Airline Review: Wizzair
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Budapest had been on our list of cities in Europe to visit, but it wasn’t until this year that we found ourselves close enough to pay the city a visit. And while we have flown on some of the most popular budget airlines in Europe this year, we also hadn’t heard of Hungarian’s own budget airline, Wizzair, until this year either. Easily the cheapest option to and from Budapest from countless cities, we chose to book our outbound travel from Budapest to Istanbul with Wizzair.
We found a super cheap one way flight, however we made the mistake of waiting to purchase the seats and although they went up in price a bit they were still the cheapest option. As with any budget airline, the single most important thing to a problem free journey is making sure you sign up for every available add on you will need on your flight. We always travel light so we opted to check one small suitcase each as well as each paying a little extra for a large in-cabin backpack.
Unfortunately, we make the mistake of thinking Marina’s purse wouldn’t count as a cabin bag, and even though one small cabin bag is free, if you bring two, you’ll pay for both. Important note to remember, ALWAYS make sure to include your add ons when you purchase your ticket instead of showing up to the airport with an extra bag. Marina’s purse was going to cost an additional 70 euros, more than the flight itself, so we had to make room in our checked bag for it before completing the check in process.
“We were happily surprised to find that Wizzair allows the most weight for checked bags of any budget airline…”
TIP: If you are flying into Turkey as we were, remember to apply for and pay for your Turkish visa online before arrival. Starting April 1, you must buy your visa online prior to arrival. $20 US per person.
Speaking of checked bags, we have to admit that while the 70 euro additional fee price tag shocked us, we were happily surprised to find that Wizzair allows the most weight for checked bags of any budget airline. Where RyanAir and easyJet only allow 15 and 20kg per checked bag, Wizzair allows a massive feeling 38kg, which was more than enough for us, even after adding Marina’s purse.
Now, while we are not big fans of all the extra comfort charges budget airlines charge, the extra 4 euros for priority boarding is probably the one we would chose the most. Seeing as all flights have open seating, being the first one on and off is a huge plus and while worth the small fee. In addition, Wizzair now offers their “Wizz Privilege Pass”, a concept which we have been wanting to see in the airline industry for a long time. The Wizz Pass offers frequent flyers a membership which allows one free cabin bag and priority boarding for only 99 euros a year, which can pay off very quickly, and while Wizzair is based in Hungary, they offer a large variety of flights to many popular European destinations.
To our surprise Wizzair boasts one of the best on time records in Europe and routinely scores higher than not only other budget airlines, but the big boys as well. Our flight as on time, the seats comfortable, the planes bright purple and impossible to miss and the in flight crew was helpful and accommodating.
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