I’ve flown low-cost airlines plenty of times. I’ve been on EasyJet, Ryanair, and in the US, Spirit and Frontier. I’m used to no-niceties, tough rules, and nickel-and-diming. I don’t need a plush seat. I just need to get where I’m going.

Two days ago, I had a scheduled flight with Wizz Air from BUD to TLV, and **I have never felt intentionally robbed by an airline.** After several hours of delays, right at the gate, my flight was cancelled. From this point on, Wizz Air has done everything they can to prevent me from getting (1) a refund, and (2) compensation under EU 261/2004.

They took my 400 euro (~165K ft) for the ticket immediately. They won’t give it back. Their website is designed to [get you to give up](https://twitter.com/maxverse/status/1576944431726727168). Here are just a few examples:

* The email asked to log in and select a refund option. It’s not available.
* They issued me credits for a future flight, and linked to a tool to convert them. The tool shows an error, “booking not eligible for refund”
* Calling them will cost me more money; call options are paid, and they have no call centers in the US. So I’ll have to get a calling card to call Hungary. From what I understand, they don’t pick up anyway.
* I’ve been trying to use the chat for 3 days. Each time I message, “Unfortunately, all our agents are busy at the moment.” One time in 3 days, I was connected to an agent who **immediately left the conversation**.
* On Twitter, they advised me to use the complaint form on the site. However, the mandatory date-picker on the form freezes the page. I’m a developer – this is a website issue. Other people on twitter have complained about this. It’s impossible to submit the form (ironically, the compliment form works)
* There are a million other smaller things. They ask you to log in on every page refresh. They ask you to submit your confirmation #, then confirm your flight details that are already evident from the flight confirmation.

The website is designed to f%&k you out of your money.

I am not complaining about baggage fees or uncomfortable seats. But if you cancel my flight, you need to refund me, and follow EU law and compensate me. Instead, the airline is designed to get you to give up.

Please, please don’t make my mistake and **[DONT FLY WITH WIZZAIR](https://dontflywizzair.com)**. If they cancel your flight, you’ll never see your money again.

(I’m collecting similar stories on a website I made to raise awareness. Feel free to comment, DM, or [tweet me](https://twitter.com/maxverse/status/1576944431726727168) if you have a similar story.)

7 comments

  1. Here’s what you do:

    Send a registered letter to their corporate offices, stating that you are owed refund/compensation, outline how much and according to which section of EU261, give them a deadline (usually 14 days) and your bank account information.

    Let them know that you will take legal action once the deadline has passed.

  6. If you’re persistent they’ll give back your money eventually.

    You are absolutely right in every point, I’m just saying they’ll pay.

    Once they resold my seat. I filled out a complaint on paper at their office in the airport, then immediately sent it by email too. By the book they should answer 60 days (!!!), after about ~~80~~ 130 days and a few follow up emails I got the compensation. (Not only the ticket price, but about £100 extra.)

  7. Op or anyone else in the same shoes: contact European Consumer Centres Network – ECC Net if you’re European. Wizzair always pays everything when contacted by them if the cancellation was not due to extraordinary events, and there’s no fee or anything at all. Or go to the ODR platform, submit a claim, they need to answer you, solve your problem or offer something, and if you can’t settle on anything they will offer a mediator body.

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