Italy Fines Wizz Air Over Misleading “All You Can Fly” Subscription

Key Takeaways

• Wizz Air Fine: The Italian Competition Authority fined Wizz Air €500,000 for misleading practices tied to its “Wizz All You Can Fly” subscription.
• Inadequate Disclosures: Promotional materials failed to clearly explain booking windows, seat availability, and other usage limitations.
• Unfair Terms: The original terms and conditions allowed Wizz Air to change or discontinue the service without valid justification.
• Restricted Consumer Rights: Subscribers faced limits on withdrawing or receiving pro rata refunds—even when their designated hub was affected.
• Publication Requirement: Wizz Air must publish an excerpt of the Authority’s final decision on its website.

Deep Dive

Italy’s competition watchdog has ordered Wizz Air to pay a €500,000 fine after finding that the airline’s much-promoted “Wizz All You Can Fly” subscription was marketed without clearly spelling out the limits that came with it.

The annual subscription, sold for €599 or €499 during its early promotional period, promised fixed-fare travel on all of Wizz Air’s international routes. But according to the Italian Competition Authority, the way the offer was advertised suggested a straightforward, unlimited flying pass, while key restrictions were either missing or buried.

Investigators said consumers were not given timely or adequate information about important details such as booking windows, how many seats were actually available to subscribers on individual flights, or other limits that shaped when and how the service could be used. The Authority concluded that the pre-contractual information was incomplete and ambiguous, leaving subscribers with an unclear picture of what they were actually buying.

The watchdog also took issue with parts of the original general terms and conditions that governed the subscription. Several clauses allowed Wizz Air to change or even discontinue the service without providing valid reasons or offering meaningful safeguards for consumers. Other terms limited subscribers’ ability to withdraw or receive a pro rata refund, including in situations where service was suspended at the very airport the customer had designated as their preferred hub.

According to the Authority, these provisions created a significant imbalance between Wizz Air’s rights and those of its customers, and therefore fell foul of rules on unfair contract terms.

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