George Nugent Travels

WIZZ Air seems to be an airline that is immune from praise, ranked as the worst airline in Europe by Which Magazine this Hungarian airline seems to be replacing Ryanair as the most hated airline by travellers.

I decided to put them to the test, by incorporating them into a recent trip from Glasgow to Prague, via Manchester and Rome. This specific flight was between Rome Fiumicino and Prague in April 2024.

Who Are WIZZ Air?

Founded in Budapest, Hungary in 2004, WIZZ Air is now the 5th largest airline in Europe, but is still significantly behind its biggest rival Ryanair.

The airline is also home to a number of subsidiaries, which are listed below;

• WIZZ Air Abu Dhabi – based in, you guessed it, Abu Dhabi
• WIZZ Air UK – based at Luton Airport
• WIZZ Air Malta – based in, once again, you guessed it, Malta

Flight Details

This particular flight was operated by WIZZ Air Malta.

• Origin – Rome Fiumicino T3
• Destination – Prague T2
• Date of Travel – 18th April 2024
• Price Paid – 65.99 Euros
• Aircraft Type – A321-200 (HA-LXO)

This particular aircraft was delivered to WIZZ Air in November 2017 and has 230 seats in an all economy layout.

Rome Airport Experience

I arrived in Rome Airport on a Jet2 flight from Manchester just before 11am and decided to stay in the airport between flights. I had been able to find a quiet area upstairs to sit and do absolutely nothing for five hours until I was able to pass through security.

I decided to clear security at 1555, and as I was travelling without any checked baggage I did not need to visit the WIZZ check-in desks, however, the airline uses desk 157 for their flights.

In terminal three the airport has installed the latest generation of x-ray scanners for passengers, as a result you can keep liquids and electronics in your bag when you pass through. I was able to clear security in 39 seconds, which is the fastest I have ever cleared security in an airport.

After clearing security I walked over towards Gate A71 and found a seat that offered a good view outside, and thanks to the runway in use, allowed me to see the departing aircraft shortly after taking off.

At this point there was a medical emergency nearby, but I must praise the airport staff and medical teams who responded immediately and assisted the passenger.

This bit of the airport is limited in shops, but there is a Relay (essentially the European version of WHSmith” and some other food stands available.

Boarding Experience

Due to the design of the terminal, WIZZ Air is unable to “board” passengers and make them wait in a stairway, passengers getting off the inbound flight from Prague walk up the jet bridge into the terminal building.

Boarding commenced at 1910, and at this point it became clear that we would not be departing at 1935. Unlike most airports that set up a queuing system for each flight, Fiumicino has permeant plastic barriers in place at each gate.

I decided to wait until the queue cleared before joining, despite being in the Schengen Area I still had to show my passport as I had no other identification available. The staff at the gate were very pleasant and I was soon boarding the aircaft.

As I was one of the last to board, the groundcrew had already removed the steps to the rear of the aircraft, meaning any remaining passengers boarded via the front door and walked to the rear of the aircraft.

Upon boarding the aircraft two members of the crew greeted me and checked my boarding pass. As I walked through the cabin I was reminded as to just how long the A321 is. This was only my second time flying on a A321, you can read about that experience below.

Prague to Paris with Vueling – I Didn’t Know What To Expect

Due to how busy the aircraft was I was unable to get a picture of my own seat, included below is an image of what the seats on the A321 look like.

This particular aircraft was fairly clean given this was its fifth flight of the day, however, the same cannot be said for the inflight magazine, which looked like somebody had taken a bite out of it.

I did not pay for a seat on this flight and was allocated seat 32C, an aisle seat on the left hand side of the aircraft. As this flight was sold out I had somebody next to me.

The Inflight Experience

Just before we departed, the captain had informed us that todays flight would take 1 hour and 30 minutes thanks to a rather indirect routing over Europe.

Shortly after take-off the cabin crew began their inflight service. I had a look through the menu, but had purchased snacks in the terminal.

I found the prices onboard reasonable, similar to Ryanair from what I could see, and the crew worked hard to ensure that everybody was served and had time to eat and drink before landing.

I did notice that the legroom on WIZZ Air is very tight, even by budget airline standards. Although it was tolerable for this flight of 94 minutes, I would imagine that on the airlines longest flight from Milan to Abu Dhabi it would become an issue, especially as the return flight is timetabled at 7 hours 20 minutes.

As I had been awake for 22 hours at this point I was hoping to get some sleep, but was unsuccessful after people consistently brushing into me going to and from the toilet.

The rest of the flight passed uneventfully and we landed into Prague on Runway 24.

Prague Airport Arrivals Experience

The first thing I noticed that was unusual was arriving and being able to use a jet bridge, normally WIZZ use remote stands and buses here in Prague.

We arrived in Concourse D, which is located in Terminal 2, this terminal is used for handling all flights from Schengen countries. If you fly into Prague from the UK you use Terminal 1.

The terminal is basic, but does its job well, and I was outside quickly. The airport has made a big deal of welcoming Uber and they aggressively market this as the best way to reach the city.

I advise against this, instead take 59 bus to Nádraží Veleslavín and then transfer onto Metro Line A, this will cost you 40CZK and takes approximately 35 minutes.

So, Is WIZZ Really Europe’s Worst Airline?

Based on this particular flight, not even close to the worst airline in Europe. I have included the notes I wrote about this flight below.

• APP – Really good, works well and is easy to use, but not as good as the Ryanair or easyJet apps. Unlike BA it works and keeps your bookings saved.
• Cabin Crew – Excellent, friendly and created a welcoming environment onboard.
• Seat – fine, it was comfortable enough, but was really let down by legroom.
• Although delayed, it was only a delay of 10 minutes, perfectly acceptable on an evening flight.

Obviously, the rating of Europe’s worst airline comes from when things go wrong, but, I do not think you should be put off booking a WIZZ Air flight just because something might go wrong.

I cannot, however, write a WIZZ Air review and fail to mention a fact that a number of aviation fans will be having, their approach to network planning. WIZZ appears to have a strategy when it comes to planning routes, which is they don’t have one.

The airline has gained a reputation for announcing, then changing, then dropping routes whenever they feel like it. I do not claim to be an expert in network planning, but if somebody at WIZZ is reading this, maybe trying to dispel this rumour would help rebuild trust with customers.

To defend the airline here, their network in 2024 is being seriously impacted by Pratt and Whitney engine issues, as a result more than 20% of their aircraft are grounded.

WIZZ Air UK Network

WIZZ Air flies from seven UK Airports, these are;

• Aberdeen – 1 destination
• Birmingham – 3 destinations
• Glasgow – 2 destinations (appears to drop to 1 after June 16th – we have asked WIZZ Air for comment)
• Leeds – 4 destinations
• Liverpool – 6 destinations
• London Luton – 56 destinations
• London Gatwick – 26 destinations