.
The earliest we could rebook with the airline was three days later, so, to avoid missing a significant chunk of our holiday, we bought a flight with British Airways the following morning for £1,236. We also had to pay £279 for one night’s stay at a hotel at Gatwick airport.
On our return, we approached Wizz Air for a £1,144 refund – the cost of the new flights and hotel, minus £370 for our original flight. We also sought £700 compensation for the cancellation.
After lengthy communication, Wizz Air refused to reimburse our costs, so we submitted a claim to the AviationADR dispute resolution scheme. It eventually ruled in our favour, confirming the airline owed us £1,844.
Wizz Air has since paid the £700 compensation but is refusing to pay the rest. Neither the airline nor AviationADR seem to have a direct phone number and emails go unanswered.
What are our options for reclaiming this money, and do we need to hire a solicitor?
SB, London
By happy chance, two senior Wizz Air managers came into the Guardian last week, so I took the opportunity to raise your case. The carrier is on something of a charm offensive after a raft of negative headlines and was keen to say that it had very much put its customer service problems of recent years behind it.
In February it was named by Which? as the UK’s worst airline, while other stories revealed it was not paying compensation to passengers like you – despite a court ruling.
The Wizz Air executives we saw said they were committed to putting matters right, and a host of changes to improve customer service had been made. They confirmed your case was a mistake and that your claim would now be paid.
They were also keen to remind passengers that some of the problems customers experienced were caused by the fact they used online travel agents to book – which sometimes meant the airline did not have the customer’s contact information when a problem arose or a refund was due. The advice remains to book directly with the airline – be it Wizz Air, Ryanair or whoever.
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