Wizz Air Spain holiday Dec 2020. Still no refund.

[The GodMother]

Ok so helping a Male friend. 

 

Friend and daughter 16, he has full custody of her, was due to flight out for a holiday to Spain for Christmas. The Spanish government, along with a list of other countries, said they were banning UK flights over a new strain of Covid. They did not know until they got to airport as they were due to fly on the 22nd first flight of day. I have searched and cant find anywhere to say the the UK Government/foreign office closing air travel. 

 

Wizz air rep was useless just told them to contact Wizz air as they cant fly. Friend contacted Wizz air who said well the flight is still going ahead so you fly or you cancel. Wizz air did not budge so they had to cancel. Was not a package deal but the hotel has cancelled and refunded without any problems within a few hours of request. Flight went ahead Wizz air still not budged re flights and insisting they were cancelled and a fee is to be paid.

 

They have been arguing for months over the refund. He is still waiting and feels its unfair that he is waiting months for a refund when not his fault and that he has to pay a cancellation fee for the flight when it was the Spanish government that closed the boarders to all but citizens. He is not saying he does not understand why just he could have been treated better. Money went out quick enough but cant press a button to refund him.

 

He has been to the CAB but found them utterly useless. What are his rights on the cancellation and what legal argument can he use. He has thrown at them lots of phone calls, yes l have told him to stay of the phone but he wont listen to me on that and as he is big enough to know better but then stuck between a rock and hard place. 

 

Oh and just so you all know they did not go without a few presents and Christmas dinner. They came and Socially distanced collect a care package from me containing food the presents l had brought them already and a little extra. 

 

[unclebulgaria67]

The flight operated as normal, so it was not Wizz that stopped your friend from flying to Spain. It was just that the Spanish border officials may not have let them into Spain. It was not the responsibility of Wizz to have checked every passengers details to find out whether they were Spanish residents or simply visiting Spain. The relevant law being applied was in Spain, allowing Spanish border officials to refuse entry and was not a legal requirement for Wizz to conduct checks in the UK.

 

Your friend cancelled on the day of the flight, therefore the normal terms of cancelling on the day of the flight will apply. This I believe is a situation where your friend claims off any Travel Insurance and not from the Airline. 

 

 

 

[The GodMother]

The Wizz air rep at airport said they could not fly. The people on the phone said the flight was still leaving or left and could fly.  Other airlines have refunded in full. 

Travel insurance has said that they wont refund as Wizz air should be as the rep told them they could not fly. 

[unclebulgaria67]

If the airline refused to let your friends fly, because of the border change in Spain, then Wizz should have cancelled, not your friends. This would have enabled refund process.

 

Because the rep from Wizz told your friends to cancel, it is down as customer cancelled, therefore no refund.

 

How much money is involved?

 

Have they exhausted complaints process ?

 

 

[The GodMother]

By time they got threw to someone from wizz air on the phone the plane was about to or had left. They were due out on the first flight around 6.30. It was delayed due to new rules of checking. 

Problem is wizz air does not accept the rep at the airport has said they cant fly. The airport rep did not do much to help other than give them a piece of paper and usher them out of airport after checking to see if they were Spanish residents. They even had security called on them for asking questions. 

The customer services rep on the phone told them they had no choice but to tell the customer they have to cancel as its out of wizz airs hands and as people could fly just not tourists. It was within the rules to have the customer cancel at this point. 

Wizz air are refunding them some money just taking a cancellation fee off and he is still waiting for the refund. 

They wont accept a complaint. Well the customer services has said they  dont have a complaint process. 

I dont know how much we are talking about but l am guessing about £500 + for.flights then other things on top eg.the euros, phone calls as they needed to get home and to get answers, covid tests. 

[unclebulgaria67]

What was on the peice of paper that Wizz provided ?   Was this related to denied boarding ?

 

Wizz are a much complained about airline.

 

Worst company in the world!!! - Wizz Air Traveller Reviews - Tripadvisor

WWW.TRIPADVISOR.CO.UK

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Wizz Air: Worst company in the world!!! - See 16,973 traveller reviews, 2,347 candid photos, and great deals for Wizz Air, at Tripadvisor.

 

[The GodMother]

It says due to circumstances beyond our control you need to call customer services then gave the flight details. 

The airport rep called security as they refused to leave. He was wanted to know what time customer services open and daughter needed the loo. 

[unclebulgaria67]

This link provides some information, but does not sppear to offer a clear answer.

 

Guidance on consumer law for airlines | UK Civil Aviation Authority

WWW.CAA.CO.UK

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Information on legal requirements and the CAA's enforcement powers

 

[Kyosanto]

I see this thread has been dead for quite a bit but I agree with unclebulgaria here that you have zero chance for a refund.

Your friend got bullied into cancelling his flight by himself - something that never goes well, as you are giving up your right to a refund. However this would have been worse anyway if he had gone to the airport.

 

Because:

On 16/06/2021 at 06:11, unclebulgaria67 said:

It was not the responsibility of Wizz to have checked every passengers details to find out whether they were Spanish residents or simply visiting Spain. 

 

 

 

 

That is incorrect. Wizzair IS responsible for ensuring their passengers have the requirement to enter the target country. If they carried you and you were denied entry, then they are responsible for taking the passenger back to the departure point at their expense.

 

You can see why they will actively try and deny boarding in this case. They will then claim it's your fault because you were responsible to ensure you are eligible to travel, and you won't get your refund either, but you will also have wasted your time.

 

This is going to come out as preachy but it may help other travellers: ALWAYS check cancellation policies and make sure you agree to the risks travelling "low cost".

