Low-cost carrier Wizz Air is facing enforcement action from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the United Kingdom amid an avalanche of customer complaints. With many passengers not receiving the assistance to which their rights entitle them, the CAA is committed to ensuring that those owed money receive payment.

Enough is enough 

According to a statement released this morning by the CAA, the issues faced by Wizz Air and its passengers have been ongoing for some time now. Indeed, the British regulator notes that it "has been in contact with Wizz Air for several months" amid customer complaints regarding violations of their rights when flights were delayed or canceled. 

Passengers have specifically been complaining of a lack of assistance regarding the provision of alternative flights in the face of cancellations. This represents a failure on Wizz Air's part to meet obligations pertaining to passenger rights, and thus is in the interest of the CAA as the UK's main aviation regulator. It hopes that, with its enforcement action, positive change will be enacted upon Wizz Air's policies.

Wizz Air is already engaging with the CAA's action 

In the wake of the CAA's announcement, Wizz Air has committed to acting upon the CAA's action by signing a deed of undertaking with the regulator. This will see the carrier work on pledges to reduce cancelations, as well as to improve the way in which it handles compensation claims.

Having learned from the challenges of last summer, Wizz Air has invested more than £90 million ($117 million) to improve its operations so that it will be better-placed should similar disruption occur this year. On the operational side, it has added spare aircraft capacity and worked on making its schedules and roster more resilient, while rolling out customer service improvements like automated refunds.

The CAA will continue to monitor Wizz Air 

Wizz Air's revised policies in the wake of the CAA's action include tight deadlines for refunds, which are to be turned around within seven days for cash, or one day when passengers choose credit towards future travel. In the coming months, the CAA will monitor Wizz to ensure that these revisions have the desired impact.

The regulator will also work with Wizz Air to ensure that outstanding compensation claims, where delayed passengers have had their applications incorrectly rejected, are paid out. This concerns flights leaving or arriving in the UK on or after March 18th, 2022. However, uncompensated passengers who were disrupted before this date also have the option to reopen cases, which the CAA will also monitor.