Chance of claim when checkin denied due to desk's inability to charge wizzair fees?

ashirus

I neglected to checkin online with wizzair within 3 hours and arrived in airport effectively * 90 minutes before flight due to son being ill (but I have no documentation for that).

Checkin at airport wanted to charge me for for my family of 6 (about £240 or whatever) but none of  debit and credit cards went through through at the desk (managed by QAS). They tried about 5 different cards, including 2 which I borrowed from a vague acquaintance in the queue **! They had no ability to accept cash and Wizzair on the phone (belatedly) said they can't take payment for airport checkin themselves, it has to be done at the airport. In the end it was less than an hour before the flight and they simply closed the flight.

My travel insurance is covered by Nationwide Flexplus UKI insurance (not Aviva yet for various reasons). I can't post direct link to policy because I'm a new user but someone can post the link to PDF from the first page from googling nationwide flexplus "U K I", that would be great

I doubt there's a duty of care from Wizzair themselves under UK261/EU261 for this but if anyone thinks otherwise please tell me !!

The new flights and extra accommodation are obviously expensive.

What are my chances of being covered by insurance and/or wizzair (or QAS??) on the basis of the issues with gate processing extra fees? I don't have time/ability to get documentation to prove son's illness so prefer not to pursue that angle.

I'm happy to fight all the way to small claims court.



thanks
Ash
* actually more but there was extra pre-security
** who kindly agreed I'd pay him back by bank transfer

ashirus

(By the way, we did beg the QAS supervisor agent to check us in regardless, and he originally said we could pay on the plane but then said it wasn't possible.)

bagand96

It would be an interesting test case.  Wizzair will undoubtedly refuse any compensation for expenses, they're pretty rubbish at paying out for clear cut cases.

However, the passenger presented at check-in willing and able to pay the airport check-in fee.  This is a service Wizzair advertise: Service Fees | Wizz Air.  Handling agent (appointed by Wizzair to act as their agent) were unable to collect Wizzair fees, thus refused to check the passenger in..... resulting in involuntary denied boarding?  I'd be at least tempted to try that.

Hoenir

Was an official complaint logged with QAS at the time. 

mdann52

Why were the cards declined? That page just says the handling agents will collect the fees, not the method used to collect them.

I don't think EU261/UK261 denied boarding regulations apply here, unless the agents had refused to take payment. It's worth noting that IDB doesn't require you to hold a boarding pass or to have checked in, but I don't think it would apply here still, as they denied you boarding due to non-compliance with T&Cs, as opposed to overbooking.

It sounds like efforts were made,  but the reason for the card being declined here is key I agree. If it was just the agent didn't take the brand of card offered to them, I can't see how that is Wizz's responsibility. If their fees page said "we accept mastercard/visa/amex etc", and the agent could not accept that, then I think the case is stronger.

Did they offer to still allow you to check in before T-40 if you got the cash via a cashpoint or similar, or was it a simple "you haven't paid right now, so we aren't boarding you".

ashirus

We offered cash but they said they could only take credit card, but not cash nor debit cards. They tried my credit card (by typing numbers into a terminal because I couldn't find it quickly enough), and 2 physical debit cards from 2 different terminals, and a debit and credit card from this "vague acquaintance" but it didn't work.

The same debit card worked perfectly for the rest of that day to book thousands of pounds worth of rebooked flights to get us home! Perhaps it was flagged as fraud/suspicious but it's odd that none of about 5 cards worked.

I also think it's unconsciousable not to have allowed us boarding when we were fully prepared to pay for instance with cash, and wizzair could invoice me and chase me for this extra fees.

When I went back to the desk 2 hours later they claimed that no other payments had been given problems that day.

Regardless, is anyone willing to opine on a claim of via Flexplus UKI Insurance (see details in my original query above)?

ashirus

Hoenir said:

Was an official complaint logged with QAS at the time. 

Yes the next day, however they appear to be a fairly small local "partner" of swissport so that they have any UK presence that I can take to court him.

ashirus

Sorry typo: meant to say I doubt they have a UK presence ...

Hoenir

ashirus said:

Sorry typo: meant to say I doubt they have a UK presence ...

Also likely to be a legal entity in their own right.  

mdann52

I can't see how this is covered under the policy mentioned, which I think is this one.

Missed departure seems to only be covered if you make it to the airport on time, it doesn't seem to cover being denied boarding at all.

The delay benefit requires you to have checked in and the airline to have been delayed, neither of which is the case here, the delayed return might apply, depending on whether UKI class this as "outside your control" - which would be both the payment issues and the failure to check in online, in my opinion.

ashirus

mdann52 said:

Why were the cards declined? That page just says the handling agents will collect the fees, not the method used to collect them.

I don't think EU261/UK261 denied boarding regulations apply here, unless the agents had refused to take payment. It's worth noting that IDB doesn't require you to hold a boarding pass or to have checked in, but I don't think it would apply here still, as they denied you boarding due to non-compliance with T&Cs, as opposed to overbooking.

It sounds like efforts were made,  but the reason for the card being declined here is key I agree. If it was just the agent didn't take the brand of card offered to them, I can't see how that is Wizz's responsibility. If their fees page said "we accept mastercard/visa/amex etc", and the agent could not accept that, then I think the case is stronger.

Did they offer to still allow you to check in before T-40 if you got the cash via a cashpoint or similar, or was it a simple "you haven't paid right now, so we aren't boarding you".

Thanks so much since in your latest reply you think the insurance claim isn't straightforward, let's please return to the EU261/UK261 denied boarding regulations...

Wizzair's fees and surcharges page does say that credit card or debit card is acceptable. (I would also expect that local currency which is legal tender should have been acceptable too, which is what we offered but were refused). When they informed us that Wizzair's airport checkin fee was due, they immediately added that they could only take credit card payments not debit cards.

It seems the agents already knew there was some issue they had with processing debit cards (although we did try our regular credit card too and it didn't work either).

I did call the airlines flight disruption/cancellation helpline at the time but they were extremely unhelpful (and btw quite rude) and said it's nothing to do with them.

Our rebooked flight involved a overnight stopover in another airport with our young children. Would I be entitled to extra compensation for the grief and discomfort beyond the standard amounts allowable per passenger?