Wizzair-3
I've been thinking about Wizz's Flex option on tickets.
It costs about £10 (could be higher in some cases) for one person on a one-way ticket and can be purchased only at the time you buy a ticket - it cannot be bought later. It gives you the right to change the date/route or even refund until 3 hours before departure, no questions asked. The refund takes about 3 days to process (prevents tariff abuse) and goes to a "Wizz account", not your credit card. Money in the Wizz account can be used for purchases in any currency and expires 90 days after being credited. The flex fee (about £10) is not refunded.
I used to think this was a bad idea on Wizz's part as it would lead to fully booked flights seeing large numbers of ticket cancellations at the last minute. And yes, I have done left it to almost the last minute to cancel. That said, it's probably mainly business travellers going with network carriers flying a high frequency route like LHR-EDI who would decide at the last minute - most leisure or infrequent travellers will make up their mind further in advance.
However, thinking about it more, this seems like a good way to increase ancillary income.
- Plenty of people are unsure if they really will fly, but probably do so anyway.
- If you no show and don't cancel until after departure, then you lose your money.
- If you don't use the money within 90 days, you lose your money.
- It also encourages brand loyalty by giving you a reason to fly with them again soon.
- Finally, it gives Wizz extra freedom to overbook - the money always stays in Wizz's bank account, as people who are going to cancel probably do so more than 3 hours in advance, giving Wizz time to sell a few more tickets in place of empty seats.
While Ryanair used to be the leader on ancillary innovation, Wizz seems to be ahead nowadays - an example being the shrinkage of size of free hand luggage, so small wheeled suitcases now attract ancillary charges.
What are the thoughts of others on Wizz Flex ? Should other LCCs with minimal numbers of business travellers set up a similiar scheme ?
It costs about £10 (could be higher in some cases) for one person on a one-way ticket and can be purchased only at the time you buy a ticket - it cannot be bought later. It gives you the right to change the date/route or even refund until 3 hours before departure, no questions asked. The refund takes about 3 days to process (prevents tariff abuse) and goes to a "Wizz account", not your credit card. Money in the Wizz account can be used for purchases in any currency and expires 90 days after being credited. The flex fee (about £10) is not refunded.
I used to think this was a bad idea on Wizz's part as it would lead to fully booked flights seeing large numbers of ticket cancellations at the last minute. And yes, I have done left it to almost the last minute to cancel. That said, it's probably mainly business travellers going with network carriers flying a high frequency route like LHR-EDI who would decide at the last minute - most leisure or infrequent travellers will make up their mind further in advance.
However, thinking about it more, this seems like a good way to increase ancillary income.
- Plenty of people are unsure if they really will fly, but probably do so anyway.
- If you no show and don't cancel until after departure, then you lose your money.
- If you don't use the money within 90 days, you lose your money.
- It also encourages brand loyalty by giving you a reason to fly with them again soon.
- Finally, it gives Wizz extra freedom to overbook - the money always stays in Wizz's bank account, as people who are going to cancel probably do so more than 3 hours in advance, giving Wizz time to sell a few more tickets in place of empty seats.
While Ryanair used to be the leader on ancillary innovation, Wizz seems to be ahead nowadays - an example being the shrinkage of size of free hand luggage, so small wheeled suitcases now attract ancillary charges.
What are the thoughts of others on Wizz Flex ? Should other LCCs with minimal numbers of business travellers set up a similiar scheme ?
Last edited by davidjohnson6; 12th Apr 2023 at 20:06.
Air Moldova is in some serious financial trouble.
Perhaps Wizzair might decide it's OK to reopen routes to Moldova if a competitor goes bust ?
https://boardingpass.ro/certificatul...fie-suspendat/
Perhaps Wizzair might decide it's OK to reopen routes to Moldova if a competitor goes bust ?
https://boardingpass.ro/certificatul...fie-suspendat/
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Air Moldova is in some serious financial trouble.
Perhaps Wizzair might decide it's OK to reopen routes to Moldova if a competitor goes bust ?
https://boardingpass.ro/certificatul...fie-suspendat/
Perhaps Wizzair might decide it's OK to reopen routes to Moldova if a competitor goes bust ?
https://boardingpass.ro/certificatul...fie-suspendat/
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2 nights delay in getting back to Luton
https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/le...urghada-egypt/
“I called Wizz Air call centre in Luton Airport asking for clarification and news, but the man firstly blamed Hurghada Airport for the delay. Then when I passed him over to the airport manager, he [the Wizz Air employee] took it back and said there were ‘operational problems’, but refused to get into details and hung up.”
