Refunding a Canceled Wizz Air Flight
“The Point - The travel industry has changed drastically in the last month, with no end in sight. That being said, Wizz Air has created a frustratingly long process to refund cancelled tickets. ”
Update 3 - Exactly 60 days after I filed for the refund, it was processed on my credit card.
Oh so much has changed since I last published a post on COVID-19. The world is now effectively on lock down and the travel industry has completely fallen off a cliff. In fact, Air New Zealand (home of funny ads) ran 89 scheduled flights on Thursday April 2nd and only carried 165 passengers according to Cam Wallace, the Chief Revenue Officer for the airline.
Numerous airlines are reporting similar data points, including Cathay Pacific, which reported flying only 582 customers in one day. Even a month ago, these numbers would be unfathomable, but it’s the new normal.
Summer 2020
My summer of 2020 was going to be an epic one, crisscrossing the world (on top business class products) to see both Euro 2020 and the 2020 Olympics. Now that both of those two events have been postponed, I’ve cancelled all international travel for this summer which I will detail in a separate post. One flight that I did have trouble cancelling was my Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Kutaisi Airport in Georgia. I choose that route because I wanted to compare Wizz Air to my Ryanair flights last summer, and it was conveniently timed compared to other options on points. I booked the flight earlier this year for 116 GBP (~200 CAD) which included a carry on bag and a preferred seat at the front of the cabin. I was buzzing for my trip to Georgia, which was scheduled in between Euro 2020 games.
I was planning to spend a few nights at Rooms Hotel Kazbegi, a Marriott Design Collection hotel located in the Georgian Mountains. (Marriott)
I had several recommendations from a variety of people with overwhelmingly positive comments about the country, so when I received an email cancelling my flight, I was disappointed to say the least. I then had to find a way to cancel the flight for a cash refund, as I’m not planning to fly Wizz Air in the near future.
Getting a Refund for my Cancelled Wizz Air Flight
I want to detail how I processed the refund for my cancelled Wizz Air flight this summer. I received an email on March 26th outlining that my flight WizzAir flight 6424 from London Luton to Kutaisi Airport was cancelled. The system for a refund was unclear and confusing, so I decided to write this post on how to get a cash refund for cancelled WIZZ flights.
After clicking the link you have to login to view you full booking.
Once clicking the link, you need to login to access your booking.
Once logging into your account, two options are displayed, start rebooking, or request refund. I actually looked into rebooking the flight, but WizzAir doesn’t seem to be selling flights to Georgia right now. All of Wizz Air’s routes to Georgia were suspended, but their website hasn’t been updated to dictate that all routes have been suspended this summer.
Instead, I clicked on “Request Refund” which led to this pop-up. At this point it was unclear how to receive the refund as cash. Although it’s nice to get an extra 20% back on my booking (and a method for airlines to conserve some cash flow during these difficult times) I am not planning to fly WizzAir in the near future. After doing a bit of searching on the WIZZ website, and reading through the pop up, I came to the conclusion that I could request a refund in cash after clicking through this screen. I believe this process is purposely unclear so that WizzAir can conserve cash at this time (they didn’t even answer this question in their FAQ about COVID-19)
After requesting the refund, you receive a notification that your request was successful. At the bottom of this landing page, you’re able to submit your request to convert that credit to a refund.
Click the Wizz Credit Conversion Request page link
Once you click that link, you come to yet another landing page, asking you to login again. Clearly Wizz Air isn’t making it easy to get a refund.
After logging in again, you finally come to a form to request your refund. The form asks for your mobile number, confirmation code and banking information, just in case they can’t process the refund to the original card that you purchased the flights on. Maybe this is very convoluted Manufactured Spend?
As a Canadian, you can get your SWIFT code from your online banking.
Once you have filled in that form, you get another landing page stating that they have processed your request, but it might take more than 60 days to process the full refund. Many airlines are having trouble processing refunds, including Air Canada and British Airways, but this is a ridiculously long time. I will make sure to update this page once I have received the refund on my card.
Update 1 - April 14th: No refund yet but I did receive this email from Wizz Air today notifying me that it will take a while to process. At what point should I file a chargeback?
Update 2 - As of May 17th, 42 days after requesting the refund, I still haven’t received my refund on my Canadian credit card.
Update 3
Exactly 60 days after I filed for the refund, it was processed on my credit card.
It says March 2nd, which was the date of the original transaction
Unfortunately, my card charges a 2.5% FX fee, so along with the frustration, I lost 2.5% of my original transaction cost.
The Point.
This is a difficult situation for the travel industry right now, but purposely trying to obfuscate the refund process is terrible for customers, especially for those with multiple flight bookings for summer travel who are urgently looking to get their money back.
