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Another reason not to fly Wizz Air
Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:00 am
by TheGreenGoblin
József Váradi, chief executive of Wizz Air, said in an internal video message: “Now that everyone is getting back into work, I understand that fatigue is a potential outcome of the issues.
“But once we are starting stabilising the rosters we also need to take down the fatigue rate.
“I mean we cannot run this business when every fifth person of a base reports sickness because the person is fatigued.
“We are all fatigued. But sometimes it is required to go the extra mile.
“The damage is huge when we are cancelling a flight. It’s huge. It’s reputational damage of the brand and it is the other financial damage, the transactional damage because we have to pay compensation for that.”
The European Cockpit Association, representing 40,000 pilots, tweeted: “Deficient safety culture alert! @WizzAir CEO encourages pilots to fly fatigued!
“It’s like handing the car keys to a drunk driver.”
The Twitter message called for the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) to step in.
Martin Chalk, general secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa), said: “I would urge Mr Váradi to swiftly clarify that Wizz Air would fully support any pilot who does the right thing by not flying if they feel fatigued, for the safety of their passengers, crew and aircraft.
“I urge him to be as professional as his pilots in seeking to eradicate fatigue from the flight deck.”
One senior UK aviation figure told The Independent: “I’m shocked. Never seen anything like this.”
A spokesperson for Wizz Air said: “This clip has been edited from an all-staff briefing on key business updates and current challenges facing aviation. Supply chain issues are affecting all airlines, in particular staff availability and welfare.
“Our crew unavailability has been very low, at 4 per cent. In this context, going the extra mile to minimise disruption was discussed.
“What this does not mean is compromising safety. Wizz Air and the airline industry are highly regulated, and safety has, and always will be, our first priority. We have a robust and responsible crew management system which meets the needs of our people and enables us to serve as many customers as possible in the current challenging environment.”
The UK Air Navigation Order, as interpreted by the Civil Aviation Authority, says: “A crew member shall not fly, and an operator shall not require him to fly, if either has reason to believe that he is suffering, or is likely to suffer while flying, from such fatigue as may endanger the safety of the aircraft or of its occupants.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/ne ... 97170.html
Re: Another reason not to fly Wizz Air
Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2022 10:04 am
by Ex-Ascot
Saw this GG. Outrageous.
Re: Another reason not to fly Wizz Air
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 11:58 am
by barkingmad
What a wonderful way to solve the problem, this guy leads by example;
https://www.aol.co.uk/news/father-four- ... 07242.html
I wonder what would be the reaction if the bailiffs turned up at Watership Down at Heathrow to claim back expenses and lost money from BA?
Probably they'd be ejected by security on some specious grounds but it would make good television viewing!
Re: Another reason not to fly Wizz Air
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2023 1:52 pm
by tango15
I used to work with Wizzair at Luton. I found the culture a little strange. We would put down a genuine delay code for a particular delay, (usually agreed with the captain beforehand), and then it would come bouncing back from the station manager, saying it was unacceptable. There would then follow a (sometimes heated) discussion about what code would be used. If, for example, we had put down a genuine code 41 (Aircraft Defects), they would want it changed to code 81 (ATC restriction), when in fact they had managed to depart inside the slot time, despite the minor tech delay. By comparison, Ryanair, whom we also handled, were far more sanguine and accepted the delay codes, usually without any further discussion, even when we had the Eurovision-style conference call the next day.
Most of the cabin staff were female Eastern Europeans, who had very fixed ideas about how high the steps should be against the door sills, much to the chagrin of the ground crews. I had always enjoyed working in ops until I went to Luton, but I, along with a few others, only stayed for about four months.
Re: Another reason not to fly Wizz Air
Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:37 pm
by 4mastacker
Junior daughter's return flight from Cyprus was cancelled after all the passengers had boarded and the engines started. They were told to get off the aircraft and return to the terminal where a Wizzair "rep" told them there was no flight until the following week and they could either wait six days or make their own arrangements to fly back on another airline. No hotel accommodation was offered.
Junior daughter made her own arrangements to find a hotel and get back to UK and tried to recover the additional costs from Wizzair who offered a measly £95 compensation - they did not even refund the cost of the ticket for the cancelled flight.
JD did not give up despite months of procrastination and changing stories of why the flight was cancelled by Wizzair and eventually sought the assistance of a journalist at the Daily Mail who was compiling an article about Wizzair's behaviour.
Just before the article was published, JD received a full refund for all her costs plus the refund.
She has since been contacted by the guy who sent in the bailiffs (he "found" her through her tw!tter account) and also by BBC Watchdog who want to interview her about her experience as they are also doing an exposé of Wizzair's (mal)practices.
Re: Another reason not to fly Wizz Air
Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2023 1:04 pm
by Ex-Ascot
Good news 4M. Well trained.
Re: Another reason not to fly Wizz Air
Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2023 10:34 pm
by barkingmad
Not exactly an aircraft incident but possibly action which might prevent one;
https://www.caa.co.uk/newsroom/news/reg ... -wizz-air/