Enforcement action by the Civil Aviation Authority has led to Wizz Air paying out £1.24 million in customer refunds.
The CAA took action over complaints Wizz hadn’t paid customers what they were owed and had failed to meet its passenger rights obligations, particularly around providing alternative flights when journeys had been cancelled.
The CAA action covered claims for flights due to depart from or arrive into a UK airport on or after 18 March 2022. In addition, the CAA told Wizz Air to review 25,000 previously assessed claims. This resulted in additional payments given in around 6,000 cases.
The CAA said today Wizz Air had cooperated with the action and has now completed its review of claims. Wizz Air also undertook to make changes to its policies.
CAA Consumer Director Paul Smith said: “This is good news for passengers and our concerns have been validated by the outcome of our actions.
“While we welcome the steps taken by Wizz Air after falling short in its treatment of disrupted passengers, airlines should routinely look after passengers and uphold their rights when flights are delayed and cancelled.
“Passengers have every right to expect their claims to be resolved quickly, efficiently and in line with the regulations. These outcomes will now provide Wizz Air’s passengers with a better experience.”
Wizz Air said it has invested £90m in improving operations, including implementing a new AI-based tool to forecast and mitigate possible disruption, improving customer experience, increasing staff, and adding extra aircraft in case of delays or cancellations.
Managing Director Marion Geoffroy said: “We are pleased the Civil Aviation Authority has recognised the significant steps Wizz Air has taken to improve performance for our customers.
“Like all airlines in Europe, we faced unprecedented operating challenges in the summer of 2022 but the improvements we put in place have led to a better customer experience and our performance in 2023 was among the strongest in the industry.
“We are seeing a significant uptick in our customer satisfaction scores and we remain fully committed to continuing to improve our operations in 2024 and beyond.”
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The CAA took action over complaints Wizz hadn’t paid customers what they were owed and had failed to meet its passenger rights obligations, particularly around providing alternative flights when journeys had been cancelled.
The CAA action covered claims for flights due to depart from or arrive into a UK airport on or after 18 March 2022. In addition, the CAA told Wizz Air to review 25,000 previously assessed claims. This resulted in additional payments given in around 6,000 cases.
The CAA said today Wizz Air had cooperated with the action and has now completed its review of claims. Wizz Air also undertook to make changes to its policies.
CAA Consumer Director Paul Smith said: “This is good news for passengers and our concerns have been validated by the outcome of our actions.
“While we welcome the steps taken by Wizz Air after falling short in its treatment of disrupted passengers, airlines should routinely look after passengers and uphold their rights when flights are delayed and cancelled.
“Passengers have every right to expect their claims to be resolved quickly, efficiently and in line with the regulations. These outcomes will now provide Wizz Air’s passengers with a better experience.”
Wizz Air said it has invested £90m in improving operations, including implementing a new AI-based tool to forecast and mitigate possible disruption, improving customer experience, increasing staff, and adding extra aircraft in case of delays or cancellations.
Managing Director Marion Geoffroy said: “We are pleased the Civil Aviation Authority has recognised the significant steps Wizz Air has taken to improve performance for our customers.
“Like all airlines in Europe, we faced unprecedented operating challenges in the summer of 2022 but the improvements we put in place have led to a better customer experience and our performance in 2023 was among the strongest in the industry.
“We are seeing a significant uptick in our customer satisfaction scores and we remain fully committed to continuing to improve our operations in 2024 and beyond.”
The post Wizz Air pays out £1.2m in refunds after CAA steps in appeared first on Travel Gossip.
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