Wizz Air launches new routes from London Gatwick and Luton

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• BJ says:

  2 Nov2 November 04:49

  What exactly are press trips that we hear so much about these days. Do they vary much, when and why do airlines use them, and what is provided to the press, and what can and cannot reporters do? Are they normal commercial flights with only some seats made available to reporters FOC to generate free publicity or is there much more to it than that? I’m struggling to see the value of them to airlines, I cannot see the articles reaching a large audience of persuadeable travellers, I imagine most interest to be on blogs like HFP where people already know what they want, and av geek sites.

  • Andrew J says:

    2 Nov2 November 06:38

    I think when they say ‘press’ they actually mean bloggers and YouTubers.

    • Rob says:

      2 Nov2 November 07:34

      It’s a huge crowd actually. Just popped into the reserved lounge area to chat to Shai. I’d guess about 30-40, most of who I don’t recognise. Tom Otley is doing his bit for the 50+ brigade.

      • Panda Mick says:

        2 Nov2 November 08:16

        Is that a dig at the 50+ or Tom Otley? Not sure….

        • Rob says:

          2 Nov2 November 08:52

          Not a dig – Tom and I are the only 50+ at these events but as I am not going it is up to Tom to represent the non- TikTok school of publishing.

  • John T says:

    2 Nov2 November 08:04

    They’re proper jollies – airlines/hotels offer free flights and hotels to journalist, bloggers and influencers in exchange for glowingly positive coverage of their products.
    Not really ‘journalism’

    • Rob says:

      2 Nov2 November 08:54

      They are bloody hard work, which is why I refuse to go on them.

      • Michael Jennings says:

        2 Nov2 November 10:30

        Well, at least you clearly understand that the way to cope with this is to hire a younger person with more energy than you.

• r* says:

  2 Nov2 November 04:49

  The prices wizz charge to select seats keeps stopping me from ever booking flights with them. Was gonna go to kosice for a day and the rtn flight was about 38. The cost to select the cheapest seat on the plane was 44 pp rtn lol.

  Wizz use the despicible practice of splitting ppl up across the plane if no paid seat is chosen, so I just pick a different airline. If they moved some of the seat selection cost to the ticket price, Id probably book it, but the psychology of such obscene seat charges makes it a rip off, so I dont.

  • Erico1875 says:

    2 Nov2 November 05:50

    Thats completely irrational thinking though. 38 and 44 is only 82. Could you have got an alternative RTN for less?

    • Bagoly says:

      2 Nov2 November 07:25

      But I think there is a valid point here for managements: the overall cost may still be lower, but the way it is presented does emotionally drive away some (maybe only a little) business.
      Travel is usually a voluntary purchase, so from a marketing point of view, emotions are relevant.
      Having very high fees to get to what many customers regard as a “standard” offering means they feel misled by the lead-in prices which are the ones prominently displayed, and that reduces the trust the customer has in the seller.
      This is particularly justified if the customer has clicked on an apparently cheaper offer, and spent time before discovering the real cost is higher than the alternative.

      As a rational customer (and that is HfP’s ethos) one should indeed ignore how the total cost is split, but how many of us are rational about all our purchases?

      • Callum says:

        2 Nov2 November 10:08

        I’d wager the positive impact from seeing a lower initial fare outweighs the negative impact from seeing seat selection fees. Otherwise I’m not sure why almost every major airline would focus so heavily on ancillary revenue.

        • Andrew says:

          2 Nov2 November 10:45

          When choosing a seat costs more than actually getting you to your destination, or flying a suitcase costs more than flying a person, it leaves a sour taste in the mouth.

          For other airlines it genuinely is “ancillary” (of secondary importance) income. For Wizz it seems to be their entire business model.

        • Londonsteve says:

          2 Nov2 November 12:12

          Wizz’s optional extra costs have rather got out of hand, to the point that I avoid choosing a seat or paying for larger hand luggage unless I absolutely have to. Although as others have suggested one should look at the total price, there is the unavoidable feeling that one is paying a large fee for something you can do without, hence the temptation to travel with an exceptionally small bag and allow oneself to be seated anywhere in the cabin. I struggle to understand how Wizz can afford to put so much revenue at risk by making it an optional extra, rather than increasing the base fare and reducing the price of the optional extras to make them relatively more tempting. The net result might be more people buying an unavoidably dearer fare and paying for the relatively cheaper extras, rather than settling for a very cheap base fare and refusing the expensive upgrades, halving overall revenue from certain passengers. It certainly increases the inherent value in BA Silver status when seat booking and luggage fees have become so expensive on low cost carriers, which is a key reason why I’ve decided to go for it before the tier point thresholds increase in the new year.

  • KevinS says:

    2 Nov2 November 07:04

    “Wizz use the despicible practice of splitting ppl up across the plane if no paid seat is chose”

    Why is that despicable?

    • Bagoly says:

      2 Nov2 November 07:31

      “Frustrating” certainly – they are playing the game of getting the headline price as low as possible, even though for many of us it is not an actual price of the package we want to buy.
      I suggest it can seem “despicable” because of a clash between historical expectations and new style of offerings, particularly for people who do not realise and so pay, or choose not to; but are actually split against their wishes.

      One view is “Customers shouldn’t be so naive.”
      But those of us who have had elderly/naive relatives/friends inconvenienced because they didn’t realise it was now something one now has to choose to pay for, do have some sympathy.

    • TimM says:

      2 Nov2 November 07:37

      If two or more people are on the same booking without paying extra to choose seats, the seat allocation algorithm has the freedom to put them anywhere but it is a decent civility and basic expectation to place them together. Airlines that do not do this need to be outed, or better, lose their licences to operate. When is a fare not a fare?

