It took three and a half years, but that Chamber of Labor has with a lawsuit against the Hungarian cheap airline Wizzair Now also enforced in the top authority. The Supreme Court (OGH) decided that overall 111 clauses and an internship By Wizz Air illegal are. About a 40 euro fee for check-ins is not allowed at the airport (instead of online) just as little as the twelve-month deadline for gift vouchers.
Customers were sent in a circle
The internship, which is inadmissible according to the OGH, concerned the Reimbursement of tickets via intermediary. Anyone who has booked a flight on the Internet via a booking platform, which was then deleted, often had a lot of trouble to get their money back. “The airline said that you cannot give the money directly to the customer, but the intermediary,” says Robert Panowitz from the consumer protection of the Chamber of Labor. “He said again: turn to the airline. Customers became like this cleverly.”
In the event of compensation claims, Wizz Air referred customers to his website and let Other forms of contactfor example via email or letter. This is also illegal, judges the OGH. “An online form is a low-threshold way to make claims, but it may unexpectedly will be trying to try it in a different way, “says Panowitz.
Online form to make claims
The majority of the complained clauses concerned non -transparent provisions in the terms and conditions of Wizz Air. “That was a clause that hardly to be understood for lawyers either Was, with many cross -references. It was completely confusing, “says Panowitz.
With the airline, the Chamber of Labor has agreed on it to set up your own websiteabout the passengers three of the most important Make claims against Wizz Air can: the reimbursement of the check-in fee applicable at the airport, expired vouchers and expired “wizz credits” (a form of value credit). The symptom option applies to all flights that had arrival or departure in Austria.
Vouchers: A year of validity is too short
His vouchers limited the airline with one 12-month validity period. “Basically, vouchers are valid for 30 years. However, there is the possibility to shorten the duration of validity, for example due to security concerns,” says Panowitz. If companies, for example, are afraid that vouchers could be fake more easily after a long time, they can set a shorter period of validity. There is no exact limit in the law. “Are usually two to three years too short“, says Panowitz. In any case, one year is far below this guideline.
Wizz Air was also sued in other countries
Austria is not the only country in which business clauses and practices of Wizz Air have been banned. Panowitz: “In Italy, the competition authority has a high Punish punishments, Where it is around The same points It has gone. “There is no pan -European approach. judgments from other countries as precedent to use it is also not easy – the legal situation vary from country to country.