Agentur für Passagier- und Fahrgastrechte (Agency for Passenger Rights) - Linke Wienzeile 4/1

My flight has been cancelled by Wizz Air in April 2020 because of COVID. Until now, Wizz Air did not provide me any reimbursement. It took me almost a year to get a decision from the APF. Their processes seem to be super slow, and they do not have any deadlines for the air company to answer their requests. The airline company could take ages to respond or not to respond to the APF. The decision that I got from the APF was just ridiculous. They wrote the following: "No agreement could be reached with regard to the compensation specified in Article 5 paragraph 1 c) in conjunction with Article 7 paragraph 1 a) Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 since the airline maintains that extraordinary circumstances (traffic restrictions due to Covid-19 pandemic) existed as per Article 5 paragraph 3 and that these constitute grounds for exoneration. As proof, the apf received documents including NOTAMs and airline’s internal documenation, which in our view explain the grounds for exoneration in a transparent manner. The airline informed us that the ticket costs for the cancelled leg (EUR 52.98) were refunded on April 5th, 2020." First, what is "NOTAM"? Secondly, the APF thinks that it "explain the grounds for exoneration in a transparent manner" but the fact that I am as a consumer was not able to return home because of a cancelled flight they did not take into account at all. I think the APF has never heard of a consumer law. Thirdly, for the similar cases in the court I received all my money. It looks like the APF applies different law that the courts in Austria. Fourthly, the APF claimed that "The airline informed us that the ticket costs for the cancelled leg (EUR 52.98) were refunded on April 5th, 2020" but the APF DID NOT CHECK any evidence whether the money has been transferred to me or not. The APF never asked me whether I received any money from Wizz Air or not. And neither the APF nor Wizz Air provided me any evidence that money has been transferred. The APF just believed the words of Wizz Air!!! The APF seems to be very unprofessional and not objective. For me, it was just waste of time to contact them and to bring my case to this agency. I will never ever use their services again and will go directly to the court.

Apf. helped me to receive the vouchers from OBB that they previously didn`t want to give me despite that fact that EU closed their borders for my country and I was not able to do my travel. Apf. is very friendly and helpful/ Highly recommended, thank a lot!

Super professional, super effective, super human. I addressed to apf for a problem with OBB trying not refund us after they canceled a train. Apf quickly found the best solution and made OBB refund what was own according to the passengers rights. Thank you very much for you work and dedication.

Very good experience: friendly case agent, quick to act and respond, highly efficient and achieved a good outcome

I found APF's process easy and, most importantly, they passed on my case (to the train company ÖBB-PV which had sent me a type of ticket I had not ordered) in such a way that I was offered either a refund or a new ticket, despite the fact that ÖBB-PV had itself taken 2 weeks to reply to my complaint with 2 downright refusals. So highly recommended of course!!

The support from APF was swift and effective. Their advice was balanced and clear. And an acceptable solution was reached in a matter of a few days. I am very pleased with APF's service and recommend all passengers to get in touch when they have a dispute with their transport providers.

Very positive experience, definitely recommended. I received quick feedback on my queries and was able to reach a satisfying agreement with ÖBB in a matter of days.

Wish there was an option of 0 star, Airline cancelled flight and didn't issue a refund, contacted Apf and after 50 days all they came back with was "Refund was issued to the travel agent". This ticket was bought directly from the airline, a copy of ticket was provided to Apf in initial complaint. Sadly they fail to look through the proof provided to them which also means they fail to fulfill their purpose as an Arbitrator. These services are generally publicly funded, and in this case I think the use of public money is not justified. You can still make it right, there is an email already in your inbox in relation to this