Wizz Air paid his dad £4,500 for canceling his family holiday after bailiffs were dispatched to Luton Airport
‘Don’t let them block you’: Dad reveals how he got Wizz Air to pay him £4,500 for his family holiday in Portugal being canceled after months of seeking a refund – in sending ushers to Luton Airport
- Russell Quirk, from Essex, said the canceled flights cost him £4,500 in expenses
- Real estate expert said to persevere with big business to get what’s owed
A father has revealed how he got Wizz Air to pay him £4,500 for the cancellation of his family vacation to Portugal after months of seeking reimbursement by dispatching ushers to Luton Airport.
Russell Quirk, a property expert from Brentwood in Essex, said he was forced to buy new flights for the next day after the cancellations.
He said: “My message is that where big business blocks you, if you persevere, you can get what’s rightfully yours.”
After waiting months for Wizz Air to refund the money, Mr Quirk went to court before sending bailiffs to the airport.
Wizz Air apologized for the cancellation and handed over its money to Mr Quirk, saying the airline ‘has failed to meet our own aspirations and the expectations of our customers’.
Russell Quirk, a property expert from Brentwood in Essex, said he was forced to buy new flights for the next day after the cancellations.
Wizz Air apologized for the cancellation and paid Mr Quirk his money, saying the airline ‘has failed to meet our own aspirations and the expectations of our customers’.
Mr Quirk originally booked the flights from Luton Airport to Faro in January last year for a mid-term family holiday in May with his three daughters and wife.
The morning of their flight, he received a message from Wizz Air saying it had been cancelled.
“There was no explanation, no alternative offered and no apology,” he told the BBC.
“I had to wake up my three daughters and tell them we weren’t going on holiday – they were very upset.”
As the hotel, transfers and airport lounge had already been paid for, Mr Quirk was forced to book another flight for the next day which, adding up the money lost on other expenses, left him left £4,500 out of pocket.
After returning to the UK from his holiday, Mr Quirk said he tried to get compensation from Wizz Air.
But it took nearly two months for the cost of his initial flights to be reimbursed along with other legal compensation.
He said Wizz Air had repeatedly ignored his claims for the extra £4,500 he had spent as “consecutive losses”.
The low-cost airline then ‘ignored’ the judgment against them after Mr Quirk took the matter to County Court, so bailiffs were then dispatched to the Wizz Air office at the airport of Luton.
The airline could either hand over the money or the equivalent cost in goods, for example in the form of chairs, tables or computers. Wizz Air ended up paying Mr. Quirk the money.
After returning to the UK from his holiday, Mr Quirk said he tried to get compensation from Wizz Air.
The low-cost airline then ‘ignored’ the judgment against them after Mr Quirk took the matter to County Court, so bailiffs were then dispatched to the Wizz Air office at the airport of Luton.
The property expert said it cost around £180 to take his case to court and £60 to send bailiffs.
He added: ‘Businesses increasingly think they can treat customers like dirt and I’m determined to stamp that out.
A Wizz Air spokesperson said due to unprecedented levels of disruption across Europe and the UK in the summer of 2022 “we have not reached our own aspirations”.
They added: ‘When things went wrong, we didn’t react quickly enough to handle the high volume of customer complaints resulting from this disruption.
“We’re sorry about that and we’re working to make our customers’ experience with Wizz better this year.”
The airline said that since December it had paid all county court judgments against it and continued to settle claims.
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