Hungary's Wizz Air flight contender for most unreliable in the world

By bne IntelliNews March 26, 2014

bne -

A flight operated by Hungary's budget airline Wizz Air flight from London Luton to Budapest is a contender for the title of the world's most unreliable flight.

Flight W62206 has not left on time once since June 2013, according to a report by flight data specialist EUclaim. The website, which helps passengers claim compensation under EU regulations for late takeoffs, says the flight been delayed by anything from 2 minutes to 12 hours and 18 minutes since June 1.

That makes a total of 293 late departures in a row, while on one occasion the A320 plane was even cancelled altogether, according to reports in the UK press. Passengers have totted up 176 hours of waiting time in the last nine months or so en route to the Hungarian capital.

Wizz Air released a statement rejecting the "false claims about its punctuality," on March 25. "Industry standards, applied by the CAA, define all flights departing within 15 min[utes] of the scheduled departure time as on time," it said in a statement. It added that "bounty hunters such as EU Claims [sic] mislead consumers by hiding this fact."

Suggesting the Hungarian airline has a point, Bott & Co - the self-described "UK's leading flight delay compensation specialist" and an EU Claim partner - said passengers on just nine of the Wizz Air flights would be able to claim compensation under EU regulations.

"Fifteen people from the qualifying flights (in June, July, October and November 2013) have already asked the firm to represent them and are in line to receive €250 each," the lawyers said in a statement.

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