Wizz Air Review – Europe’s Worst Airline You Should Avoid
Wizz Air Review: Launched in 2004, Wizz Air is a Hungarian low-cost carrier serving Europe, Northern Europe, and the Middle East.
I recently flew Wizz Air to Cyprus. I returned today. Not a lot can be said about them that is good. Wizz Air is terrible, and here’s why!
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Wizz Air’s Pricing Is a Joke
We all know and accept that if you choose a low-cost carrier, you must travel without luggage or pay for check bags.
Wizz Airlines takes the piss here – pun intended.
A flight that costs 27 euros with one checked bag will quickly wrap up to over 150 euros each way once you’ve checked one bag.
Add insult to injury; you can’t find accurate pricing online until you begin the purchasing process.
Wizz Air’s Online Check-in Is Designed to Cost You More
So, you’ve bought your tickets and are ready to check in.
Good luck!
First, you MUST have an account with Wizz Airlines. This account will prompt you repeatedly to sign up for their specials.
No thanks, I don’t think I’ll be flying with you again.
Then comes the real trickery! As you begin checking in, the system will prompt you to ask for a boarding pass which is 2E per person extra. It will also automatically prompt you to pick seats.
Then it will ask you if you want to check more baggage even if you’ve already paid for what you plan to check.
There’s a total of seven steps, half of which are to lure you into thinking you need these additional ones. You don’t need any add-ons. Just fill in the passenger information and navigate through to the end.
Wizz Air’s Check-in At the Airport Is a Joke
We all know we must arrive two hours before an international flight – it’s standard.
People, you could arrive four hours early and still not make your flight.
Wizz Air does not open check-in until two hours before departure, and there is not enough staff to manage the volume of people checking in.
This is compounded by those who overpack standing there, taking up the few agent’s working time and station. No common sense here at the Wizz Air check-in, no urgency. The staff could ask the over-packers to move over and continue checking people in, but no. That’s too logical.
Wizz Air’s Baggage Policy Is By Far The Craziest One Globally
You must wonder who comes up with this nonsense. Talk about taking bag fees to the next level. This is the first time in my life that I’ve seen an airline delineate between a personal item and a bag.
Let me put this in context for you. Ladies, you have a purse and a laptop bag. They expect you to pay for the laptop bag as it’s not a “personal item.”
Let’s call a spade a spade here. This is bullshit.
And there’s a fancy priority boarding package you can buy for this – how considerate.
To add insult to injury, Wizz Airlines somehow found a company to manufacture them a bag sizer that has not two but three bag sizes to make sure they stick the personal item vs. a bag to you.
Wizz Air’s Airplane Bathrooms Are Filthy
The main cabin of the flight is clean, but the bathrooms are not. Sadly, a gentleman had left the seat up, and I got to see the condition of the toilet. This was about twenty minutes into the flight. It’s apparent this was not the result of a long flight.
GROSS and unacceptable.
Wizz Air Send You Out Of Date Information
I am still shaking my head on this one.
How do you send an email stating that you need a mask on the plane and upon landing in a country when neither applies?
Wizz Air’s Staff Are Obnoxious
Let’s begin with England’s “we don’t give a flying F” staff. The staff that is more concerned with creating a more uniform line that deceives the extent of the line you are in—is an excellent way to disguise the issue. However, had these two staff members joined the team, checking people in the line would not be as long as it is.
Then there is the London-based crew that either has a hard-on for power or takes their authority too far.
This Happened On My Flight
A gentleman boards. His seat in the bulkhead – in row one. Suppose you’re not familiar with this term or what this means. It means you are sitting in a row with a diving wall. You have extra leg space but no seat in front, so there is nowhere to put a bag or personal item under a seat. Your bags MUST go into the overhead cabin.
The gentleman boards and attempts to place two bags into the overhead cabin. One tiny, the size of a bottle of booze. The other is the size of a small laptop bag. As he attempts to find space, the stewardess tells him that all the overhead bins are full and directs him to place his belongings seven or eight rows back.
The man explains that he does not want to do this because he’ll have to navigate through several rows to get his belongings and then move forwards upon landing. It was also obvious that his items were gifts (one in a gift bag and the other a store bag), so it was a natural thing to want to keep these items close.
