The Italian Antitrust Authority announced a fine of 500,000 euros for Hungary’s low-cost airline Wizz Air. The penalty is for unfair trading practices. Wizz Air neglected to properly explain the limitations on an ‘All You Can Fly’ subscription they offered to customers.
The offer enables subscribers to fly at a fixed fare. This applies to all international routes operated by the airline. The price is 599 euros, or 499 euros during the early stages of the promotion.
The authority opened an investigation into the offer. They concluded that “Wizz Air’s promotional campaigns presented the service as an unlimited subscription. The campaigns neglected to give adequate and prompt information on the limitations placed on its use.”
“As a result, the pre-contractual information given to consumers on the features of the subscription was incomplete and ambiguous. This was especially with regard to the booking windows for individual flights. It also concerned the number and type of seats available to subscribers on each flight. There were further limitations on the use of the service,” it said.
As the Hungarian airline explains on its website: All You Can Fly is a 12-month membership program. It enables members to travel extensively on eligible Wizz Air flights. Customers pay a yearly voucher fee and then the cost of the flat fee per flight segment when booking. The voucher fee is 499 EUR. The flat fee is 9.99 EUR per segment.
Flight and seat availability seen in the normal booking flow does not guarantee that the available flights and seats for All You Can Fly members will be the same. This is because availability of flight tickets with All You Can Fly is liable to certain limitations and restrictions. These include, but are not limited to, the: number of total registered members of All You Can Fly who are on the given flight; number of overall passengers who have already booked flight tickets on the given flight at the time that you try to book a flight ticket with All You Can Fly; number of available seats at the time that you try to book a flight ticket with All You Can Fly; and the total seat capacity of the given flight.
