Malev Hungary - airline ceases all flights

Carlusha

sherbie wrote: »

my parents are 77 and 72, and still make the car journey to hungary so im sure theres a good few years of enjoyable holidays on very distant shores ahead of you both. dont forget to enjoy all the scrummy food when you get there!

have fun, take care, and do please let us know how things work out.:)

ps room in ure suitcase for a not so lil one?

I had thought of driving but there's no car insurance in Ukraine and UK insurers will not extend cover to include Ukraine!

Add to that, many drivers have "bought" driving licenses and the standard of driving is dangerous.

I did drive to Hungary many moons ago. Lovely country, beautiful people and much to see.

sherbie

Carlusha wrote: »

I did drive to Hungary many moons ago. Lovely country, beautiful people and much to see.

aaaaaaaaaw, thankyou! ure right of course, but i may well be biased!:o im pleased you enjoyed it!

weve got friends from Ukraine, but the area near the border with Hungary. They live in Hungary now tho. Hungarian driving is hideous, but their horror stories of drivers over there confirms ure wise decision not to drive there!:T

just had to share these words of advice from my cousins hubby, he was driving me around budapest in his tiny orange fiat...i was reaching for the seatbelt, and he started laughing me, and said theres no use putting that on, if we crash in this we'll die anyway, and that will just prolong the agony! :eek:

have a wonderful holiday, and be very careful crossing those roads!

ps just a thought, and i hope i dont get into trouble for not sticking to topic, but i dont know if you can use bus passes from here, over there? or if not get special fares on transport, including trains for the over 60's?

Carlusha

sherbie wrote: »

ps just a thought, and i hope i dont get into trouble for not sticking to topic, but i dont know if you can use bus passes from here, over there? or if not get special fares on transport, including trains for the over 60's?

Apologies to all for our straying from topic!

No need for bus passes really! The bus, trolley bus, tram and minibus fares are a fraction of UK prices. For example, a trip to the market is 10p each on the first three and 25p on the minibus.

Council funded movie follows, play full screen, English language.

Odessa, Ukraine - City Council video

bris

I am also at a loss as to why your s75 claim is being so problematic. When flygloabspan went bust, my flights to Florida, £3200 worth were refunded within a couple of weeks.
All the information was provided to me via the ATOL website, it required a confirmation from ATOL about the failure, but I had no problems.
http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1052&pagetype=70&gid=1053&faqid=685

sherbie

Carlusha wrote: »

No need for bus passes really! The bus, trolley bus, tram and minibus fares are a fraction of UK prices. For example, a trip to the market is 10p each on the first three and 25p on the minibus.

ooooooooooh, like Hungary used to be, now its just short of a quid for each leg. those were the days...siiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

im also sorry if the straying annoyed anyone, its my fault, and i promise after this normal service will be resumed...

just watched the video, and had a look round the site, ive still got the page open, and will look again in a bit! i hope you realise uve made all of us that have looked really, really jealous! thankyou so much for taking the time and effort to share that with us! its looks amazing! the opera house is stunning, and i must admit my former ignorance as to what a culturally important city it is! its beautiful, although i dont fancy all those steps! i do fancy the violet exhibition though, i love violets, and have them everywhere!

i hope in sharing that video you now feel excitement and happiness ahead of ure trip, instead of owt else!:)

bris - im so pleased you got ure money back, its great to hear positive news!

Carlusha

bris wrote: »

I am also at a loss as to why your s75 claim is being so problematic. When flygloabspan went bust, my flights to Florida, £3200 worth were refunded within a couple of weeks.
All the information was provided to me via the ATOL website, it required a confirmation from ATOL about the failure, but I had no problems.
http://www.caa.co.uk/default.aspx?catid=1052&pagetype=70&gid=1053&faqid=685

Thanks, but the CAA are telling a different story! See:

CAA response to Malev demise

sherbie

i just had a look at the malev site, and theres some new info there, all sorts about making claims direct from them, but theres a box further down the page, and it says...

If the payment was made by bank card (credit, debit, charge) in a foreign bank can I request a refund...Yes, each bank is liable to refund the price of the non-accomplished services.

http://www.malev.hu/index_en.htm

dunno if this info is useful, just backs up what you already know!

Carlusha

Thanks, Sherbie.

That is more or less what Malev stated originally. This time, however, they are saying "each bank is liable" which is a bit more definitive than those early statements.

Time will tell whether HSBC will perform.

By the way, I have added a link to this thread in my reply letter to the HSBC Premier Complaints Officer and copied the same to my branch manager.

luci

Enjoy your trip and I appreciate you keeping us updated.

Carlusha

Hello, All

An update is in order.

Well, we travelled after making a fresh booking with BA using a different route involving a very tiring 600km coach trip upon arrival in Ukraine.

Before leaving on 1st March I had to complete a declaration to Mastercard. I enclosed a covering letter explaining we were away for 3 months but would check my bank account on-line now and again to watch for the reimbursement. No joy!

Upon returning, 27th May, I found several letters including one telling me they would assume if they did not hear from me within 14 days, they would close the case.

As you can imagine, since I had explained we would be out of the UK (but contactable by email), I was shocked and upset.

Amongst these letters was yet another declaration I had to complete, very similar to the first. Anyway, I have just completed that, added copies of the Malev email confirmation of our booking, a copy of Malev's website telling me I have to seek reimbursement from my card issuer.

This has completely spoilt the extended break to celebrate our reaching retirement age.

By the way, I copied everything to my branch manager with a covering letter but he did not have the courtesy to even acknowledge this.

BEXHILL BRANCH HSBC - Shame on you.