A father seeking reimbursement from Wizz Air resorted to sending bailiffs to Luton Airport in an attempt to claim back additional expenses after the carrier canceled the passenger and his family’s flight on short notice.
The backstory
Russell Quirk and his family were booked on a Wizz Air flight from Luton Airport (LTN) to Faro Airport (FAO) in May last year before they were notified of its cancelation on the morning of the flight, with Quirk telling the BBC there was “no explanation, no alternative offered and no apology.” Having already paid for their hotels, airport transfers and an airport lounge, Quirk decided to rebook their journey with a different carrier – this expense, on top of additional hotel and other costs, ended up costing £4,500 ($5,480).
After returning to the UK, the father of three said it took over a month to reclaim the cost of his reservation, well beyond the seven-day period as per European Union regulations. However, given the additional outlay on flights, Quirk took Wizz Air to county court but claimed the carrier “ignored” the default judgment against it.
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Bailiffs sent after court judgment
Following around seven months of chasing the airline, Quirk had bailiffs sent to a Wizz Air desk at London Luton Airport to reclaim his money. If the bailiffs weren’t able to acquire the amount in cash, they were authorized to take other goods, such as chairs, tables and computers.
Quirk told MailOnline,
“If they had sent me a holding response or two. If they had communicated with me at all between July and December and said ‘We acknowledge your claim, we will settle it, please give us 90 days.’ I would have accepted that. Except they stonewalled me. It is my belief that they thought I would go away. These companies make the process so difficult, so obstructive that most people do give up. You have got to fight your corner as a consumer.”
Wizz Air eventually paid up
Wizz Air finally paid Quirk what he was owed in ‘consequential losses’ – it’s unclear if this was paid to bailiffs directly or at a later date. Under European regulations, airlines are required to compensate passengers for ‘reasonable’ additional expenses; given that Wizz did not offer Quirk alternative travel arrangements, rebooking with a new airline would seem reasonable enough.
According to MailOnline, Quirk paid £700 ($852) for the original flights and shelled out £2,500 ($3,044) on the new reservations after learning Wizz Air had canceled his initial booking, while the family had booked a non-refundable hotel in Faro to the tune of £6,000 ($7,306).
A Wizz Air spokesperson said,
“When things went wrong, we did not react quickly enough to manage the high volume of customer claims that resulted from this disruption.”
The airline said that, amid the widespread disruption across European airports in the summer of 2022, it “fell short of our own aspirations.” The carrier added that, since December, it has paid all county court judgments against it and continues to settle claims.
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