This is part two of my occasional series on Wizz Air’s Trustpilot reviews, having accidentally looked at them again today. I admit to being something of a Wizz Air fanboy, although after more than 140 flights with them I’m conscious of their limitations. There are legitimate reasons to complain about an airline. I’m less convinced that all of the following qualify.
“This was by far one of the worst airline experiences I have ever had. I strongly advise other travellers to be extremely careful when flying with Wizz Air. We travelled from Billund to Budapest and then from Budapest to Istanbul. We experienced the same check-in problem twice during the journey.
We did not receive clear and sufficient email information before our flights explaining exactly how and when we had to complete online check-in, the strict deadline, and the very high fee we would face at the airport if we missed it. As a result, we were charged approximately €150 at the airport. Then, during our connection in Budapest for the flight to Istanbul, we faced the same problem again and had to pay another €150. Approximately €300 in total just for airport check-in.
For me, this is completely unacceptable. A passenger who has already paid for a flight should be clearly warned in advance about a check-in procedure that can result in such a significant additional charge. Airlines send many emails about flights. Something as important as a strict check-in deadline and a potential €150 airport charge should be communicated clearly and prominently before departure. Based on my personal experience, I will avoid flying with Wizz Air in the future.
My warning to other travellers: if you fly with Wizz Air, do not assume you can simply check in at the airport like with many other airlines. Check the online check-in rules and deadline yourself well in advance, otherwise you may face a very expensive surprise at the airport. I am sharing this experience so other passengers can avoid what happened to us.”
On my bookings, Wizz Air has repeatedly reminded me to check in online, alongside the warnings during booking. I can’t know what emails these passengers received, but what puzzles me is paying for airport check-in in Billund and then encountering the same problem in Budapest. Having received a €150 introduction to the procedure, I might have taken an interest in the arrangements for the next flight.
“A new low, even for a budget airline.
Spain should seriously reconsider allowing airlines like Wizz Air to operate at its airports if this is how they treat tourists. If you choose to travel with nothing more than a backpack to save a bit of money on the flight, you are practically discouraged from buying anything in Spain and bringing it home without risking an absurd extra fee. How does that align with the very idea of tourism?
Wizz Air has turned check-in into a hunting ground, where passengers are watched, targeted and humiliated in the hope of squeezing every last euro out of them.
My flight, W6 4038 from Alicante to Belgrade, scheduled for 21:25, was delayed by over an hour. But apparently, making passengers wait wasn’t enough. It was also essential to humiliate and harass practically everyone at check-in. God forbid the airline should focus on providing a decent service instead of finding new ways to punish its customers.
A special mention goes to the staff member handling this flight on check in, whose rudeness, arrogance and complete lack of basic courtesy were genuinely astonishing. She treated passengers as if we were somehow beneath her, refused to answer questions properly and wouldn’t even let you address her until your bag was inside the sizer.
Let that sink in. You are not allowed to ask a question or even speak to a member of staff until your backpack has passed their little metal test. Apparently, basic human interaction is a privilege you must earn by having the correct bag dimensions.
At that point, I was no longer a person. I was €76. I was one more penalty her employer expected her to collect and record. Nothing else mattered. Not the passenger, not the experience, not the fact that people were travelling on holiday. Just another opportunity to squeeze money out of someone.
Was my flight cheap and is that why I booked it? Yes. Did I dream of being treated like a walking piggy bank so this company could top up its budget and demonstrate just how cheap and petty it really is? Absolutely not.
I paid an extra fee because my backpack objectively did not fit into their sizer. I accept that I didn’t meet their baggage requirements. That’s not the point. The point is the humiliating, hostile and deliberately intimidating way passengers are treated, as if being caught out were the entire purpose of the check-in process and this flight!
I’m not upset about the fee itself. I knew I was booking a budget flight. I’m upset that I ever believed Wizz Air might offer even a minimum level of decency alongside its low fares.
And the irony? A flight delayed by over an hour, yet the staff somehow found the time and energy to make sure passengers felt as miserable and unwelcome as possible.
