Your Wizz Air flight is delayed. You have checked the flight status online.
What does this mean for you as a passenger? What happens if your flight is delayed? What should you do? Should you wait at home or hotel, or should you leave for the airport as planned? Because, as you might already know, there are short, and there are long, several-hour, flight delays. What if it is the latter? Will you have to wait at the airport for several hours until Wizz Air finds a solution?
It depends. But in most cases, the answer is very simple.
Should You Wait or Proceed as Planned?
You have checked the flight status online.
Or you have received an e-mail saying that your flight is delayed.
What now? It depends on where are you now. Are you at home or at the airport?
1. You Are at the Gate, Waiting for Your Flight
If you’re already at the airport, at the gate – wait there.
Wait for updates about your flight status.
2. You Haven’t Gone Through Airport Security
If you are already at the airport but haven’t gone through airport security yet, stay where you are. Stay at the landside (public access) area of the airport and don’t go through security. Wait until you know what happens with your flight. Also, find out what happens with check-in. See if check-in for your flight is delayed, too.
What if you have already checked in online? Wait anyway.
Don’t proceed until check-in for your flight starts.
What if check-in has already started? Then it’s possible that the delay won’t be long. You can go through airport security and proceed to your gate.
3. You Are at Home or Hotel
Find out if the check-in time has been changed.
Call Wizz Air or the airport information desk to find out. It’s important to find this out because if the delay is going to be long, you don’t have to go to the airport at the planned time. If check-in is delayed too, there’s no need to go to the airport right now. If, however, check-in time hasn’t changed, it is better to go to the airport as planned. Especially, if you still have to do airport check-in, and check in your bag. If you have already checked in online, but are travelling with checked luggage, proceed to the airport as planned if check-in time hasn’t changed.
In short:
If check-in is delayed — wait at home or hotel.
If check-in is not delayed — go to the airport.
How to Check Wizz Air Flight Status Online?
Three best options for how you can check your flight’s status online:
- Airport website (the airport from which is your flight);
- Your airline’s website (wizzair.com in this case);
- Flight trackers (e.g., flightradar24.com).
It is recommended to check the flight status before leaving for the airport. Especially, if it’s an early morning flight. You don’t want to arrive at the airport early in the morning just to find out that your flight is heavily delayed. In this case, it is much better to have an extra few hours of sleep at home or at your hotel. Don’t you agree?
If you have an early morning flight, check your flight status right after you wake up. To see if your flight is heavily delayed, or even cancelled. If it is, there’s no need to get up this early.
Also, check your flight’s status right before you are about to leave home or hotel.
Usually, travellers find out about the delay:
- By SMS or e-mail notifying about the delay;
- When checking flight status online;
- Already at the airport, or even at the gate.
What If You Are Going to Miss the Connecting Flight?
If you miss your Wizz Air connection, you will need to book a new flight.
It is because Wizz Air doesn’t sell connecting flights. If you have two or more consecutive Wizz Air flights, it’s a self-transfer because, most probably, you have booked them separately. Self-transfer flights are not airline protected. If you have a Wizz Air self-transfer flight, Wizz Air is not responsible for your connection. If you miss your connection, you will have to deal with the consequences yourself. You will need to book another flight.
However, you might be entitled to Wizz Air flight delay compensation.
In some cases, your Wizz Air self-transfer could be protected. If you book it with a third party flight booking website, such as kiwi.com, there’s an option to make any self transfer protected by purchasing a Kiwi Guarantee which will protect every leg of your journey against unexpected changes.
Right to Care at the Airport
If you have to wait at the airport, you have a right to care.
If there is a flight delay, Wizz Air has to take care of you.
If it’s a 3+ hour delay during the day, Wizz Air must offer you free meals and drinks, two free phone calls, e-mails or faxes. In many cases, all of that is offered in the form of coupons.
If your flight is leaving only on the next day (overnight delay), a free hotel stay and free transfer to the hotel and back to the airport should be provided by Wizz Air. In addition to that, the airline should offer you a meal or two for free.
Get in touch with Wizz Air if you haven’t yet received anything.
Featured photo by Ketut Subiyanto