The Civil Aviation Authority has expressed “significant concerns” to Wizz Air about high levels of complaints and delays in paying passengers what they are owed.
The watchdog’s latest quarterly complaints data shows Wizz Air is “clearly” the worst airline for cases escalated to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) complaints or the regulator’s in-house complaints team in the third quarter of 2022, with 811 complaints per million passengers.
With the exception of Royal Brunei Airlines which has 555 complaints per million passengers, other airlines had less than half as many complaints, and many significantly less.
The regulator also recently questioned the time Wizz Air was taking to process claims received directly from passengers, and the large number of County Court Judgements (CCJs) which have been found against Wizz Air and remain unpaid.
The CAA said it has been “clear” with Wizz Air that this is an “unacceptable” way to treat passengers and that it is “imperative for the issues to be tackled urgently”.
More: Wizz Air operations ‘normalise’ after disruption earlier in year
The watchdog added: “Wizz Air has acknowledged and expressed regret over these problems and has committed to the Civil Aviation Authority that it will clear the backlogs of claims and outstanding ADR payments by Christmas.
“Wizz Air is also working to identify and conclude all outstanding CCJs. The Civil Aviation Authority will continue to monitor progress.”
Anna Bowles, CAA head of consumer policy and enforcement, said: “Passengers have every right to expect their complaints and claims to be resolved quickly and efficiently and to be treated fairly by airlines.
“The volume of complaints and claims received by ADR in respect of Wizz Air is far higher than those seen for other airlines.
“This, alongside the delays in processing and paying claims and the large number of County Court Judgements made against Wizz Air, has raised significant concerns for the CAA.
“We have made it clear to Wizz Air that its behaviour is unacceptable and that we expect overdue complaints and claims to be resolved in advance of Christmas.
“We understand the payment of County Court Judgements may continue into January, but we are encouraging Wizz Air to ensure that the payment of these is also prioritised.
“We will continue to monitor the situation. Where we have evidence that an airline is letting passengers down, we won’t hesitate to take further action where required.”
A statement from the airline said: “We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience we have caused our customers and we are working hard to put things right and resolve all outstanding claims as quickly as possible.
“The major disruption we navigated last summer meant that we have been dealing with an unprecedented number of claims. Despite this, 91% of claims have already been processed.
“We have recently doubled the size of our customer services team and are working continuously to process all outstanding customer claims, Alternative Dispute Resolution claims and settle all County Court Judgements.
“Customers seeking to settle outstanding County Court Judgements can do so through the chatbot on the Wizz Air website, by selecting the relevant option from the Help & Support menu. Once the required steps have been completed, a customer service agent will be in touch directly to arrange payment.
“We would ask all customers pursuing a claim to check their spam folders for messages from the company, as this has held up settlement being made in a number of cases.
“We are committed to resolving all outstanding claims and resuming our regular processing times as soon as possible.”
Guy Hobbs, editor of Which? Travel, said: “This is a welcome intervention by the Civil Aviation Authority over Wizz Air’s terrible record on complaints and paying passengers what they are owed. The regulator must not hesitate to take further action if the airline fails to resolve these issues quickly.
“However, it’s just the latest example of an airline ignoring its legal obligations to passengers when flights are delayed or cancelled. We desperately need reforms that put passengers first; it’s time the government set out its plans to give the CAA the powers it needs to clamp down on rule-breaking airlines – including hitting them with substantial fines.
“It has been clear for some time that the current complaints system is broken. The government can show it is on the side of travellers – and avoid clogging up the courts – by introducing a mandatory, single ombudsman scheme for airlines.”