What’s it Like Flying with Wizz Air? Luton to Malaga Flight Review + Essential Information and Tips

Wizz Air, a Hungarian low-cost airline, has carved a reputation for providing budget-friendly flights across Europe and beyond. If you search for flights regularly, I’m sure you’ve seen Wizz Air pop up increasingly in your searches.

But what’s it actually like travelling with Wizz Air?

Introducing Wizz Air

Since launching in 2003, Wizz Air now flies to 190+ destinations across 50 countries with 920+ routes. They now have a fleet of 175 aircraft.

Although based in Budapest, Wizz Air now has Wizz Air UK (based in Luton) and Wizz Air Dubai (since 2019).

Sustainability

Wizz Air has a significant focus on sustainability and is definitely a more sustainable airline than other budget options. The airline has the lowest CO2 emissions per passenger kilometre in the industry.

Sustainability is achieved by things like lighter seats, single-engine taxiing, a paperless flight deck and sharklets on the wing. Wizz Air also plans to replace old aircraft with A321NEO when aircraft need replacing.

Booking 

It was straightforward to book the flight, but not as easy as EasyJet and Ryanair. I found the £88 fare from Luton to Malaga on Skyscanner and was redirected to the Wizz Air website. 

I booked the most basic fare without seat allocation or baggage, so there were no extra costs. This fare was higher than most Wizz Air flights I see, but I had to travel to Malaga on Thursday night or Friday morning, so I didn’t have much choice with flights apart from one departing with EasyJet at a similar time from Gatwick. 

After booking, I downloaded the Wizz Air app to keep track of all the details.

Bag Allowances

You can bring a free carry-on bag with a maximum weight of 10kg and maximum dimensions of 40 x 30 x 20 cm. Wheels are allowed as long as the bag meets the size requirements.

If you choose WizzPriority, you can also bring a 55 x 40 x2 3cm suitcase that must fit in the overhead compartment.

Up to 6 checked bags can be added to the booking with weights of 10-36kg.

Fare Options

Like many low-cost carriers, Wizz Air has a tiered fare structure. The most basic, “Basic Fare,” includes just your seat and a small personal item. 

The “Wizz Go” offers more, including a large cabin bag and checked-in luggage, while the “Wizz Plus” fare provides extra benefits, such as priority boarding and free seat selection.

Wizz Priority

Wizz Priority is the most “luxury” option available on Wizz Air. For the extra fee, you will get priority check-in, boarding, and the extra carry-on bag discussed above.

The cost is €12.00 – ‎€45.00 depending on your chosen flight.

The Wizz Discount Club

With a Wizz discount membership, you can save €10 on airfares and €5 on bags. The membership costs €39.99 or €69.99 for groups of up to 5. There is a good calculator on the website where you can see how much you can save. 

It is worth getting the membership if you plan to do five flights or more with Wizz Air in the next 12 months, even without bags.

Check-In

I checked in the night before, and it was a very easy process. You can check in 2 days before you fly or earlier if you’ve paid a different fare.

If you don’t remember to check in, it costs €25 at the airport.

Arriving at Luton Airport

I stayed overnight in Luton Centre because the range of accommodation options was minimal with such late notice. There is a bus as well as a taxi rank with regular connections 24 hours a day. There is also a huge national express area with buses all over the UK, mainly into London.

I travelled from Heathrow to Luton Airport on the national express, then into Luton centre, and back via taxi.

Hotels at Luton Airport Include:

• IBIS Luton Airport
• Holiday Inn Express Luton Airport
• Courtyard by Marriott

Once in the airport, it’s very easy to navigate. Go right for bag check-in or left to go straight to security.

Spending Time at Luton Airport

Luton Airport isn’t the best place to spend lots of time. There were loud announcements every few minutes. There is a good array of restaurants and bars as well as some shops to pick up essentials.

The Aspire Executive Lounge

The Aspire Lounge is the only lounge at Luton Airport. It’s open every day from 4:30 until 21:30. The lounge has a range of hot food with table service as well as beers, wines and cocktails. 

Note: Champagne and Prosecco are at an additional cost, and there is now a limit of 3 alcoholic drinks per person!

Entry

• You can buy a pass for £37.99 (maximum 3 hours). Children can enter for £21.49, with under 2’s free.
• Priority Pass
• DragonPass – If you have Barclays Premier Banking with Avios Rewards, you can get five lounge passes at £18.50 yearly. With the credit card, you can get five free passes.
• Aspire Lounge Platinum Plus Membership

Boarding

The gate number was displayed on time. It was quite a long walk to get to gate 25.

I liked the screen! You don’t see many screens with a picture of your destination along with the weather.

There was already a large queue when I got to the gate. 80% of the flight seemed to have been booked priority. I was travelling with hand luggage only and queued in the non-priority section. The gate came up on the screen a while before the flight was due to depart.

After queuing for what seemed like forever, boarding started, and I continued to wait until most of the flight had boarded.

They were not checking bag sizes when we boarded. I’m not sure if my bag would have made it through!

On-Board

Because a considerable proportion of the flight had chosen Wizz Priority, it was hard for everyone to fit luggage in the overhead compartments.

People who had paid for seats at the front ended up with luggage at the back, meaning they had to wait for everyone to get off once the plane landed so they could collect their luggage.

Seating

Having not paid for a seat, I was allocated the middle seat. The seating area had everything I would expect from a budget airline seat, but I preferred the layout to EasyJet and Ryanair. There was a pocked with a good magazine and a small tray table.

After 3 hours of sleep (travelling back from Istanbul to Luton via bus), I was pleased to find that the tray table was very high, which was perfect for sleeping.

The legroom was as expected.

The cabin crew did the safety demonstration. I’m starting to see this less now, with most being done on the inflight entertainment or screens in the middle aisle.

Food 

I was impressed with the amount of food available to choose from.

Here are some of the options:

Drinks

The drinks selection was excellent too.

The magazine also showcased the usual range of duty-free items.

Landing at Malaga Airport

We landed on time with a lovely view over rural Southern Spain. 

Getting through Malaga airport was efficient. It was a very short walk to passport control (which needs modernising a bit). 

After passport control, the baggage carousel was very nearby, and the luggage was already out by the time I got through. 

Malaga Airport has a train station with services into the centre and throughout Spain and a large taxi rank. Don’t stay at an airport hotel like I did because it will cost €15-20 in a taxi each way and it’s easy to get to the airport from the city centre anyway. The A bus is also a good option for getting into the centre.

Final Words

The flight got me from A to B by mid-morning. Although the boarding process was not smooth, I enjoyed being on board and was greatly helped by the high tray table! 

Would I travel with Wizz Air again?

If I lived near an airport with Wizz Air flights, I would choose Wizz Air over Ryanair. EasyJet and Wizz Air are very similar, so if I were opting for a budget airline, I would not have a preference.

If you like Malaga’s look but prefer to fly from Heathrow, British Airways runs two flights daily. From Gatwick, you can fly with BA, Vueling, EasyJet, Tui or Wizz Air.