Wizz Air delayed flight compensation

Wizz Air delays: what is specific

Wizz Air Hungary is an EU carrier; Wizz Air UK flies UK departures under UK261, and Wizz Air Malta is also EU-licensed. Wizz Air sells single flights only, so each flight’s own arrival delay counts. Wizz Air’s routes are mostly short and medium haul: €250 or €400 (£220 or £350) per passenger from 3 hours of arrival delay.

Wizz Air runs tight rotations with few spare aircraft, so rotation delays are its most common disruption; a knock-on delay is compensable unless Wizz Air proves the first cause in the rotation was extraordinary. Ask for that first cause specifically. Wizz Air’s compensation-and-refunds page carries its claim form; UK flights can be escalated to AviationADR, other flights to the enforcement body of the departure country.

How the 3 hours are measured on Wizz Air flights

The delay that counts is the arrival delay at your final destination, measured when at least one aircraft door opens — not the departure delay, the touchdown time or the block-on time. Compare it with the scheduled arrival on your booking. A Wizz Air flight that leaves 3 hours 30 late but makes up time to arrive 2 hours 50 late is not compensable; one that leaves on time and arrives 3 hours late is.

Wizz Air Hungary (HU AOC). Flights may be operated by Wizz Air UK (W9), Wizz Air Malta (W4) or Wizz Air Abu Dhabi (5W, non-EU carrier). Check the operating carrier on your boarding pass: the rules follow the airline that flew the aircraft, not the one that sold the ticket.

How much Wizz Air owes for a delay

Under EU261 the amount depends only on the great-circle distance of the flight (or of the whole journey on a single booking), never on the ticket price: €250, €400 or €600 per passenger. On flights over 3,500 km Wizz Air may halve the amount (€300 instead of €600) when the arrival delay is between 3 and 4 hours; from 4 hours the full amount applies. The table above shows the amounts on Wizz Air’s typical routes.

Care while you wait

From 2 hours of delay (short flights), 3 hours (medium) or 4 hours (long) Wizz Air must offer meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, two phone calls or e-mails, and a hotel with transport if you are kept overnight. If it does not, keep receipts for reasonable expenses and claim them separately — they come on top of the fixed compensation. After 5 hours you may also abandon the trip and claim a full refund of the unused ticket.

What Wizz Air may argue

Only extraordinary circumstances exempt Wizz Air from paying: severe weather, air-traffic-control restrictions or strikes, security incidents, bird strikes, external strikes. Technical faults, crew shortages, late inbound aircraft from an earlier rotation and Wizz Air’s own staff strikes are not extraordinary. The burden of proof is on Wizz Air: ask for the precise cause of your flight’s delay and the measures it took, and treat a bare “operational reasons” as no answer.

How to claim a delay from Wizz Air

1. Note the actual arrival time (arrivals board, flight-tracker screenshot, Wizz Air’s own notification).
2. Ask Wizz Air in writing for the reason for the delay.
3. Submit the claim through Wizz Air’s official channel (https://wizzair.com/en-gb/information-and-services/travel-information/compensation-and-refunds), or by post to Wizz Air Hungary Ltd., Laurus Offices, Kőér street 2/A, Building B, H-1103 Budapest, Hungary, quoting the booking reference, the flight, the date, the arrival delay and the amount per passenger.
4. If Wizz Air refuses or does not reply within 8 weeks, escalate to AviationADR (UK flights); a court claim remains available within the limitation period of the departure country.