The low-cost airline Wizz Air is forcing all passengers to appear at the check-in counter before departure with immediate effect. However, this does not release you from the obligation to check-in in advance via the Internet, because if you forget it or if you have not booked the paid counter option, it can be expensive.

Under the guise of a “document check”, all Wizz Air passengers now have to appear at the check-in counter so that their Corona travel documents can be viewed by the ground staff. This also applies if you already have the boarding pass on your smartphone or printed out, which is recommended, because otherwise Wizz Air can charge an exorbitant fee for the check-in process.

The carrier now recommends that passengers should queue in front of the check-in counters around two hours before departure. In this way, the carrier produces completely unnecessary crowds, because the documents could also be checked directly at the gate as before. The carrier writes that the boarding passes are “validated” at the counter. This formulation allows the assumption that without activation, access to the security area can be denied or that boarding at the gate could become problematic.

The low-cost airline writes, among other things: “Due to the stricter international travel regulations, passengers are required to arrive at the airport early so that all necessary travel documents required by the destination country can be checked and the passenger's boarding pass can be validated. Upon arrival at the airport, passengers should go directly to the Wizz Air check-in counter, where the airline's ground staff will check whether the passenger has the required certificate (s), permit (s) and a negative COVID test result and has the appropriate online registration form required by the destination country. If the documents are valid, Wizz Air will issue a new boarding pass with which the passenger can board the flight. If the passenger cannot provide all the required documents, the airline will be forced to refuse boarding as the passenger may not be allowed to enter the country of destination. Failure to comply with these regulations results in heavy penalties for both the passenger and the airline. "