Passengers on all airlines are currently subject to delays, offloading of cabin bags and inconvenience due to the lack of space caused by too many large bags. During a successful trial on Wizz Air’s London-Katowice route from the beginning of August, the onboard environment on the test route clearly improved with passengers bringing 20% fewer large bags into the cabin. This innovation resulted in a better onboard experience, helped in maintaining Wizz Air’s on-time performance and overall contributed to increased efficiencies.

Beginning October 04th, passengers booking Wizz Air seats* for travel from October 24th onwards can travel with a free small cabin bag (up to 42x32x25cm) or pay a €10 online fee to bring a large cabin bag (up to 56x45x25cm) on board. Goods purchased at the airport after security (an important source of revenue for Wizz Air’s 81 airport partners) will continue to be allowed in the cabin for free.

This new policy does not apply to bookings made before October 04th or for flights departing before October 24th, except on the trial route London-Katowice where this policy already applies. Wizz Air believes this new €10 large cabin bag online fee will incentivize passengers to bring smaller bags on board the aircraft while only those choosing to bring large bags will pay for it. For new bookings on flights departing from 24th October, all Wizz Air fares will be discounted by €5** to share the expected cost savings with our passengers.



József Váradi, CEO of Wizz Air, said:

“When it comes to low fares Wizz Air knows no half measures! Wizz Air is announcing its new and innovative cabin baggage policy after a successful trial confirmed that more onboard space and cost savings are achieved when passengers bring less large bags into the cabin. With the vast majority of passengers willing to bring smaller bags on board we are now the first European carrier to eliminate a chronic problem in the airline industry faced by all airlines, but, even more important for consumers, Wizz Air is again pioneering in delivering lower fares by passing on the cost savings in the form of discounted fares for all passengers.

We leave it for high fare airlines to tackle their costs by raising fares and levying unavoidable fuel surcharges while Wizz Air passengers will continue to pay only for the services they use. Today we encourage our passengers to travel smart and bring only a small bag on board. To pass on the expected cost savings we are immediately discounting by €5 all fares available for booking under the new cabin bag policy at wizzair.com.”

* This policy does not apply to flights operated by Wizz Air Ukraine (WAU).
**Minimum discounted total price is €8.99 one-way, inclusive of taxes and maximum booking fee. Large cabin bag and checked-in bag are subject to additional fees

Wizz Air is the largest low-fare, low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe and operates a fleet of 39 Airbus A320 aircraft from 16 bases with 256 routes connecting 81 destinations across 29 countries. At Wizz Air a team of 1,500 aviation professionals deliver superior service and very low airfares making Wizz Air the preferred choice of over 12 million passengers in 2012.

Source: WizzAir