Now, before we go any further, remember I told you. He’s in row one, a bulkhead. Whether he paid for that seat assignment or not, his bags must go in the overhead cabin no matter what. In fairness, this was a reasonable request.
Here’s Where It All Goes Wrong!
The female stewardess said something to the effect of “what do you want me to do.” The gentleman replied with something close to, “go on with your business, and I’ll figure it out.” I did not catch the exact phrasing.
The gentleman makes space in the overhead bin close to where he’s sitting in row one.
Ironically, there’s room! The man places his two bags and sits; all is calm. That is until this male steward enters the picture – it’s the guy on the right.
The male steward asks to have a word with the gentleman. They talk for about five minutes. I could not hear everything said, but I did hear the male steward say that the man was agitated.
Reading between the lines, the issue is that the passenger did not obey the female flight attendant’s commands. Then, the passenger defended himself.
The male steward enters the cockpit, and it’s apparent that he’s asked the pilot to call the police.
Sure, as I write this, the police arrive.
Here’s what happened next. The police arrive and ask the passenger to deboard the plane. Here’s the video. Assess this for yourself.
Dear passenger: If you are the man in this video, I have several more videos that might be useful to you – before, during, and after. This video is the least intrusive one. If you need the others, let me know!
Should The Passenger Have Been Removed?
I don’t think so; it was excessive. Poor judgment. A real display of control.
I understand that once you board a plane, you are under the control of the flight crew – what they say goes, period. However, this was a pissing match. The flight crew, the male steward, chose to cause a scene, make a mountain out of a molehill, and caused the entire flight issues.
The passenger wanted to place his bags where they HAD to go in overhead bins near his seat, and there was plenty of room to do so.
The male flight attendant applied a no-tolerance approach. Right wrong, or indifferent, the message was loud and clear – you’ll do as we tell you.
So, tonight the poor man in the video is stuck in Cyprus and probably spending the night in jail. Who knows for how long or what consequences he will face?
As a result of this incident, I’m delayed. It’s Boxing Day in England; trains are on strike, and taxis want triple rates. I’ve missed my connection and must re-arrange hotels and spend the night in Gatwick.
Thank you, Wizz Air, for such a shite experience.
Closing Thoughts
Low-cost carriers get tons of heat for their nickel-and-dime pricing. However, most of them are reasonable and upfront with their pricing.
Wizz Air, not so much. It’s crystal clear that part of their business model is to squeeze every penny out of you they can. Shamelessly so.
How they have survived is baffling to me. I am shocked COVID did not take them out of commission.
So, while the lure of cheap flights might tempt you, avoid this airline
Is there anything good to say about Wizz Airlines?
Well, the flight to Cyprus was on time. Not a consolation for the fact that the flight back was delayed due to the crew’s poor judgment.
We did not crash! I guess that’s a good thing. Aside from this, I can’t tell you there’s a good thing about Wizz Air.
The bottom line, Wizz Air is a piss-poor airline with an appropriate name.
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we flew 4 persons xrin Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi. the plane was late due to local airport reasons. flight was OK Plane was Airbus 321 new and comfortable. on tge return, i ciuld not get the boardibg czrds online but got them for free on the airport. I had no issues. will fly again !!
Glad to hear it Sam :) It makes up for all the horror stories… Nikki
We’ve flown Wizz dozens, possibly hundreds of times, with no problems at all.
This restores my faith in low cost carriers:)
I am really happy to hear you’ve had no issues.
