Budget Flights with Wizz Air: A Review

So part two of my “budget airline” series is here! You can see my thoughts on RyanAir here.

Where Do They Fly?

Wizz Air has been gaining more and more popularity in the UK as they now have plenty of flights departing from various airports in the UK. If you’re flying from London, the closest airport that Wizz Air use is “London Luton” (about a 40 minute train ride from London St Pancras station).

They have been great for me because of the extensive network of flights to Eastern Europe. It’s no secret that I absolutely love Eastern  Europe and many of the places I’ve fallen in love with have only been accessible through Wizz Air. I visited Ljubljana last year with them and will be flying to Ohrid at the end of the month – two places that have no other direct flights from the UK at budget prices!

A complete map of where Wizz Air operate can be found here.

Be Aware! Additional Charges! 

Now in my previous post about RyanAir, I emphasised how much you shouldn’t be put off by the bad press that RyanAir receive. I have never paid more than the amount shown on any flight comparison website (such as Skyscanner) for a RyanAir flight.

Wizz Air on the other hand are one of the worst airlines that I have ever flown with for additional charges.

With my flights to Ohrid at the end of the month, I got VERY excited about the fact that Wizz Air were offering return flights to Macedonia for £23.98 (normally they are much higher than this).

I then decided on the exact dates with my friend and got incredibly excited to be getting back to former-Yugoslavia (in my opinion, one of the most beautiful areas in Europe) for a budget price!

I was paying for both my and my friend’s flights and accommodation as this was her birthday present. Return flights for 2 people should have therefore cost £47.96, however the total cost ended up being £102.96 – more than double the advertised price! Why? £24 worth of administration fees and £31 for a checked in 23kg bag.

2 x Return flights (2 x £23.98) + admin fees (£24) + baggage (£31) = £102.96

I am quite aware that £102.96 for two people to have return flights isn’t expensive by any means, but it’s never good for a company to double their prices during the booking process!

Baggage

You might be wondering why I have paid £31 for a checked in bag. I am a huge advocate of not paying to check in luggage, hand luggage is the only way to travel! It’s generally free, you don’t have to wait for your baggage to arrive at each destination and there’s no chance of it getting lost – perfect!

So why have I paid for check-in baggage? Because it was actually cheaper than using hand luggage.

The standard cabin bag size is “55cm x 40cm x 20cm”, yet Wizz Air only allows a free cabin bag to the size of “42cm x 32cm x 25cm” and boy are they strict about that measurement (every bag was checked on my flight to Slovenia).

To upgrade the free “small cabin bag” to the standard “large cabin bag” for 2 people costs more than paying for checked in luggage (for our route, one person’s upgrade to standard luggage size is £25, therefore £50 for both of us). Which in my eyes, is absolutely ridiculous.

I have invested in good quality standard size hand luggage and I don’t want to go an purchase a new bag to suit their rules. You also aren’t allowed to carry a small hand bag (for your phone/passport/boarding pass) with either the small or large hand luggage. Time is wasted before boarding making people put their tiny hand bags into their hand luggage.

Customer Service

I’ve never had any issues with customer service, but I am a pretty low-key passenger, as long as I arrive safely, I’m happy!

Comfort of the Planes

The planes are much more attractive than Ryan Air – I won’t lie, I was excited to fly on a predominately pink plane (how sad). The comfort of the planes isn’t anything to write home about, however on short haul flights, this isn’t something that really bothers me!

Overall Rating

2/5. The additional admin and baggage costs and sub-standard quality of their baggage policies compared to the other major budget airlines is a real issue for me. When I’m planning a trip, I want the price shown as advertised to be the price I end up paying.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post and all thoughts are my own.
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