Significant Wizz Air Alteration - advice on re-routing on alternative airline

ndon2017

Hi all,

My girlfriend and I had flights book with Wizz from Gatwick to Catania (Sicily) on the Sunday 31st March - Sunday 7th April. Wizz notified us that the schedule had changed to departing late on Wednesday 3rd April, returning early Saturday 6th April, basically turning our 1 week holiday into 2 full days! 

Our hotel, car hire and airport parking are non-refundable - I note Wizz state they don't cover consequential costs. 

I've found alternative flights with EasyJet for the original dates, but they are £415pp, the Wizz flights were £100pp. 

Wizz Policy states:

You can rebook onto the next available flight on the same/similar route. Alternatively, in case there should be no available flights on the same or next day (and later available dates are not suitable considering your purpose of travel) then you may elect to arrange your own travel through another airline or other appropriate means of transport (namely train, bus or rental car). Please note that any alternative transport must be under comparable transport conditions to your destination. Related reasonable, and properly documented costs and expenses may be submitted for reimbursement by us via wizzair.com. Remember therefore to collect and submit all relevant receipts and invoices connected to the cost of any such alternative travel (e.g. ticket, or fuel).; 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Should I request a refund from Wizz, book with EasyJet and then claim the difference from Wizz? I'm wary that I won't get the £600 back. 

mdann52

As Wizz have cancelled their flight more than 2 weeks in advance, they are not required to compensate you.

Wizz are, however required to reroute you according to Article 8 of "UK261", stating they must offer "re-routing, under comparable transport conditions, to their final destination at the earliest opportunity;", or give you a refund. You can require them to reroute you on another airline. If you request a refund, they do not have any obligation to pay any additional costs for transport you may suffer (it sounds like they are offering to do the latter, and are unlikely to object to a claim in this instance).

I would either get in touch with Wizz and get them to reroute you on an alternative airline, or pay out of pocket and immediately claim this back from Wizz. Don't accept a refund, you want to be reimbursed for the routing costs.

Mark_d

The Wizz policy you quoted seems fairly clear.  You make the booking with Easyjet and then claim the expenses back from Wizz

bagand96

As above, you can book the alternative flights and then claim back.  (The EU regulations are designed for the air carrier to book your preferred alternative but most low cost carriers don't do it that way).  To make double sure I would:

1)  Don't cancel the Wizz flights just yet, they may consider a cancellation and refund the end of the matter.  If you can get in touch with them and clarify if/when you should cancel.

2)  Take screenshots of a flight comparison site like Google Flights/Skyscanner to show what alternatives are available and the costs.  Your claim will be for a significant amount compared to your original booking so you don't want any questions over "reasonable costs"

ndon2017

Thanks all.

I spoke to Wizz yesterday. The first person I spoke to said that Wizz would pay the difference but we would need to make a claim. The second person I spoke to said they may cover the cost of the difference but only the Claims Team could advise, who cannot be contacted.

They advised that I should request a refund, then book the EasyJet flights and claim the additional amount after. I said that I was wary of forking out £800 (flights are now £900) to then not be reimbursed. They then advised me to submit a query through "service complaints" in the hope of confirming whether the claim would be successful before proceeding to purchase the EasyJet flights. The problem is this process takes up to 30 days and we're supposed to be traveling on the 31st. 

I've requested a refund and submitted the query, will see how I get on. Worse case I'm hoping our travel insurance will cover the cost of the non-refundable hotel? 

eskbanker

ndon2017 said:

They advised that I should request a refund, then book the EasyJet flights and claim the additional amount after.

Were they willing to put that in writing?

As pointed out in earlier posts, when airlines cancel flights they're obliged to offer passengers the choice between a refund or a rearranged flight, and it's possible that they'll consider the matter closed if you requested and accepted a refund, so it's important that you protect yourself against that scenario....

ndon2017

@eskbanker - No they didn't put it in writing, but the calls are recorded. I noted the date & time and have the name of who I spoke to so I'm hopeful that this can be recovered. 

The person I spoke to at Wizz said they're unable to book us onto an alternative airline but that we can do that ourselves, and then make a claim to recover the additional costs. I was concerned that if I did not request the refund before the flight takes off, they may consider that as acceptance that the alternative flights were acceptable as we didn't request a refund.

I'll not book the alternative airline flights until I've received confirmation from their Claims Team that they'll cover the additional cost. 

eskbanker

ndon2017 said:

The person I spoke to at Wizz said they're unable to book us onto an alternative airline but that we can do that ourselves, and then make a claim to recover the additional costs.

Technically they are obliged to offer alternatives, but it's not really a surprise that they're still failing to do so, despite CAA enforcement action:

https://www.caa.co.uk/newsroom/news/regulator-s-enforcement-action-sees-over-1-million-refunded-to-wizz-air-passengers/

You may eventually need to direct them to the CAA rerouting guidance that emphasises their obligations:

https://www.caa.co.uk/publication/download/18744