Good for you – Jealous – but with love… Nikki
I have just flown on wizz air and experienced for the first time being put on a standby ticket. I had purchased my ticket a week before travel. I arrived at the airport 3 hours before the flight and attempted to check in on the app I downloaded. That didn’t work and so I went to the check in desk…. The explained that I cannot check in online when there are less then 3 hours before the flight. The sent me to another desk to pay £41 to be allowed to check in. I then returned to the wizz air check in desk with this new permission slip. The lady then went on to explain that I do not have a seat and I am on a standby ticket as wizz air by eu law can over book flights. The 2 check in staff at Luton Airport had terrible attitudes and I’m told its all my fault. I proceed to the gate and luckily there were 2 seats available from people who did not arrive. The lady at the gate was fantastic and gave me some tips, in the future be sure to check in as soon as wizz air opens the check in process on line, also purchasing a seat can be helpful to, finally never book seats on the back row/rows of the plane as if they need to deport people they will always put them on the back row/rows and you will find yourself not boarding the plane in this situation
Hi Sean,
Dang……. I have heard others mention this £41 to check in, which I am shocked in even legal. Seriously, this company’s business model is to trick you – I am convinced of this. So sorry this happened to you. And ps – I thought the staff at Gatwick were obnoxious as well :) Nikki
how do i get a refund
Hi Tina,
There are a few ways…
1. If you used a credit card, file a dispute
2. If you have travel insurance, file a claim
3. If it was delay related – use this: https://www.airhelp.com/en/?utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=pap&utm_campaign=aff-63d12ec467715&utm_content=&a_aid=63d12ec467715&a_bid=4ed72bed
Hope you get your money back :)
Nikki
I just returned from my 1 week trip to Egypt. I bought the option with check in big baggage and paid a lot for it. but is fine. At my arrival to the egypt my suitcase wasnt there, after waiting for some time I had to do the claim (pip) at the airport. I could not manage to contact wizzair, they make it impossible for people to reach out to them. the phone number in internet no longer exists and the contact us session in their web makes you chat with a stupid bot that does not solve any problem. when I managed to find a number to resolve this kind of issues they only provide a PAID NUMBER!! not only they ruin your holidays and make you spent lots of money but they also tell you to call to a pay number 1.2 eur per minute. outrageous.
long story short, I spent a week in Hurghada with no baggage, waiting for my suitcase (that never arrived) and spent lots of money to buy the basic items ( staying in a 5 stars 50 km from the closest city the only shops available were at the hotel, they will sell you all fake products at the price of authentic and will not provide any receipt)
I open the claim on the website which they said will take about 30 days for an answered, but I needed an answered while I was in egypt on what to do , not 30 days later.
I still don’t know we’re my suitcase is or if I will get any compensation for all the problems, expenses and the service I purchased and they didn’t deliver. The cherry on the cake was that the return flight was also delayed by 2 hours, so we arrived at the airport when lost and funds was closed.
Hi Lory,
Wow – I don’t even know what to say – what a nightmare. Did you book via a travel credit card or have insurance? If you used a travel credit card, dispute the charge if you had an insurance claim. I know that Wizz is going to give you the run around…. they are horrendous to work with. Also, tag them in tweets; they can’t delete a tweet. They will tell you to contact customer service but reply and say no – answer here. Companies often respond to public shaming, and Twitter is defo the place for it because they don’t or can’t control what’s said and tagged.
So sorry this happened to you… keep me posted on the outcome. Nikki
our flight was delayed bye 3 and a half hours on Sunday
some passengers were give vouchers for food and drinks yet alot
didn’t get them . The Only place you could use them was closed.
still not found the claims for keep going round in circles.
Hi Colin,
Try this: AirHelp
This is AirHelp and if you were three hours delayed you are entitled to compensation:)
Nikki
I’ve flown Wizz Air roughly 50 times in the last 4 years since we moved to the UK. Most of the times with my wife and 2 little kids, but many times alone. Never had any issues apart from occasional delays – mind you, I’m one of those passengers on whom you don’t need to call the police.
I came back yesterday from Hungary, I travelled alone to visit my mom. I paid about £45 for the return ticket. I brought my backpack, I didn’t pay for priority nor seats. No, you don’t have to pay for a laptop bag, that’s just stupid. They are actually quite flexible with the sizes, my backpack is bigger than 40x30x20 and they were absolutely fine with it every time I flew without priority. I’d shown up at Budpest Airport about one hour before the plane left. I’m not sure about your issues with the check in, it literally took me about 30 seconds to do it on the app (although my passport details are saved). They have a price comparios chart so you can easily find the cheapest one.
“As you begin checking in, the system will prompt you to ask for a boarding pass which is 2E per person extra. It will also automatically prompt you to pick seats.” I’m not sure what you talking about. You can check in for free 48h before flying and you can ask for a random seat for free. That’s the cheapest ticket. If you want extra services, you can pay for them separately.
