First flight with WizzAir : experience

There were no major updates in airlineblog since months. I am back from a 3 week Europe trip with several within Europe flights, so a series of posts are being lined up. This post is about a new airline I flew for the first time- WizzAir

I had my first flight with Budapest based budget airline, WizzAir this month

WizzAir operates budget flights within Europe and also to some parts of Asia and middle east- they fly between Abu Dhabi and Europe for cheap, so it is possible to make a cheap trip to Europe if you can get a cheap ticket from AUH/Jeddah to Europe, can manage a self transfer & transit visa in UAE.

My Wizzair flight was from Athens, Greece to Budapest, Hungary.

Booking experience: Booking was done by my relative in Europe so I don’t have booking experience, but WizzAir’s cheapest ticket allows 8 kg normal cabin baggage, which is a relief. 

If you sign up to WizzAir’s loyalty program you get to save some 5%

Other budget airlines like EasyJet and RyanAir allow only a small bag that can be held under the seat in front of you and you’ve to pay for a normal cabin bag.

WizzAir web check-in opened 2 days prior to departure. I was allocated a random seat as I refused to pay for the seat. If you can pay for a seat you can do a web check in 1 month ahead. Seat selection costs over 8 Euros, a checked bag would cost 32 Euro. (price may vary based on origin-destination and how early you decide)

WizzAir was not allowing me to use my gmail ID during web check in saying that ID is already in use- had to give some other email ID. I find this part odd.

Delay: WizzAir communicated a 50 minute delay compared to my original schedule at the time of booking. On the day of travel flight was delayed another 90 minutes (while they retained the original check in counter close time). Overall my flight had about 2-2.5 hours of delay but no other issues during the flight. Some issues at the previous airport was cited as reason for delay.

Aero bridge was not used, we were taken to aircraft in buses in Athens.

Aircraft: I got a nice A321. WizzAir has a fleet of A320 and A321 family aircrafts,  about 174 aircrafts total and growing.

Inflight purchase: I bought a piece of bread and a cup of veg soup, costing me about 7 euros online. Taste was good. I could pay using my ICICI forex card.

They give one complementary chocolate if we buy one snack and one drink, but soup is not a drink for this policy. I was told it is applicable only if I buy fanta or some such beverage.

Good things about WizzAir

• Better aircrafts
• Better baggage allowance
• Better food options
• Few connections to Asia, Middle East, Africa as well

Not so good things or rather possible improvements for WizzAir:

• Soup and bread combination should have been made eligible for the free chocolate.
• Not allowing me to provide my own email ID saying it is used" felt odd
• Couldn't download boarding pass from app
• Will be great if WizzAir can tie up with some airlines flying to India and allow easy transit via middle east for European destinations so that we don't have to take UAE transit visa and recheck in baggage.

Summary:

• WizzAir is much better than RyanAir any day. Not forcing us to download app is good.
• If the price difference is just a few euros, I would say prefer WizzAir over Easyjet or Ryanair as you will get 8 kg cabin baggage included and slightly better food options.
• Transit via Budapest (Hungary) is fine, but Hungary has its own currency- so you’ve pay via card or get your Euros converted into Hungarian Forint (Currency code HUF) 

Overall my experience was fine. I will keep an eye for the next possible opportunity to fly them. They don’t fly to India so I’ve to carefully plan a India-UAE & UAE- Europe trip to fly them again. Let us see what happens.