The Wizz Air EC261 claim form is the online submission you complete through the airline’s Compliments and Complaints portal at wizzair.com to request compensation after a delay, cancellation, or denied boarding. You’ll need your booking reference, flight number, passenger names, an IBAN for the payout, and any receipts from the disruption. Have all of that ready before you start, because the form isn’t friendly to partial progress.
What to Gather Before You Open the Form
Collect everything in one place first. Missing a single field can mean starting over.
- Your six-character booking confirmation code (sometimes called a PNR), from your confirmation email or the Wizz Air app.
- The flight number (for example, W6 1234) and the scheduled departure date.
- Full legal names of every passenger you’re claiming for, exactly as they appear on the booking.
- An IBAN and SWIFT/BIC code for the bank account that should receive the payment.
- Receipts for meals, transport, or hotel costs you covered during the disruption, plus any screenshots of delay notifications or gate announcements.
The IBAN requirement is where U.S.-based passengers most often get stuck. American bank accounts don’t issue IBANs. Some U.S. banks can accept an incoming international wire using a SWIFT code and routing number, though incoming wire fees commonly run $15 to $25. An account with a service like Wise or Revolut that provides a European IBAN can sidestep both the fee and the currency conversion.
Filling Out the Form Step by Step
Go to wizzair.com and scroll to the footer. Under the information section, click Compliments and Complaints, then choose the option for flight disruptions. That opens the claim form.
The form moves through several screens:
- Contact details. Name, email, and phone number. Use an email you check regularly, because every update comes through it.
- Flight details. Enter your booking reference, flight number, and date. The system pulls the route from your booking.
- Type of disruption. Select delay, cancellation, or denied boarding.
- Description. Keep it factual and short. “Flight W6 2345 on March 12, 2026 arrived 4 hours 20 minutes late at the final destination” is more useful than a paragraph venting frustration.
- Bank details. IBAN and SWIFT/BIC for the payout account.
- Supporting documents. Upload receipts and any screenshots that back up your account.
Review every field before you submit. A typo in your IBAN or a passenger name that doesn’t match the booking gives Wizz Air a clean reason to bounce the claim, which restarts the clock. The final screen asks you to confirm the information and may include a CAPTCHA. Once you submit, screenshot the confirmation page with its reference number. That screenshot is your proof of when you filed.
Confirm Your Disruption Actually Qualifies
Before you invest time in the form, check that the disruption fits one of the three categories the regulation covers:
- You arrived at your final destination three or more hours late.
- Wizz Air canceled the flight without giving you at least 14 days’ notice, or offered rerouting outside the timing windows the regulation allows.
- You had a confirmed reservation, checked in on time, and were involuntarily bumped from an oversold flight.
Wizz Air can deny claims when the disruption was caused by extraordinary circumstances that couldn’t have been avoided with all reasonable measures. The regulation specifically points to political instability, dangerous weather, security threats, and strikes affecting operations.1EUR-Lex. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council Air traffic control restrictions fall in that bucket too. Routine technical faults do not: Wizz Air can’t dodge a payout by blaming a mechanical issue it should have caught during normal maintenance. If the reason given sounds vague or broad, it’s worth pushing back.
How Much You’re Entitled To
Compensation is fixed by the great-circle distance between the airports, not the route actually flown:2EUR-Lex. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council – Article 7
- €250 for flights of 1,500 km or less.
- €400 for intra-EU flights over 1,500 km and other flights between 1,500 km and 3,500 km.
- €600 for flights over 3,500 km.
If Wizz Air rerouted you and you arrived close to your original schedule (within two hours on short flights, three on medium, four on long-haul), the airline can halve the payout.3Your Europe. Air Passenger Rights Outside those windows, you get the full amount.
Article 7 of the regulation says compensation must be paid in cash, by electronic bank transfer, or by bank cheque. Vouchers or Wizz Credits are only allowed with your signed agreement.2EUR-Lex. Regulation (EC) No 261/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council – Article 7 If the airline nudges you toward credit and you’d rather have money, refuse.
What Happens After You Submit
An automated acknowledgment email arrives shortly after filing, with a case reference number to use for any follow-up. A response within roughly eight weeks is typical, though it depends on how many claims Wizz Air is processing. During that window, the airline reviews its flight logs and operational data.
The decision comes to the email address you entered on the form. If approved, Wizz Air initiates a bank transfer to the account you supplied. International transfers can take several additional business days depending on your bank. If denied, the response should state a specific reason, usually a claim that the disruption was extraordinary.
If Wizz Air Denies or Ignores the Claim
Read the stated reason carefully. If the airline cites extraordinary circumstances but the actual cause was a technical fault or a staffing problem, reply in writing, explain why you disagree, and reference the regulation. First-pass rejections sometimes get reversed when passengers push back.
If eight weeks pass without a response, or you have a final rejection you disagree with, you can escalate to AviationADR, the independent dispute resolution body that handles Wizz Air complaints. File online at aviationadr.eu or mail a paper form to their office in Milton Keynes. There’s no fee for passengers.4AviationADR. How to Complain About a Wizz Air Flight
You can also file with the national enforcement body in the country the disrupted flight departed from. For flights out of Budapest, that’s the Government Office of Budapest.5NKFH. Enforcement of Air Passenger Rights For flights out of other EU countries, use that country’s enforcement body.
Deadline to File
There isn’t a single EU-wide deadline. The time limit depends on the national law of the country where you file, ranging from as short as one year in some countries to ten years in Luxembourg. Hungarian law generally applies to claims against Wizz Air, and the filing window is reported to be shorter than the standard Hungarian limitation period. File soon after the disruption while evidence is fresh and the airline has less room to dispute details.
Flights Departing the UK
If your disrupted Wizz Air flight departed a UK airport, the claim falls under UK261, the domestic version of the regulation the UK adopted after Brexit in December 2020. Passenger protections and compensation tiers are identical, but payouts are in British pounds rather than euros. The submission goes through the same Wizz Air portal. Flights arriving in the UK from outside are treated differently: because Wizz Air is a Hungarian carrier, an inbound Wizz Air flight to the UK still falls under EU Regulation 261/2004, not UK261.