You can always count on low cost carriers to come with attempts to disrupt the industry and this time, it is WizzAir’s turn. Their new idea? An “all you can fly” subscription, which they offer at 499EUR / year now and soon at 599 EUR / year.
Pay once, pack your bags and go! Or is there a catch, or maybe some small print? Well, there you should always read the footnotes, so here is what they contain…
There are three catches in the new WizzAir product, marketed as “All you can fly” in the WIZZSubscription program.
The first catch actually is a footnote on WizzAir website, with no link from the small “3” to the bottom of the page. And here is what you read if you scroll down all the way: “€ 9,99 flat fee per flight segment must be paid separately. The price will be charged in the currency of the booking.” So all you can fly but pay 9.99€ per flight segment on top of the subscription. The wording is important: one segment is a flight so a trip somewhere and home is two segments, making the price of a single “adventure” 19.98€.
The second catch is clearly visible: “Book and fly in the next three days”. What this really means is “You can’t book earlier than three days before the flight”. If a flight is selling well and is fully booked three days before your target date, you can’t get a seat. That is pretty risky, especially if you don’t have flexibility with your accommodation at your destination. According to their own statistics page, WizzAir has a load factor above 95% in the summer months, which is a great achievement but makes the “All you can fly” harder to use.
The third catch is not visible on WizzAir’s subscription page and lies in the airline’s business model. As many low cost carriers, WizzAir does not offer any cargo hold baggage allowance. If you want to check luggages, you have to pay extra. Their baggage policy even restricts cabin luggage. Each passenger can bring one piece of carry-on bag (maximum 40x30x20 cm). Even a standard “trolley bag” is not allowed on board for free.
This can make the price of each “adventure” pretty significant and the three days limitation is risky and requires a lot of flexibility.
Will this yearly subscription fly? American Airlines had a similar program back in the 80’s, with a lifetime ticket but the price was in a completely different league: $250’000, and those were dollars in the eighties. Check this Wikipedia article about the AAirpass program, it is quite a good read with stories of abuse and termination.
Leave a Reply