      • MKB says:

        2 Nov2 November 08:12

        Indeed. Imagine also the likely behaviour of passengers on a flight facing a severe emergency, such as an on-board fire, if family groups are seated together versus one where families have been deliberately separated.

        • KevinS says:

          2 Nov2 November 10:22

          How often is there an on board emergency?

        • Andrew says:

          2 Nov2 November 10:51

          Emergencies are very very rare thankfully. That doesn’t mean we don’t bother with life jackets, oxygen masks, safety briefings or emergency exists though. In the very very rare possibility of an emergency I’d be thankful to have an oxygen mask just as I’d be thankful that the person next to me was concentrating on getting off the plane quickly and safely rather than panicing over their family sat 5 rows behind them

      • G says:

        2 Nov2 November 09:56

        Expecting anything beyond flying from A to B on a budget carrier is peak entitlement.

        • KevinS says:

          2 Nov2 November 11:39

          Good post G

      • KevinS says:

        2 Nov2 November 10:23

        “When is a fare not a fare?”

        When someone doesn’t read the booking page properly.

      • KevinS says:

        2 Nov2 November 18:14

        “Airlines that do not do this need to be outed, or better, lose their licences to operate”

        Which law have they broken that means they should lose their licence?

  • pablo says:

    2 Nov2 November 08:14

    You can wait until you’re checked in and then pay to move just one of the travellers to sit next to the other one saving half the seat costs. Chances are there will be available seats around if not immediately next to your companion then in the same row and once you’re boarded just ask the other passengers if they’re happy to swap seats.

  • Andrew. says:

    2 Nov2 November 09:02

    £82.00 for a day return to Kosice…

    £80.50 for a peak Travelcard return from Oxford to London on the train yesterday. I stood all the way in both directions.

    • Michael Jennings says:

      2 Nov2 November 10:27

      I travel on Ryanair, easyJet, and Wizz a lot. I usually travel by myself, and I never pay for a reserved seat. All three airlines are honest about it being random – I get middle, aisle and window each about a third of the time. I very seldom sit in a middle seat. On those occasions I am assigned on there is almost always an empty seat next to me, an empty aisle or window not too far away, or someone else will come up to me and ask if they can swap seats in order to sit next to their loved one.

    • Londonsteve says:

      2 Nov2 November 12:22

      UK train fares are just mad and must serve to overall harm the UK economy rather than support it. I’m flying BA to Sofia in CE on Saturday. My return fare was £193 booked in the sale from which I received a £30 discount in exchange for 3000 Avios. I’ll get 3700 Avios back by flying both legs and 160 Tier Points towards the 450 to qualify for Silver.

      I recently needed to take an early Monday morning train to Exeter and it would have cost £130 booked as an Advance fare. I ended up going down on Sunday evening for a still considerable £56 and stayed the night. First time on the new Hitachi dual-mode trains. Dreadfully uncomfortable, noisy, cheaply made, not a patch on the old 125s that are now 50 years old.

      • Londonsteve says:

        2 Nov2 November 12:24

        A friend drives between London and Exeter in a vintage Bentley for the grand total of £100 in super premium petrol, each way. Half the time it’s cheaper than the train…

• Hamish says:

  2 Nov2 November 05:13

  Is anyone else getting an error message with the parking discount code?

  • Rob says:

    2 Nov2 November 06:01

    Seems so.

• Lisa Davis-Lindholm says:

  2 Nov2 November 05:55

  Tried the discount code for parking at Manchester and received an error code. Not impressed

  • Rob says:

    2 Nov2 November 06:00

    You can’t trust these people! Will have a look.

  • yorkieflyer says:

    2 Nov2 November 08:41

    Probably cheaper going through MSE to skyparksecure which I believe is owned by MAN

• Tom says:

  2 Nov2 November 06:58

  The wizz tall in flights were originally 2pm which was perfect but all are now circa 6:30 am so only suitable if you want to be up vvv early. Air Baltic is the best timed gallon direct flight.

  • yorkieflyer says:

    2 Nov2 November 08:42

    Are tall in extra legroom seats?

• Rick MacLeod says:

  2 Nov2 November 07:29

  Well, I tried to look at Rhys’ trip on Instagram, however it will not let me view the page(s) without creating an account. As I am not 12, this is of no interest to me whatsoever … guess I will wait for the review on Thursday/Friday!!

  • Rob says:

    2 Nov2 November 08:03

    He’s having big fun – they let him go on the tarmac to have a close up look.

  • yorkieflyer says:

    2 Nov2 November 08:43

    Yes, what is this thing called instagram?

• Alex says:

  2 Nov2 November 07:54

  I’ve promised never to book with wizz air again. My flight from February earlier in the year was cancelled and 6+ months on still waiting for a refund. There are Facebook groups set up with thousands of people on in similar situations – you send an email and if it doesn’t bounce you don’t hear anything for 30 days – they are significantly short of staff and their policies are abhorrent – never again with wizzair, just not worth the risk of being stranded somewhere and return flight cancelled

  • pablo says:

    2 Nov2 November 08:21

    Super simple with the recently cancelled flight out of Doncaster. Logged in to my account, request flight credit for the cancelled flight and then immediately requested for the credit to be refunded back to my card. Refund arrived to my CC a week later.

  • Erico1875 says:

    2 Nov2 November 09:08

    Communication wise, sounds pretty much like my last 2 BA experiences

• DS says:

  2 Nov2 November 08:42

  Slight correction – the flight to Vienna was £1.79 one way, not return.

  • Michael Jennings says:

    2 Nov2 November 10:17

    I think you were unnecessarily hard on Rhys on that occasion. You should at least have allowed him to review the buy on board service, which I have always found to be pretty good on Wizz.

    • Londonsteve says:

      2 Nov2 November 12:03

      It’s good, isn’t it. Good quality and good value with some excellent meal deals.

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