Cheap flights are one thing. Cheap behaviour is another. I regret ever believing Wizz Air wasn’t this pathetic.”
Suggesting that Spain should reconsider allowing an airline to operate because its baggage allowance discourages souvenir shopping is quite an escalation. However, the reviewer does accept that their bag was too big, and their main complaint is about how staff behaved. I wasn’t there, so I can’t judge that exchange. Enforcing a baggage allowance is reasonable, but it doesn’t give anyone permission to be rude. Equally, being asked to put a bag in a sizer isn’t, by itself, an international incident.
On my flights, I’ve often seen bags that looked larger than the allowance being waved through. That is an observation rather than a baggage policy, and I wouldn’t plan a journey around being granted the same indulgence. Taking a compliant bag remains the less exciting option.
I have noticed a fair few reviews which are effectively “yes, I agree with the rules, but I don’t know why they’ve applied them to me” arguments.
“For approximately €317 per person on a flight lasting just two hours, I expected at least a basic level of comfort. Instead, I got extremely cramped seating, no reclining function, almost nonexistent legroom and unbearable heat during boarding. I am not asking for luxury, business-class service or lie-flat seats. I am asking for reasonable comfort in relation to the amount charged.”
I’m personally delighted that the seats don’t recline, having little enthusiasm for someone introducing their seatback to my knees.
“I just seen it in The Daily Mirror news paper that the gate agents checking your bags in Hungary Budapest particularly receive a direct cash bonus for finding non-compliant luggage. My lagguge was out of 5 cm and they fined me for £65 today. The staff in Budapest airport hunting people to get the bonus! Disgusting! Unexceptable!”
The bag was apparently outside the permitted dimensions, so the charge itself isn’t particularly mysterious.
“€40 for 3 kg?! Wizz Air, Seriously? 😂
At check-in, our suitcase weighed 23 kg instead of 20 kg. Wizz Air wanted €40 extra.
My captain’s brain immediately ran the numbers:
Option A: Pay €40.
Option B: Move 3 kg into our backpacks. Cost €0.
Same passengers. Same payload. Same aircraft. Same fuel burn. €40 saved.
Wizz Air tried to collect an overweight fee from someone who makes weight-and-balance decisions for a living.
Wrong customer, Wizz Air. 😂
The funniest part? They were perfectly happy once we moved the weight around.
Sometimes bureaucracy defeats common sense.
Two customers lost (I’ll be avoiding Wizz Air like the plague from now on). €0 collected. Brilliant business strategy!”
The aircraft’s total payload hadn’t changed, but the amount being checked into the hold had. They moved the excess into their backpacks, the airline accepted the revised arrangement and no additional fee was collected. This seems rather more like successfully using the baggage allowance than defeating the airline. Nevertheless, congratulations on rediscovering packing.
“Extremely disappointing experience with Wizz Air gate staff. My partner was stopped because she had a handbag and a backpack”
Take one bag?
“I will never ever fly with Wizz air again. I’ve done 23 flights just in the last 17 months and wizz air was by far the worst. Awful staff. I had a small carrier bag with things I’d bought from the airport and my jumper in that I’d taken off as it was very hot in Milan airport where I spent 6 hours on a layover. When I got to the desk to board the plane the staff told me I had to pay for this carrier bag if I wanted to bring it on the plane. I explained it was just a few bits I’d bought from the airport and my jumper and they were extremely rude and forced me to put my jumper on or leave it behind, I was already too hot so this caused me to feel very overheated and lightheaded.”
I don’t know what happened here, but just from what I’ve seen more passengers are visibly using duty free bags to carry extra items and then pretending that they just purchased them from the airport. I wonder whether Wizz Air will soon cut back on their current generosity in this area.
“Around 400 flights, two real delays — that’s a record nobody else matches”
My own experience has been similar to this positive review. Across more than 140 Wizz Air flights, I haven’t experienced a heavily delayed journey. They generally get me where I want to go cheaply and efficiently, which is broadly what I require from an airline. Any emotional fulfilment is a bonus and I find it much easier to take a bag that isn’t too large.