 

Most big airlines now offer covid related guarantees and free rebookings. If you willingly choose to travel with a low cost airline that does not offer those guarantees, you are basically gambling.

 

If the tickets cost you £30 then why not! But buying peak holiday time "low cost" tickets for 100s of pounds is not something that you want to be doing.

 

[The GodMother]

They had left for the airport before the news broke they could not fly. The airport was 3 hours from his house but they had to swing by Daughters Mums as she had been there for a few days having 'Christmas' then swing by mine and drop the house, Van and other keys off and as u have to be at the airport about 2 -3 hours before travel then the original flight was due to leave at 4.30 ish but delayed 2 hours due to the new rules. They were already at the London uk airport when they found out.

 

Still no refund that they said they would send. 

[Kyosanto]

What a nightmare....

 

I just read up the thread again and I think here your friend's issue is with the travel insurance and not with Wizz. Wizz won't give you a penny because it's not denied boarding:

 

Quote

1 (j) ‘denied boarding’ means a refusal to carry passengers on a flight, although they have presented themselves for boarding under the conditions laid down in Article 3(2), except where there are reasonable grounds to deny them boarding, such as reasons of health, safety or security, or inadequate travel documentation;

 

And the flight was not cancelled.

 

Your friend needs to accept that as a fact, go back to the travel insurer, and threaten them in various ways to try and get them to pay, imho.

 

[The GodMother]

Problem is the insurance company has wiped there hands of the problem and even threatened to cancel the policy if he peruses with them. They have said the flights for uk residents were cancelled. 

Even the Wizz air rep on the phone said the problem was out of there hands and down to the Spanish government and they were following there rules by not letting them fly. 

 

Also further to this what l dont understand is how come they have refunded in full the return flight as they are uk resident and would not have been allowed to travel to Spain and hence not needing the return flights. This is Wizz airs own words. Also he was travelling back in the new year, the 2nd. Tho we were not in another lock down until after that. 

[unclebulgaria67]

Insurers cannot cancel an Insurance to avoid a claim.  This is stated in the FCA ICOBS handbook that the Insurers have to comply with.

 

What the Insurers might have said or there has been some poor communication, is that with some Insurances, if you make a claim, then the Insurance contract is fulfilled once the claim has been paid and the policy is then cancelled.

[Kyosanto]

Just because your insurer said the flight was cancelled does not make that true. It was in fact not cancelled and you can prove it. You should be able to get a statement in writing from Wizz that they won't refund you and that should be enough for your insurer to get the ball rolling with the refund.

 

Please let us know what insurer this is so we can shame them and avoid them.

 

You say the return flight was refunded in full? Was that also with Wizz air or was that with another airline?

[The GodMother]

He has not told me who the insurer is. But l know he wont be using them again. He still has not had the partial refund either. 

Yes the return flight was with Wizz air. 

[The GodMother]

Wizz air are being arses they have said that he can have a partial refund but they still months on have not actioned anything.

[Kyosanto]

Has he got any of that in writing? A "they said" is unfortunately not going to be worth much.

 

Weird that they would give the refund for the return flight, you sure it's not just taxes? (which they have to refund to be honest)

[The GodMother]

The company refuses to put anything in writing despite repeated requests. No the full cost of return flights has gone back in account. 

[Kyosanto]

I'd recommend he calls them back and records their refusal to refund 1st flight, then use it to claim against the insurer.

End of the day the insurer is just trying to pass the buck and should be held to account. Make sure to name them please so we know who to not buy holiday insurance with.

[The GodMother]

I have not been told who insurer is. He wont tell me. 

[BazzaS]

If he won’t help you help him, tell him to post here himself.

 

if he then won’t help here to help him, that’s his look out.

At the moment you are “piggy in the middle”, so put the responsibility back onto him. Sorted.

[The GodMother]

BazzaS atm l am trying to help someone who is at rock bottom. The third lockdown killed his business and he has been told that he needs to snap out of it and man up by the uc advisor. 

Getting him to open up about this so far has been hard enough. His daughter lives with Nan atm as she does not like seeing him like this. 

 

He struggled threw the last one was ok ish during the second, having not long picked himself up, and the third one was a no go. 

 

He used the Money his mum gave him to book this holiday. As he stupidly thought that a break would do them good and come back refreshed and ready to go. His words not mine. 

He cant post as he has no internet no phone or laptop. He sold them to buy food and pay bills. 

[Kyosanto]

Appreciate that you are trying to help a friend going through what sounds like hell.

 

You do have to keep a clear idea of what you can hope to achieve here. This forum is great for resources and there are many helpful folk who will point you towards solutions, but nobody is going to do the fighting for you, and fighting there will be a lot of. I do apologise for being blunt when I say your friend doesn't seem to be in right state to go through this.

 

If he won't tell you, his friend, what insurance company he's been using, then the chance of him following any of the other advice/instructions given is quite frankly close to zero. How will he share correspondence, drafts of letters of claim etc?

 

If he sold his phone to buy food, he's going to have a hard time record the call to his insurance.

 

If his kid has to avoid him because they can't bear how he is headed for the bottom, then what he needs right now is most probably social and medical attention from professionals - rather than help with getting an impossible refund from Wizz air the shitty airline known for shitty customer service, or the equally bad nameless insurance company that refuses to pay up.

 

 

[The GodMother]

Trust me the mental health team are aware but have refused to see him due to lack of funding and Covid. The Drs he is waiting on seeing as they are still closed or only doing appointments via a form on the website. He has meds but they are not working. 

 

He is following instructions  on some things. I have not given him instructions for others. I am trying to get answers to some questions before we go down the whole court claim really trying to avoid lt for the sake of overwhelming him. I am able to do letters etc.