Wizz Air flight compensation and refunds: your rights

Short answer: If your Wizz Air flight was delayed 3 or more hours at your final destination, cancelled at short notice, or you were bumped against your will, you are usually owed a fixed cash payment of EUR 250, 400 or 600 (or GBP 220, 350 or 520 for UK departures), plus a refund or re-routing and free care during the wait. Which regime applies depends on where you took off, not on your nationality or where you bought the ticket. Compensation is separate from a refund, and a WIZZ credit is never a substitute for the cash you are owed unless you genuinely choose it.

Free eligibility check

Check your case in the form

Enter your route, date and type of disruption. We will check whether your case qualifies for a claim under EU 261/2004 or UK261.

Step 1 of 813% completed

What happened to your flight?

Claim up to €600 for a delayed or cancelled flight.

Choose the situation that applies to your flight:

Wizz Air is a low-cost airline, but it is bound by the same passenger-rights law as everyone else. This overview explains when money is due, how much, and how to get it.

When is money due?

Three situations trigger a fixed compensation payment:

Long delay. You land 3 or more hours late at your final destination. The clock is measured at arrival, not departure, and at the last stop on your ticket (the Court of Justice confirmed this in Folkerts, C-11/11). A long delay is treated like a cancellation for compensation purposes once you are 3+ hours late (Sturgeon, C-402/07).
Cancellation at short notice. Broadly, if Wizz cancelled with less than 14 days' notice and did not re-route you close to your original times, compensation is normally due.
Involuntary denied boarding. If the flight was overbooked or you were bumped for reasons that were not your fault, you are owed compensation straight away.

Delay and cancellation compensation can be removed by extraordinary circumstances (more on that below), but denied boarding for commercial reasons cannot.

How much: the EU261 and UK261 bands

The amount is fixed by the flight distance, not by your ticket price:

Distance	EU261 (departures from EU/EEA)	UK261 (departures from the UK)
Up to 1,500 km	EUR 250	GBP 220
1,500-3,500 km (and all intra-EU over 1,500 km)	EUR 400	GBP 350
Over 3,500 km (to/from outside the EU)	EUR 600	GBP 520

You can check your band with the flight compensation calculator.

One important nuance: the airline may reduce compensation by 50% (for example, EUR 600 down to EUR 300) if it re-routes you and you still arrive within a set time window. That EUR 300 is only ever a halved figure. There is no standalone statutory amount of EUR 300 or EUR 500.

EU261 or UK261? The departure airport decides

Wizz Air operates flights that leave from the EU and flights that leave from the UK, so the two regimes sit side by side, and your outbound and return legs can fall under different rules.

Departure from an EU/EEA airport (Warsaw, Budapest, Bucharest, Vienna, Rome, and so on): EU261 applies, amounts are in euros, and you escalate to the national enforcement body (NEB) of the departure country.
Departure from a UK airport (Luton, Gatwick, Birmingham, and so on): UK261, the retained UK version of the law, applies, amounts are in pounds, and the regulator is the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

So a London Luton to Gdansk flight is a UK261 (pounds) case going out, while the Gdansk to Luton return is an EU261 (euros) case. This is explained in more depth in UK261 vs EU261: which applies.

Compensation, refund and WIZZ credit are three different things

This is where passengers most often lose money, so be precise:

Compensation is the fixed EUR/GBP sum above. You keep it even if you still flew, as long as you arrived 3+ hours late.
A refund or re-routing is a separate right. If your flight was cancelled (or delayed 5+ hours and you choose not to travel), you can ask for either a full refund of the unused ticket or a re-route to your destination. A refund must be paid in money, to your original payment method, within 7 days.
A WIZZ credit (often offered at around 120% of the fare) is a voucher, not a refund. The airline can offer it, but it can never be forced on you. You are entitled to insist on cash unless you actively agree to the credit. See refund vs WIZZ credit.

Auto-rebooking onto an inconvenient flight does not remove your right to a refund or to compensation. As background, the UK CAA took enforcement action in 2023, and Wizz Air gave undertakings to improve how it pays refunds and EU261 claims and to clear its backlog. Treat that as context, not a guarantee about your specific claim.

