Wizz Air and Insurance headache

FredBlunt

I wonder if anyone has managed to get compensation / expenses paid by Wizz air?
Wizz air cancelled our return flight to Cardiff from Heraklion Crete without warning and didn't put an alternative flight on - the next one being 5 days later.
I have an autistic daughter so needed desperately to get her home in time for school and her routine.
We took the next available flight back to UK, a day and a half later across Crete from Chania, landing at Leeds Bradford instead of Cardiff.
As you can probably imagine this had been a pricey delay with long taxi rides, a hotel stay and dining for a family of four, not to mention the stress of the situation.
Wizz air have taken no responsibility for our expenses, stating just 'Unexpected Circumstances', despite every other airline flying that day.
There was no representative for the airline at the airport and no reply on their helplines.
Our holiday insurers, The Davies Group, have also declined our claim for our expenses back, despite flight cancellation being part of our policy. We also took out the extra insurance for having an autistic child, in the hope that it would help in such a situation.
Has anyone else experienced this and fingers crossed managed to get some satisfaction?
We are by no means wealthy and really can't see how an airline can leave people stranded, without any help of any kind.
Please help.

Many thanks

eskbanker

When cancelling a flight, the airline is responsible for offering you the choice between a refund or a rearranged flight at the earliest opportunity - did they rebook you onto the flight five days later or did they fail to engage at all?  If the rebooked offering isn't suitable, you should be able to get them to agree to an alternative that's better for you, but if you take matters into your own hands and book it yourself (understandably if they're hard to contact) then it can sometimes be a struggle to get them to accept the cost of the replacement flights (plus associated costs) if that's what you're claiming for?

They're also obliged to pay for reasonable hotel accommodation and meals while waiting.

Separately, compensation may also be payable provided the cause of the cancellation wasn't extraordinary circumstances beyond their control, but even if such circumstances applied here, that doesn't affect their liability to pay expenses.

Your insurers will probably have a standard clause that limits their liability to costs you can't recover elsewhere, so if the costs should be reclaimed from Wizzair then that would be why they're rejecting a claim on your insurance.

There are plenty of war stories on here about difficulties extracting reimbursement from Wizzair so you're far from alone, but with some persistence you should be able to make them see sense, even if you have to do so via courts.

What exactly did you claim for and what, if anything, have they accepted?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/flight-delays/

sunnysnow

FredBlunt said:

Wizz air have taken no responsibility for our expenses, stating just 'Unexpected Circumstances', despite every other airline flying that day.

Fredblunt how long did you have to wait for the Wizzair reply? 
We are in the same boat and I claimed the reimbursement of alternative flights and extra costs incurred due to cancellation (I did not apply for compensation, but for welfare). Been almost 30 days as per Wizzair timeframe and nothing from them. I need to think about further steps in case they do not answer. 
I have not tried insurance yet. I am with Zurich, also comprehensive, but can not see anything about cancellations reimbursements.