Flight Review: Wizz Air A320 (in Economy, of course)

Flight #: W6 8063

From: Vilnius (VNO)

To: Barcelona (BCN)

Flight time: 3h approx.

Aircraft: Airbus A320-200

Class: Economy

This blog could not be complete without a flight review of Eastern Europe’s ultra low cost carrier.

With Easyjet, Vueling, Norwegian and even Ryanair getting more hybrid by the day, you need to get to Eastern Europe to get the proper ULCC experience (Aeroflot’s subsidiary Pobeda would be another example).

The first thing to take into account is hand luggage. If you travel on a Basic fare, you will only be able to bring onboard for free a 40x30x20 bag, that is quite small, about the size of a women’s bag or a small rucksack. To be able to take a standard size 55-40-23 trolley, you’d better take one of the other non-Basic fares (which give you access to a whole range of other services as well).

Well at least you can get it on the cabin for a fee!

(unlike Wizz Air, Russian ULCC Pobeda would not allow you to bring it into the cabin, even if you are willing to pay for it)

The first row, with extra space, if more expensive to book and you get the view of this promotional billboard.

Among these ancillaries, the Wizz Air Discount Club stands out, you pay a one-off €29.99 fee per year and you get discounts in tickets and baggage charges for you and a companion. Considering that the advertised minimum discount is €10 per trip for Wizz Air Discount Club members, I guess if you travel more than a couple of times per year with them, is a no-brainer.

But, not my case, I am afraid, as this was the third trip on Wizz Air ever for me.

This time I was not flying with the most basic, bare bones, fare, but with one a step above that, that comes with a cabin baggage (and check in allowance) and a nice “Priority” label on your mobile boarding pass, so that you can board your plane earlier.

Also, I was assigned an aisle seat on row 2, which was a bit more spacious than I remembered it from last time.

And, as in all no-frills airlines, one thing to take into account when reviewing the experience is the onboard menu.

In the case of Wizz Air, while prices are in line with what you find in other carriers throughout Europe, one thing that I noticed is how the marketing of the different items on the menu takes into account sourcing.

In this case, as you can see below, by offering a cross-sample of brands from the broad range of the Eastern European region, Wizz Air’s stronghold.

And this is how, after an uneventful flight, we arrived to Barcelona airport (Wizz Air flies both to main airports such as BCN and to more “low-costish” secondary airports, such as, in the case of Barcelona, Girona, located one hour drive north of the city)

Our take:

Good value, although the basic fare is very, very basic. If the price difference is not very high, I may prefer to go for the fare one step up, just for peace of mind.