Wizz Air admits systematic customer care failings as CAA steps in

Wizz said it was not alone in facing "unprecedented" operational challenges last summer, driven by air traffic control disruption, airport constraints and "staff shortages across the whole supply chain".

Marion Geoffroy, Wizz Air UK managing director, admitted flights were "too often late or cancelled" and that claims took too long to process and pay after the volume "overwhelmed internal and external resources".

Wizz has made its own commitments to resolving all customers claims within 45 days, providing Wizz credit refunds within 24 hours and processing full refunds within seven working days.

One major criticism of Wizz when the CAA last intervened was its record on addressing a significant backlog of County Court Judgements, which fall outside the authority’s remit for action, and represent a last-ditch pursuit of recourse by consumers.

Wizz said on Thursday it had paid more than 70% of the outstanding CCJs "present in online records" with another 10% in progress. The remaining 20%, it said, were being identified and processed.

Geoffroy, though, warned summer 2023 would present additional challenges owing to air traffic control constraints. It follows a prolonged industrial action on the continent impacting ATC staffing, as well as a reduction in European airspace owing to the war in Ukraine.

"We expect this summer to be challenging for air traffic control, which will impact airlines," said Geoffroy. "While we cannot anticipate every disruption, we have invested more than £90 million to prepare for increased air traffic. We are confident that we have taken the right steps to better support passengers this summer season."

Wizz said it had made structural and organisational changes to address the situation, including:

• Adding spare aircraft capacity to support during disruptions;
• Increasing staffing at airports for operations and claim centres;
• Building increased time into crew rosters and between flights to make schedules more resilient;
• Doubling its operations team and split processes to be more efficient and focused on handling disruptions; and
• Implementing a new AI-based tool to forecast and mitigate possible disruptions

Wizz has also set out its efforts to improve customer experience this summer, which include:

• Launching a fully automated refund process;
• Providing 24/7 online support through a new chatbot called Amelia;
• Launching new customer service channel on Twitter @AskWIZZ;
• Contracting four new contact centres for increased customer service capacity;
• Increasing customer service agent training and quality checks to drive efficiency and quality of service; and
• Working closely with ground handling providers to increase number of staff on-the-ground