Wizzair-3

[cavokblues]

How many of the settlements weren't settled in January? What did the CAA do after that deadline was missed?

This airline treats its staff atrociously and its pax no better. You can sort of get away with that if you're the cheapest but they're not even that on a lot of their routes. They've the worst punctuality, the worse customer service and they're not even cheap.

Unless you've simply no other alternative why would you ever fly Wizz?

[davidjohnson6]

Why fly Wizz ? Because sometimes they really are the cheapest, their Flex scheme means fares can be refundable (to a degree) for modest cost until 3 hours before departure, and the schedule matches what I or other customers want

[cavokblues]

I thought the Flex wasn't a refund but a Wizz air voucher, which has to be used in 90 days and they subtract an admin fee for allowing you to do it!

I just, personally, would rather fly on another competitor than Wizz.

[davidjohnson6]

Flex is indeed not a true refund. However, if you use Wizz several times per year and know you will be buying more Wizz tickets within 3 months, then Flex effectively makes a ticket refundable. Yes, you have to pay about £10 per person per one way flight for the privilege, but if the original ticket is £100 and you think at the time of buying a ticket that you may want to cancel, it's a motivator to use Wizz as opposed to Ryanair who have a (almost) no-refunds-ever policy.

I'm not saying Wizz is perfect... but for some people, there can sometimes be strong reasons to choose Wizz over other airlines, even when there is a choice of airline on a route.

[gdiddy]

Very good article in today's Times Newspaper about Wizz...

Wizz Air: what went wrong at Britain’s worst airline -
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/w...line-vglww6db8
(The Times is a subscription newspaper, but if you clear your cookies and internet history will allow you to read one article.)

Sounds like they admit there have been issues with their UK operations and are looking to improve, which is good.

I'm still a fan of the airline and not had any major issues. Couldn't have gone to Jordan, if it wasn't for their amazing fares. £38 return LTN-AMM!

[TBSC]

Wizz Abu Dhabi's 321neo deliveries are being taken by Wizz Air Malta (first example A6-WZI -> 9H-WDV) and some 321ceos will be transferred to AUH instead.

9H-WDV

[Alloy]

That sounds like the P&W Neo engines are not coping well in the UAE environment and this is a defensive reallocation of the fleet to reduce exposure to the Pratts’s problems.

[davidjohnson6]

I've become aware of somewhat sloppy procedures at an airport which Wizz flies out of based on first-hand observations. It's not in a liberal democracy state, and talking to airport staff is unlikely to get a well-intentioned reaction. Most of the other airlines are Govt-owned from authoritarian countries. Would anybody be able to message me an email address at Wizz to which I can send observations, and which won't just lead to the information being "filed"

[LTNman]

I would doubt they would be remotely interested.

[LGS6753]

Wizz have announced 10 new routes from Tirana, to Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bucharest, Sofia, Prague and Krakow will start in the forthcoming winter season. whilst flights from Tirana to Malta, Palermo, and Chania start in March.
Frequencies increased to Luton (from 21 to 35 per week), other increases to Milan, Bologna, Beauvais, Charleroi, Catania, Warsaw, Pisa, Venice, Rome and Skavsta.
They will have competition from Ryanair's new base at Tirana, offering flights to Bologna, Bucharest, Charleroi, Catania, Dusseldorf (Weeze), Edinburgh, Krakow, Stansted, Manchester, Milan, Beauvais, Pisa, Prague, Rome, Stockholm, Venice, and Warsaw.
Let battle commence!

[Seljuk]

Expansion in Tirana continues, espacially after FR announced their entry in the market. 11th based aircraft was announced for this winter.

Skopje will get a 6th and Catania a 4th a/c this winter.

By 2025 all based aircraft at LTN will be switched to A321neo.

[davidjohnson6]

There seems to be a (new) problem with Pratt & Whitney engines which will require substantial and lengthy engine inspection. The Wizz share price has declined. How serious is this in reality for Wizzair ?

[compton3bravo]

I don't if you've noticed that all UK airline shares have dropped in recent days due to catasrophic fires in Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean in the height of the tourist season.

[davidjohnson6]

I'm talking particularly about this news story
https://www.reuters.com/business/aer...ry-2023-07-25/

[pabely]

Originally Posted by davidjohnson6

I'm talking particularly about this news story
https://www.reuters.com/business/aer...ry-2023-07-25/

Yes this directly affects Wizzair, we already know the NEO with these engines at the Abu Dhabi base have been having hot & dusty issues with CEOs brought in which are more reliable.
If you speak to an engineer he will say stick with a CEO irrespective of the fuel burn.

[ATNotts]

seanm1997 is reporting that the toothless wonder, the CAA has finally grown its 'milk teeth' and taken action regarding Wizz Air's allegedly laissez faire attitude to paying EU261 claims.

Not before time.

[TartinTon]

Be interesting to see if this actually has any effect.

https://www.caa.co.uk/newsroom/news/...inst-wizz-air/

[Charlie98]

In all seriousness, how do Wizzair survive? So many of their flights are either cancelled or delayed over 3 hours, surely the EU261 must be costing them a fortune? Even without that, the reputation also damage must be having an impact on loads.

Such a shame.

[davidjohnson6]

Are Wizz really seeing an operational meltdown or is it just the press trying to make a story ? An hour or two of delay isn't what people want.... but most passengers will be able to tolerate this occasionally without getting particularly upset. The share price seems to have taken more of a hit from the Pratt & Whitney engine recall story earlier this week, compared to the CAA trying to show some teeth today.
Looking at LTN and BUD airport arrivals on FR24, I don't see anything particularly terrible given that it's currently peak summer and the aviation system is running at close to capacity

[TBSC]

Originally Posted by davidjohnson6

Looking at LTN and BUD airport arrivals on FR24, I don't see anything particularly terrible given that it's currently peak summer and the aviation system is running at close to capacity

BUD is a mess recently, they are in the news every day with at least one overnight delay every day (in Basel, Milan and Abu Dhabi, the latter being the winner with 30 hours of delay). Today eight of their last nine flights were late at least an hour (up to three) and it was the first "calm" day of the week.
The Minister of Economy and Tourism of Romania protested to the EU (Commissioner for Justice) because of the amount of disruption.
Economy Minister talks with European consumer protection commissioner about Wizz Air's problems (stiripesurse.ro)