A father has revealed how he made Wizz Air pay him £4,500 to cancel his family holiday to Portugal after months of chasing a refund by sending bailiffs to Luton airport.
Russell Quirk, a property expert from Brentwood in Essex, said he was forced to buy new flights the day after the cancellation.
He told MailOnline: ‘They stopped me. To my mind they thought I was leaving.
After waiting months for Wizz Air to pay back the money, Mr Quirk went to court before sending bailiffs to the airport.
Mr. Quirk added: “Should I, as an aggrieved consumer, spend 7 months fighting a corporate entity to take back what is rightfully mine?”
Mr Quirk originally booked flights from Luton Airport to Faro in January last year for a half term family holiday in May with his three daughters (two of whom are pictured) and his wife
Wizz Air has apologized for the cancellation and paid Mr Quirk, saying the airline “did not live up to our aspirations and the expectations of our customers.”
Russell Quirk, a property expert from Brentwood in Essex, said he was forced to buy new flights the day after the cancellation.
Wizz Air apologized for the cancellation and paid Mr Quirk, saying the airline “did not live up to our aspirations and the expectations of our customers”.
Mr Quirk originally booked flights from Luton Airport to Faro in January last year for a half term family holiday in May with his three daughters and wife.
On the morning of their flight he received a message from Wizz Air that it had been cancelled.
‘There was no apology and no alternative was offered – and they clearly had an obligation to do it,’ he told MailOnline.
He had to wake up his three daughters and spread the word that they weren’t going on vacation.
As the non-refundable hotel £6,000 had already been paid, Mr. Quirk had to book another excursion the next day, which cost £2,500. The cost of his initial voyages was only £700.
The loss of money spent on transfers, two hotel rooms for the first night, and a paid airport lounge, plus the new flight, left Mr Quirk £3,900 out of his pocket.
After returning to the UK from his holiday, Mr Quirk said he tried to get compensation from Wizz Air.
But it took a month for the cost of his original flights to be returned along with other legal damages.
He told MailOnline: “They are obligated to give the money back within seven days which they haven’t done.” That took a month to get a refund. That was shocking.
Mr Quirk then found Wizz Air UK Managing Director Marion Giuffre on LinkedIn and messaged her regarding compensation. She replied but it took two more emails to follow up on her to receive the £350 compensation per traveler which the family is entitled to under EU laws.
Then dealt with the topic of “consequential losses” – costs incurred or lost due to cancellation.
Wizz Air repeatedly ignored his claims for these costs, which amounted to £4,500 after court fees, to be repaid.
The airline did not respond and a default judgment was issued against them.
After returning to the UK from his holiday, Mr Quirk said he tried to get compensation from Wizz Air
The budget airline then ‘ignored’ their judgment after Mr Quirk took the case to county court, so bailiffs were then sent to the Wizz Air office at Luton Airport
The budget airline then “ignored” the ruling after Mr. Quirk took the case to county court, so bailiffs were sent to the Wizz Air office at Luton Airport.
He described Quirk’s “willful, malicious disregard for the British judicial system” to MailOnline. “They didn’t give a toss.”
The airline can either deliver money or the equivalent cost of goods, for example in the form of chairs, tables or computers. Wizz Air ended up paying Mr. Quirk.
The estate expert said it cost about £180 to take his case to court and £60 to send bailiffs.
“If they send me a pending response or two,” Mr. Quirk said. If they had ever reached out to me between July and December and said “we acknowledge your claim, and we’re going to settle it, please give us 90 days”. I would accept that.
‘But they stopped me.’ To my mind they thought I was leaving.
These companies make the process so difficult, so disruptive that most people give up. You have to fight your corner as a consumer.
A Wizz Air spokesperson said that due to the unprecedented levels of disruption across Europe and the UK in the summer of 2022, ‘we have fallen short of our own aspirations’.
They added: ‘When things went wrong, we did not react quickly enough to manage the high volume of customer claims that resulted from this disruption.
“We regret this and are working to ensure our customers’ experience with Wizz is even better this year.”
The airline confirmed that, since December, it has paid all court judgments against the company and continues to settle claims.
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