A budget airline has been hit with enforcement action after 'unacceptable' treatment of passengers, including rejecting expense claims for missed flights.

Wizz Air, a budget Hungarian airline which operates routes from Edinburgh and Aberdeen, lost in a large number of County Court Judgements in recent months, and was contacted by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Complaints included a failure to provide alternative flights to enable passengers to get to their destinations when their flight had been cancelled, and rejecting claims for replacement flight costs, transfers when replacement flights were via different airports, and care and assistance (typically hotel costs) following flight disruptions.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority has now instructed Wizz Air to make changes to its policies and procedures to ensure consistent compliance with its re-routing and care obligations.

Read More: Airline to relaunch route to famous island destination

After enforcement action by the CAA, Wizz Air - which flies to Bucharest, Budapest, Gdansk and Tirana from Edinburgh and to Gdansk from Aberdeen - has committed to introduce changes to its policies, procedures and passenger communications.

The airline has agreed to sign undertakings to formalise these commitments with the regulator.

The CAA will monitor the airline for compliance with its revised policies and procedures over the forthcoming months.

As part of the enforcement action, Wizz Air will also be required to provide information to the body about its review of closed expenses claims.

The Herald: Wizz Air adds Polish connections to Aberdeen

The action by the regulator will cover claims made for flights due to depart from or arrive into a UK airport on or after 18 March 2022. No action is needed on the part of passengers to ensure these claims are reviewed.

Passengers whose flights were due to depart from or arrive into a UK airport before 18 March 2022 can also request for their claims with the airline to be reopened, as long as their flight was no more than six years ago. 

The regulator will also review a sample of the claims that Wizz Air relooks at, so it is satisfied that passengers receive what they are owed.

Paul Smith, Joint-Interim Chief Executive at the UK Civil Aviation Authority, said: "This enforcement action sends a clear message that airlines must meet their obligations to passengers when they cancel or delay a flight. We will not hesitate to step in if we believe that airlines are not consistently doing this.

Read More: McGill's boss: Night buses are 'totemic' issue and franchising is no silver bullet

“Passengers have every right to expect their complaints and claims to be resolved quickly and efficiently and to be treated fairly by airlines, in line with regulations.

"We made it clear to Wizz Air last year that the way it was treating passengers was unacceptable.

“We will continue to watch the situation closely to check that passengers receive what they are owed and that Wizz Air’s policies have improved, so that consumers have a better experience if things go wrong.”

Marion Geoffroy, Managing Director at Wizz Air UK said: "Last summer, like all airlines in Europe, Wizz Air faced unprecedented operating challenges, driven mostly by the external environment, including ATC disruptions, airport constraints and staff shortages across the whole supply chain. As a result, we were unable to meet our own high standards of service.

"Flights were too often late or cancelled, disruption management overwhelmed our internal and external resources, and claims took too long to process and pay.

“We have learned from this experience and have taken significant steps to make our operation more robust and customer-centric.

“We expect this summer to be challenging for air traffic control, which will impact airlines. While we cannot anticipate every disruption, we have invested over £90 million to prepare for increased air traffic. We are confident that we have taken the right steps to better support passengers this summer season.”