Review of Wizz Air flight from Vienna to Reykjavík in Economy

Hello dear flight report readers,

I got an invitation from my friend in Iceland to visit him. The sole task was to find the appropriate flights from my hometown, Budapest (BUD) to Reykjavík-Keflavík (KEF) airport. The fastest and (usually) the cheapest option from BUD (and from Central-Eastern Europe) is Wizz Air’s direct flight. I like flying with Wizz Air. It’s not extremely fancy, and there’s no five-course meal or welcome drink onboard. But it’s reliable: you pay for what you really need. If you go on a two-day trip, it’s enough to tuck everything in a backpack and go for the base fare. It includes a 40x30x20 cm bag and free online check-in. If your trip is longer, I recommend choosing the priority option which includes a trolley bag (55x40x23), priority boarding and a small bag. You can also add a checked-in bag (10/20/32 kg) to your booking. I chose the second option.

The fare for the BUD to KEF flight was higher than I expected therefore I considered flying from Vienna. Fortunately it was much cheaper though I had to travel from Budapest to Vienna by train. There’s a direct Railjet connection between the two capitals, operating seven times a day. It’s slightly more expensive than the direct buses of RegioJet and Flixbus but more comfortable (especially on 1st class :D) and links the centres of the cities. Over and above, they have some decent breakfast onboard. Here are some pictures of my journey from Budapest-Keleti to Vienna Main Station:  

I headed to the airport after buying almost everything at the main station’s sweet shops.

Note that Wizz Air uses Terminal 1A for check-in at VIE. After dropping off your baggage you have to go through security at T1.

I was airside within 10 minutes. The airport has been going through a renovation this time but there were no queues anywhere. 

Level A320 and Eurowings A319 on jetbridges:

W6 2857 to Reykjavík, that’s my flight! By the way if you’re flying Wizz within the Schengen area your flight is most likely to leave from one of gates C. If you’re travelling to the non-Schengen area your flight departs from section D.

Gate opened on-time when I just arrived. The staff started to check the boarding passes. Surprisingly there was absolutely no respect for passengers with priority boarding even though it was displayed on the screen.

Took a bus to the plane:

Boarding by bus is not the most comfortable way but it’s good to take pictures about a Lauda A320 being pushbacked or a Thai B777 at a remote parking position.

HA-LTF, Wizz Air’s one year-old A321 carried us today:

Vienna’s iconic tower in the back: 

Regular Wizz Air seats: 

I can’t complain about the legroom in row 26. I can highly recommend to purchase a seat in one of the emergency exit rows, especially on a longer intra-European flight like this. It makes the flight experience much better!

Pushback was at 12:27 and take-off at 12:32 for a scheduled departure time of 12:25. The flight itself was nothing special, I spent most of the time sleeping and chatted a bit with a friendly cabin crew member about Wizz Air’s quick expansion in VIE.

The downside of this row: there’s no window due to the emergency exits and the cabin attendants’ seat. It made me feel sad not being able to see magical Iceland from above – choose seat 1A, 1F or 12A to have both a window and a huge legroom.

We landed at 14:26 for a scheduled arrival time of 14:55. The weather is always nice in Iceland:  

The terminal from outside and inside:

An AirBaltic A220, Icelandair B757s and a Lufthansa A321:

The sign that I love to see every time I come to this country: