Yahoo Finance Wizz Air wrongly charged me £106 to check in – and I can’t get a refund
I travelled with my family to Larnaca in Cyprus on Wizz Air in August. As my flight was changed in the system prior to travel, I was unable to check in online. At the airport I was charged £106 for airport check-in. Even though I showed staff proof that I was not able to check in, they still charged me, and told me to get a refund from Wizz.
I made a claim, and Wizz Air confirmed it would be processing my refund in 10 working days. But nearly two months on, it still won’t refund the money. It ignores every email and when I phone, all promises of action never, ever materialise.
I am so frustrated. It has acknowledged I am eligible for a refund but won’t pay me my money. HP, London
In recent months my email inbox has been receiving too many complaints like this. They are mostly from readers who had a slightly different problem in that they were unable to check in for their Wizz flight online because of a technical problem on its app or website. All were charged at least €45 (£39) when they arrived at the airport – and refused boarding unless they paid up.
In April, the company’s executive team came in to the Guardian to say they were taking steps to improve matters. However, letters like this are still coming in. There were two more this week.
We don’t get the same number of complaints about online check-in from customers of the other low-cost carriers – so what is going on at Wizz Air?
Is it doing this deliberately, happy to pocket the extra income, which must run to millions of pounds every month? Or is it incompetently failing to keep its free online check-in open?
Either way, passengers are collectively handing over huge sums every week.
One cause is that Wizz Air offers only a three-hour check-in window to customers who don’t pay extra charges, meaning there is little time to correct any tech failures. In contrast, Ryanair offers a 24-hour free check-in window.
Do passengers want to carry on playing the Wizz Air check-in lottery? I don’t think so.
In response to your letter, the company has now paid the refund that was due.
It says: “We apologise for any inconvenience caused. While we always strive to provide a seamless online check-in service for our passengers, in this instance a rare error occurred.
“This year, we have invested more than £90m to improve our operations, including our check-in options and customer service.”
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1