I travelled several times with my kids and wife, yes, the check-in queue was long sometimes but never missed a plane or had to hurry at all even though we’re usually a bit late to show up. In these 4 years I never had issues with the crew. The planes were always reasonably clean, even the lavatory, far-far better than other low-cost airlines I travelled with (I’m looking at you, Ryanair). Although they are very small so changing nappies can be a pain sometimes.
I think they are about the same level as easyJet but much much better than Ryanair which I try to avoid all the time (they even removed the seat pockets, geez). Once Ryanair left me in the Czech Republic instead of Budapest and then took me home by train (!) and gave me a voucher that was enough for a bottle of water and a Snickers bar.
Note that I only travel with Wizzair between Luton and Budapest, I have no idea about other flights, but for us they have been always OK.
Hi there,
I am glad to hear that you are getting good service from them and are able to get around cheaply – good for you:)
For the “As you begin checking in, the system will prompt you to ask for a boarding pass of 2E per person extra. It will also automatically prompt you to pick seats.”
Yes, you can check in for free – I did. I was getting at how the system takes you to the pages to buy a seat (and all kinds of other stuff), and it’s set up to imply you must until you scroll down and it loops. You are probably used to it and can navigate their system like a pro. I found it difficult, and it took me a few minutes to figure out I could skip all of the suggested add-ons.
I’m with you on Ryan Air – they were even worse but did not kick off a passenger:) I have yet to attempt EasyJet, but my experiences with these low-cost carriers all over the world is not great :(
Nice to hear from you and others that are able to take advantage of these cheap fares and work with the baggage limits.
Keep on traveling :) Nikki
Nikki
Hi Nikki,
Oh yeah, I agree that they deliberately make it difficult to find the free options and clutter you with all kinds of unnecessary stuff. I’m indeed a pro at navigating on their side haha, but I do remember having issues in the beginning.
To be honest, for flying alone cheap, these low-cost carriers are great. They just take you from A to B and that’s all you can expect. Once you have kids though, and you need seats and extra luggage, they are not that competitive anymore – Wizz is usually only about 5-10% percent cheaper than BA if all four of us go. I’m more than happy to pay the difference (especially that Heathrow is about half an hour closer to us than Luton).
What makes me somewhat relaxed is that regardless their level of service, none of these low-cost carriers (Ryanair, Wizz, easyJet) have had any fatal accidents so far, so I hope they keep it this way and will never try to save on safety.
Regards,
Csaba
Hi Csaba,
Spot on mate! And I totally agree with you on the no accidents. Can you imagine? It would likely be the end of their business.
And there is another good thing about having these low-cost carriers – it drives competition in the market, and that is needed.
PS, I am a pro on the US Low-Cost Carriers, so if you ever jet set to the US, I can tell you bout em all :)
Nikki
Yoy clearly dont know what you are talking about. Neither from the crews view. You have admitted you did not hear the whole conversation, if any agressive or suspicious behavour during boarding trust me they will not hesitate to take off passeneges. And i am glad for that 🥰
Of course, I CLEARLY know what I am talking about – I experienced it first hand – not you! And, I’m willing to bet I’ve flowed 10x more than you. It was overboard.
Based on my 15 years of experience of flying with low cost airlines between UK/Ireland and my home country + holidays, there’s only one way to benefit from the low cost fares – travel without a checked luggage. I invested in a good quality backpack that fits into Ryanair and Wizzair free bag size, and trained myself to compact packing, wasn’t easy at the start 🙈 but it’s worth it, as you literally just pay the fare you see, because backpack that fits under the seat is free, and for summer holidays there’s no need for a lot of clothes anyway, you’ll be also surprised how much fits in there 😉. Travelled with Wizzair in November from Gatwick to Rome and then Cyprus and back, all for about 90£, and beside some minor delays everything went smoothly and stress free. If I am visiting my parents I just send extra stuff or presents by courier, it’s literally half price of the checked bags with Wizzair/Ryanair 😂
Hi Margaret,
I love your approach – spot on! I agree with what you are saying, and you are 100% right; the only benefit is cost. I just flew Ryan Air, and while I did have baggage issues, I could come around it for the right price or pay for the bags. I also use low-cost carriers in the US. I think it’s set up to trick you and a large part of the revenue they rely on. Unless you are savvy like you, the average traveler will get hit with fees that are buried in fine print or subjective to the airport’s staff.
