Wizz Air ‘dumps’ Tel Aviv passengers 177 miles from intended destination

Travellers on a Wizz Air flight from Tel Aviv to Gatwick had a rough landing this week when their plane landed hours late and 177 miles away from their intended destination, at Doncaster Sheffield airport.

Not only that, but they were reportedly told to find their own way home in the early hours of the morning, as no other transport was available, leaving Israeli passengers particularly confused as to where they were and how to get to London.

Communications consultant Luke Baker was returning to London with his wife and four children from a Pesach holiday in Israel. “We were booked to leave from Ben Gurion on a flight at 9.20 on Sunday night and land at 1am on Monday. The flight was very delayed in boarding and we didn’t take off until twenty past midnight.

“Once we were in the air, we were told that it wasn’t possible to land at Gatwick because there were issues on the ground so they said we’d land at Luton, which was frustrating enough, but then an hour before landing they said we weren’t going to be landing at there because there were no ground space, so we’d be landing at Doncaster Sheffield.”

Baker says that passengers on the flight were told that there would be buses at the Yorkshire airport to take them to Gatwick but when they landed at 3.30am, there were none available. “There were no taxis to the railway station, either and no trains until about 5am.

“It was pretty frustrating. Wizz Air completely washed their hands of responsibility while on the ground and the staff at Doncaster seemed pretty confused about what they could do; there was nobody on the ground to offer food or water as the airport was entirely shut. It was cold outside and nobody had any ideas as to where to go or what to do.”

Baker added that staff at Doncaster Sheffield airport weren’t used to dealing with passengers from Israel. “There were a lot of people who had Israeli passports who had a right to live and work in the UK, but there were a few questions about letting them in.” He also said that if his party had been told about problems with the flight, they would have waited until the next day to fly home.

The Baker family eventually managed to find a taxi to take them home to London, which cost £480. “Wizz Air have said they will reimburse travel costs but there’s been no word about any compensation for the inconvenience. Things are in the process of being resolved, but the experience was infuriating, costly and really irritating.”

In a statement, Wizz Air apologised for the disruption to the flight, saying that Doncaster Sheffield was the only airport which could help at short notice. They added: “We did all we could to help our customers back to Gatwick, however, the UK Easter holidays – and a lack of available bus and train transfers – made this extremely difficult to manage.

“As a result, Wizz Air has now been in touch with all those affected passengers to apologise directly and accept claims for transportation to be reimbursed.”