Wizz Air owes Brits £5m in unpaid refunds, investigation reveals
Brits are owed £5m in unpaid refunds from low-cost airline Wizz Air, an investigation by the Sunday Times has revealed.
Previously dubbed ‘Britain’s worst airline’, the investigation found Wizz Air is yet to pay out £4,950,479 across 881 outstanding county court judgments, with claims from £47 up to £10,358.
Until May 5 up to four court orders a day were still being issued against the airline, with unresolved judgements – meant as a last resort – dating back to April 2018, The Sunday Times reported.
In a statement, a Wizz Air spokesperson said: “Wizz Air has resolved the vast majority of the CCJ cases and we are in the process of updating the court records to reflect this. We are currently finalising the outstanding CCJs and can assure all passengers will be reimbursed as soon as possible.”
“Last year Wizz Air faced extraordinary operational challenges that meant we did not meet our own standards in the level of service delivered. Since then we have taken significant steps, including implementing structural and organisational changes,” they added.
It comes after the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) criticised the airline in December for “unacceptable” passenger treatment and “far higher” numbers of unresolved complaints.
It gave Wizz Air until January to settle the large number of court judgments made against it.
In February, a Which? Report named it the UK’s worst airline for boarding, seat comfort and cabin environment, while it also came last for punctuality for the second year in a row.
CAA data found departures were an average of more than 45 minutes behind schedule.