Good on you for figuring it all out and taking advantage of the low fares:) Nikki
Hey Nikki,
Thank you for your words, and they did almost ruined my Christmas holidays.
I was going back home to spend time with my family after a year and I missed 5 days of my holidays because I was naive enough to wait a few days to see if they will do something to fix this after I posted a formal complaint on the link(for which I got a response that I will receive a reply within 30 days!!!) and the woman I spoke to on the phone on their helpline said she put my complaint as a priority. It’s been more than 10 days and I still haven’t heard from them.
Ended up buying another ticket to travel with another airline of course – there is absolutely NO WAY I’m flying with them again.
I will definitely share your article, shaming is what these guys deserve!!
Hi Gio,
What a shame; there’s nothing worse than a holiday getting ruined. I’ve had it happen to me a lot – tons of times, actually, and mostly over the holiday season. I often travel over the holidays because I have so much time off, but I always have issues.
Thirty days – SMH….. that is not cool. Take a look at these two posts:
Airline Passenger Rights – How to Handle Canceled Flights: https://britonthemove.com/airline-passenger-rights/
This one explains what your rights are and how to handle them when it happens – use this next time you run into issues:)
This one is on what happened to me in New Zealand when American canceled my flight: https://britonthemove.com/flight-cancellation-drama/
Here’s to 2023 – let’s hope all our flights go well and without drama!!
Nikki
I have another amazing experience to share with Wizzair.
I had a flight that was originally departing at 15:30 on 17/12. I did my online check in the day before – I had checked 1 luggage as well.
On the day of the flight, I was sent a text message and an email that my flight was delayed and will depart at 17:55, but the check in will close at the same time though.
Since I did the check in online the day before, I arrived at the airport at 16:00 (2 hours before the time the flight was departing).
The staff at the airport told me that I couldn’t load my bag on the plane because the check in was closed!!!
When I spoke with the supervisor, she said the same thing to me and she told me to go to the nearby shop that sells luggage and buy 2 small bags to split my stuff and ask them to safekeep my luggage while I’m away!!!!!!!
Can anyone doubt that she has a dodgy deal with the shop and takes her commission on the sales??…
Anyway, after that I went to their so called “help desk” , where they told me the same thing that I couldn’t load my luggage and she was trying to sell me a ticket for another flight the next day for just 800 pounds..just for a one way ticket…
After that, I left eventually the airport at 17:00.
Here’s 2 things though about my story:
1- According to Wizzair’s website, if you do your check in online, you can drop your luggage UP TO 40 MINUTES BEFORE THE FLIGHT DEPARTS – something that was confirmed to me by their woman I spoke to when I called their helpline.
2- Talking about adding insult to the injury, the flight eventually left around 19:30, so I was denied to board my luggage to the plane while I have arrived 3,5 hours before the flight departed.
Proper SCAM!!!!
Hi Gio,
Dang, they did you wrong. Wizz Air is definitely not customer-centric. Their business model relies on taking advantage of customers in a deceptive way! So sorry they did this to you.
Their response to my Tweet was this:
Hi! We apologize that you felt that WIZZ let you down on this occasion. We are doing our best to improve our customer experience and would like to learn more about where we fell short this time. We suggest you submit a complaint via the link: ____
Here’s my reply:
That won’t be needed, love; I’ve published the story about what happened:) And the video captures it all…
Share away – these guys need shaming!
Nikki
hi Gio,
just read your experience on 17 December. they did exactly same thing with me on 16 December. can’t check in large bags. asked us to rebook the ticket or just leave the bags. so I purchased ticket for next day while my wife and kids travelled on the flight without any thing. and add to injury, flight departed 4 hours late. airline staff was there just to let us know that we can rebook the tickets
Hi there,
Wow so sorry to hear another horror story. Abhinav, did they claim that your flight delay was due to the weather? If not, then you can potentially claim from airhelp.com. Nikki