Reply To: 4:59 minute delay so no compensation…

[Mr. AC]

Apologies, I didn’t give enough context. Just though it’s funny.

What happened was that I had a Wizz Air flight to Istanbul and then another flight from Istanbul onwards (different airline) in 4 hours.
At Gatwick the delay showed as 2 hours initially, but when I asked a Wizz Air agent they said it would be longer (without explaining the reason). So I told them I wouldn’t travel because the connection would be too tight (they said to contact the call centre about it), and rebooked myself on a different airline (and travelled).

The Wizz Air ticket was their most expensive refundable tariff (apparently not fully refundable).

FlightAware thinks the delay was 5 hour 7 minutes, but as I wasn’t on board I don’t know when the door was opened in actuality.

Full e-mail below:

Thank you for contacting Wizz Air Customer Service Department.

We are sorry to hear about the inconvenience caused by the delay in your flight. After thoroughly investigating your case, we can confirm that the delay of flight W9 5771 LGW-IST on the 2nd of August 2024 was 4 hours 59 minutes, based on the arrival at your destination airport.

According to your request we need to inform you that we are guided by the Regulation (ec) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 February 2004:

passengers shall be offered by the operating air carrier:

(iii) when the delay is at least five hours, the assistance specified
in Article 8(1)(a).

In this case we can only offer voluntary cancellation. In case of voluntary cancellation and if there are less than 14 days before departure or if a flight is already in the past, we use the formula:

Flight W9 5771 LGW-IST on the 2nd of August 2024
(Ticket Price + Administration Fee + Bundle price) – Seat Protection Fee.
(243.99 GBP + 8 GBP + 61.06 BP) – 90 GBP = 223.05 GBP

Regarding your request, we kindly inform you that we refund 223.05 GBP to the original payment method that was used for the booking. Funds will be available within 7-10 working days. A refund was initiated on the 16th of August 2024.

Also, I have double-checked the reservation and seen that you booked tickets via a travel agency or third-party website (not directly with Wizz Air). Due to our policy, we can refund money only to the original payment method (the card has been used).

In this case, please contact your travel agency to get your money back

Upon checking your reservation YN7EQA in our system, we confirm that there was a disruption of your flight W9 5771 LGW-IST on 02.08.2024 due to an extraordinary circumstance that could not be avoided by our company. We would like to assure you that our priority is our passenger’s safety, and that is why in this type of situation, we are forced to make decisions that are not always easy, but necessary.

As this incident could not be predicted by our company, regardless of our efforts to avoid it, point (14) and Article 7 of European Regulations 261/2004 exempt the carrier from the obligation to provide compensation in case disruption of the flight was caused by an extraordinary circumstance. Therefore, we regret to inform you that no compensation is due.