Wizz Air apologises as passenger suffers ‘panic attack’ during flight delay
Sandra Czaranecka was flying from London Luton Airport to visit family in Warsaw, Poland, on December 7 but the flight was severely delayed due to strong winds.
The 33-year-old claims passengers were left ‘stranded’ at the airport with only a Balaton Bumm chocolate bar and a Marzipan stollen – barely 20% of the 2,000 recommended daily calorie adult intake.
Taking to Facebook the procurement worker shared a photo of the measly snacks captioned ‘according to this airline below ‘snacks’ are sufficient for an adult person to sustain themselves for the entire day’.
Forced to fork out £200 for a hotel and some food, Sandra claims some people had to make do with only the snacks because they couldn’t afford anything else.
Wizz Air confirmed flights were disrupted due to adverse weather conditions and said that due to multiple flight cancellations, ‘securing hotel accommodation for customers was more difficult than usual’.
However they stressed that they provided chocolate and water, ‘fulfilled all [their] obligations to passengers’ and said customers were able to reclaim their expenses.
However Sandra branded the episode a ‘horror show’ and believes she should be compensated for the ordeal.
Sandra, who lives in Bristol, said: “It was 22 hours of absolute horror. I just don’t think it’s fair because even if you cancel the flight at the last minute you need to provide people with some basic essentials.
“They gave us a chocolate bar and then they gave us something from the trolley which was another sort of chocolate bar and that was it.
“Only two snacks within 24 hours. I think that’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s just common decency and duty of care.
“We got on board no problem and then they told us the wind was too strong to fly. Everyone was quite understanding because we knew there were weather issues so we were expecting that there might be delays or cancellations.
“They put us on board the plane and held us there for four hours and after three hours they gave us a snack, which was a chocolate bar and water.
“If you wanted anything else they were like ‘oh you have to pay for it’. They told us that we won’t be able to fly today so they kicked us out onto the terminal.”
The procurement worker revealed the flight kept being delayed until it was eventually cancelled at 10pm and passengers were left ‘stranded’ in the airport.
She claims that the link that the company sent to book a hotel through did not work and ‘crashed’ due to the number of people trying to use it, leaving multiple passengers having to find their own accommodation.
Sick of waiting, at midnight Sandra decided to fork out £200 for a hotel, food and taxis but four hours later was told the flight had been rescheduled.
Sandra said: “They just left us stranded at the airport. I literally had a panic attack. I was so tired at this stage. I didn’t know what to do.
“There was no one from Wizz Air to advise on anything. They kicked us out so late there were no more hotels left. When I tried to book a hotel the website crashed via the link they sent.
“It was like midnight at this stage anyway. Me and these four girls decided to get a hotel off of our own back. We paid our own money.
“Not everyone is lucky enough to have money in their banks to spend £200. They literally gave zero f****. It was insane. My expenses for hotel and food and everything else were more than the flights itself.
“We were only there for four hours. By the time we got to the hotel they told us our flight had been rescheduled. The confusion about the flight was huge. What a horror.”
After returning to the airport the passenger claimed that some people hadn’t eaten anything other than the two snacks in 22 hours and they finally took off after 1:30pm.
Sandra said: “People were literally exhausted. I’ve been flying for 11 years all around the world and I’ve never seen something like that. It was shocking.
“They left mothers with kids, people who are really vulnerable on the airport floor. Fend for yourself. People didn’t even have chargers. People were giving each other chargers. It was ridiculous. I’ve never seen something like that in my life.
“We started finding out people’s stories and some people slept there on the floor and one girl slept in the prayer room. One lady had no money so she literally hadn’t eaten during that time.
“Nobody’s excusing the fact something’s delayed or cancelled. But they hadn’t provided [some of] us with a hotel, they’d done nothing.
“They hadn’t given us food or anything [apart from the two chocolate bars]. There were definitely people who had gone without proper food for that time.”
The regular flyer, who often uses Wizz Air to visit her family, has revealed that she has finally received a refund from Wizz Air for her expenses but has not had any compensation.
Sandra said: “The reality is they’re going to say ‘it’s the weather conditions’. But you don’t leave people hanging like that. They could do so much better than that. That was insane. People know that weather conditions are dependent but how can you treat people like that?
“I’ve flown with Wizz Air multiple times and they were normally good. It’s really difficult because that’s the best connection to get from London to Warsaw. People like me don’t have a choice. We have to use the best option.”
Wizz Air said that due to multiple flight cancellations, ‘securing hotel accommodation for customers was more difficult than usual’ but that any who booked accommodation themselves have now been reimbursed.
The airline said they provided chocolate and water and in ‘extreme circumstances’ when they are not able to provide meal vouchers, customers can reclaim their costs.
They pointed out that food was also provided at the hotels that were booked by the airline – though Sandra says her and some other customers with her were unable to access these.
The airline confirmed that due to the ‘adverse weather conditions’, they had to cancel Sandra’s flight along with 14 others, but pointed out many other airlines had to do the same.
They said that Sandra had access to the internet and that their terms for cancelled flights are ‘very clearly stated on the website’.
A Wizz Air spokesperson said: “As a result of multiple flight cancellations, securing hotel accommodation for customers was more difficult than usual.
“However, Wizz Air fulfilled all its obligations to passengers by providing food, accommodation and transfers. As per current EC261 regulations, Wizz Air is not obliged to provide further compensation if the cancellation is due to extraordinary circumstances beyond reasonable control, including extreme weather. Details of these circumstances are available on the Wizz Air website.
“Any customers unable to source accommodation directly through the airline’s partners were reimbursed for bookings made themselves, which was the case for the customer in question.
“We apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused any of our passengers during this period, and stress that the safety of our passengers, crew and aircraft is our utmost priority.”