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I assume this flight https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsCon...zz-Air-to.aspx
crew would have gone out of hours. As flight is only x3 week, next flight on Tuesday, perhaps they had to wait for replacement crew? I don't think they run the route from Gatwick and Budapest is on same days so Tuesday again.
It is not like a Tui flights which are arriving many a day from various UK airports. Had a look at flight only fares and TUI is twice Wizzair price, £630 vs £330 in June so you see why people who book everything separately direct jump for the Wizzair flights.
That said, with most airlines, it takes an age to get an answer from their call centers, they should be able to give correct truthful answer first time.
crew would have gone out of hours. As flight is only x3 week, next flight on Tuesday, perhaps they had to wait for replacement crew? I don't think they run the route from Gatwick and Budapest is on same days so Tuesday again.
It is not like a Tui flights which are arriving many a day from various UK airports. Had a look at flight only fares and TUI is twice Wizzair price, £630 vs £330 in June so you see why people who book everything separately direct jump for the Wizzair flights.
That said, with most airlines, it takes an age to get an answer from their call centers, they should be able to give correct truthful answer first time.
Looking at the article they came back on the same a/c two days later, so unlikely to be crew hours?
And when something goes wrong moan because there was no Wizz representatives and they had to stay in “low standard” hotel?
Had a look at flight only fares and TUI is twice Wizzair price, £630 vs £330 in June so you see why people who book everything separately direct jump for the Wizzair flights.
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I’m led to believe Wizz applied for a 3 aircraft base at both Manchester and Edinburgh back in 2021.. any chance that either of these might come to fruition?
What would be really intriguing is if Wizz also decided to fly Abu Dhabi to various UK destinations once they start getting some Airbus XLR. Would really throw a cog in the works for Etihad whose only advantage at that point is Australia/New Zealand connectivity.
What would be really intriguing is if Wizz also decided to fly Abu Dhabi to various UK destinations once they start getting some Airbus XLR. Would really throw a cog in the works for Etihad whose only advantage at that point is Australia/New Zealand connectivity.
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Not very likely given that they were unable to crew Doncaster and Cardiff bases. The issue is still very much there, it will be an interesting summer season even with the two remaining bases.
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I don’t necessarily think so. A couple of Wizz routes down to Spain and maybe places like Romania wouldn’t really do much to Jet2. Jet2 operate on a different business model to Wizz. Jet2 have a lot of favour with the general holidaymaker with their fantastic customer service and booking a package holiday with them is a much more attractive proposition than booking everything separately on Wizz.
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My question was overnight parking at LPL.
I think Wizzair would run core Eastern European routes rather than sunshine routes which have not been a Stella success.
I am sure Jet2 would not overlap on anything, it was whether LPL could handle both?
I think Wizzair would run core Eastern European routes rather than sunshine routes which have not been a Stella success.
I am sure Jet2 would not overlap on anything, it was whether LPL could handle both?
What would be really intriguing is if Wizz also decided to fly Abu Dhabi to various UK destinations once they start getting some Airbus XLR. Would really throw a cog in the works for Etihad whose only advantage at that point is Australia/New Zealand connectivity.
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There are 11 based aircraft, there is space for more.
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Interesting next few days for Wizz. April passenger statistics due tomorrow with the full years results to 31st March due in the next few days. Share price rose to just over £30 on Friday with J P Morgan raising the price target to £37.50. The results will still show a loss of course but very much reduced. With 47 per cent of the stock held by four large investment companies including Indigo Partners with 20 per cent they seem to think it is a wise investment not like some people on here who would like to see the airline fail with the loss of thousands of jobs, but they have got to improve markedly on their refunds policy etc.
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Of course many here only see the UK presence and UK press. With so many new aircraft on order the expansion will be more Eastwards with little in UK unless some breakthrough in getting slots at LGW occurs. Perhaps away aircraft serving LPL, BOH & SEN.
I predicted Saudi & Turkish bases with a similar model of part ownership with local business as Abu Dhabi, which eventually get linked back to UK, but not for a while yet.
I predicted Saudi & Turkish bases with a similar model of part ownership with local business as Abu Dhabi, which eventually get linked back to UK, but not for a while yet.