Your right to care while you wait

Regardless of whether compensation is ultimately due, if you are delayed the airline must look after you once the wait passes certain thresholds (Article 9): meals and refreshments in proportion to the wait, two free phone calls or emails, and hotel accommodation plus transfers if you have to stay overnight. Keep receipts. If Wizz fails to provide care and you reasonably pay yourself, you can claim those costs back (the McDonagh case, C-12/11, confirms the duty of care can be substantial).

Extraordinary circumstances (and the own-crew strike point)

Wizz can avoid paying compensation only if it proves the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances beyond its control. The burden of proof is on the airline, and the exception is read narrowly:

Not extraordinary: routine technical faults (Wallentin-Hermann, C-549/07; van der Lans, C-257/14) and a strike by the airline's own crew (Airhelp v SAS, C-28/20). In these cases compensation is still due.
Usually extraordinary: genuine severe weather and independent air-traffic-control restrictions.

Even when circumstances are extraordinary and compensation falls away, your right to care and to a refund or re-routing remains.

Baggage is a completely separate regime

Lost, damaged or delayed luggage is not an EU261/UK261 matter and is never the 250/400/600 or 220/350/520 figure. Baggage falls under the Montreal Convention 1999, with airline liability capped at roughly 1,519 SDR per passenger (the ceiling in force since 28 December 2024, about EUR 1,850 or GBP 1,600, moving with exchange rates). File a Property Irregularity Report (PIR) at the airport before you leave, then write to Wizz within 7 days for damage and 21 days for delayed bags, with a 2-year long-stop to bring a court claim.

How to claim and escalate

Gather your booking reference, boarding passes, and any delay or cancellation notices.
Identify the operating carrier. Wizz Air flies through separate companies (Wizz Air Hungary, Wizz Air Malta, Wizz Air UK, Wizz Air Abu Dhabi), and the one that actually operated your flight is the one that owes you (Wirth, C-532/17).
Submit a written claim to Wizz Air stating the flight, the delay length at arrival, and the amount and legal basis. Ask for cash, not credit.
If Wizz refuses or ignores you, escalate: for UK departures to the UK CAA; for EU departures to the national enforcement body of the departure country (or an approved ADR/complaint scheme). A rejection is not the end. See what to do if your claim is rejected.

Time limits to sue vary by jurisdiction. There is no single universal deadline: roughly 6 years in England and Wales and in Ireland, 5 years in Scotland, and differing periods across EU member states. Do not assume one figure covers every route.

A word on the 2026 EU261 reform: proposals under discussion would change delay thresholds, add a nine-month claim window and a 30-day airline response deadline. This is a proposal, not yet law. The binding thresholds remain 3 hours and the amounts above.

FAQ

Can Wizz Air make me take a voucher instead of a refund?

No. An Article 8 refund must be paid in money to your original payment method within 7 days. A WIZZ credit is only valid if you freely accept it.

My delay was 3 hours because of a technical fault. Am I still owed compensation?

Usually yes. A routine technical problem is not an extraordinary circumstance, so compensation normally stands.

The flight left the UK but landed in Poland. Euros or pounds?

Pounds. The departure airport sets the regime, so a UK departure is a UK261 (GBP) case even though it lands in the EU.

Wizz cabin crew went on strike and my flight was cancelled. Do I get paid?

A strike by the airline's own crew is not extraordinary, so compensation is generally due, along with care and a refund or re-routing.

How long do I have to bring a claim?

It depends on where you would sue, from about 5-6 years in the UK and Ireland to different periods across the EU. Do not rely on a single number.

Related Wizz Air guides

Sources

Regulation (EC) 261/2004, EUR-Lex: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32004R0261
UK Civil Aviation Authority, delays and cancellations: https://www.caa.co.uk/passengers/resolving-travel-problems/delays-cancellations/
European Commission, air passenger rights: https://transport.ec.europa.eu/transport-themes/passenger-rights/air_en
Montreal Convention 1999 (ICAO): https://www.icao.int/secretariat/legal/List%20of%20Parties/Mtl99_EN.pdf

This guide reflects the legal position as of 2026 and is general information, not legal advice; the 2026 EU261 reform is a proposal and not yet in force.