Malev Airlines Is Not The Safest In My Opinion. They Are Now Partners With NWA!
Written: Oct 31 '02 (Updated Dec 17 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: We made it in one piece.
Cons: Several safety violations
The Bottom Line: I would not recommend Malev due to their lack of concern for passenger safety.
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| sweetsue_98's Full Review: Malev Hungarian Airlines |
First of all I am extremely happy to see that this airline has at last been added to the database at epinions.com. Although many people are not familiar with this airline, which is the airline of Hungary, it is important as a traveler that you know more about it.
We flew to Budapest on Delta airlines, or so we thought. At the time Malev was a code share with Delta. They are now a code share (partner) with Northwest Airlines. Although we flew on them a few years ago, our ticket said Delta on all flights, and I did have some considerable concern about the fact that this had not been disclosed to us at the time we purchased our tickets. The rules have changed, and if you are booked on another airline you must be made fully aware of it at the time.
So what was Malev like? First of all just a little background for you about the airline itself. It is the national airline of Hungary and flies mostly within Europe. There are other worldwide cites, such as New York where you can fly directly from Budapest. Their fleet is not very new and the largest aircraft is a Boeing 767-200 and the smallest a Fokker. It was our understanding at the time that they were still using some Russian made aircraft.
We were supposed to fly from Frankfurt to Budapest on Malev, but missed our connection and ended up on Lufthansa. Our experience, interesting as it was, was the return direct flight from Budapest to New York City.
They seem to be quite unsystematic and not horribly accommodating. Since we had Delta tickets, we drug our entire luggage to the Delta counter. After standing for sometime, we were told to go to the Malev counter in at a different part of the airport. We stood in line again, and finally did get checked in.
The gate our aircraft was assigned to was very small, and masses of people were waiting for the boarding to take place. There were very few seats to sit in while waiting for your row to be called. Yes, I expect an orderly boarding process, but was in for a surprise. When the time came to get on the plane, they just opened the area, never called rows, and 200 people pushed and shoved to get on. Not only was this not safe, it was very awkward.
Once we made it to our seats, stowed our luggage, we breathed a sigh of relief. My husband happened to be looking out the window, and noticed the driver of the crew bus smoking a cigarette just fifty feet from the aircraft. This is a serious safety violation and could cause a grave explosion. No one seemed to be bothered but us. Obviously they do not follow the world wide safety regulations.
Well, it was time for our nine-hour flight, and the attendants were very pleasant, gave good safety instructions in Hungarian, German, and English. Our aircraft was an older 767-200ER and had strange armrests between the seats. We were on one of the two seat passenger sides and the rest was much wider than I had ever seen before. Once you would get settled this would constantly go up and down, and being wider, it was very easy to pinch yourself with it. I would say the seats were not comfortable.
The food was quite good, very Hungarian and exceptional for any coach airline. They offered movies, but were one at a time, as they did not have individual televisions. Having flown a great deal, I have never seen people get up and down so much. They apparently were very restless, and there were times when more people were in the aisles than in their seats.
We arrived in New York and as we landed the passengers clapped. My husband jokingly ask me “is this the first time the pilot as done this.” Someone told me it is a custom to clap when they land. It certainly had never happened on any other European flights we had taken.
I did not like Malev because of the safety issues of smoking near the aircraft, and no organized boarding. We did arrive in one piece, but it was good to get off that plane.
Now that Northwest is partners with Malev, you could end up on one of their flights. I would do so with great reservation.
We made it home, but I think that will be my one and only Malev flight!
Since there has been so many comments about my review, I have posted the information about who owns the planes that Malev flies.
http://www.buyusa.gov/hungary/en/page216.html
This website says:
The State Privatization and Assets Holding Company owns 97 percent of the Hungarian national carrier, MALEV. After a failed privatization attempt in 2001, the privatization of the airline is not realistic within the next 2-3 years. MALEV posted losses of $ 26.5 million in 2001 and expects to have losses of about $ 8.5 million in 2002. The airline expects to break even in 2003. MALEV operates 23 aircraft, MOST OF WHICH ARE LEASED. Only 14 percent of the fleet is OWNED by the company. The fleet consists of 17 Boeing and six Fokker-70 aircraft. MALEV agreed to LEASE another ten Boeing aircraft in 2003-2004, when current lease agreements expire.
Since this was published July 2002, I think it is quite accurate. If you have a problem with this information write to the website listed above.
Updated:
Since doing more research on this airline I found some great information on this site:
http://www.airlinequality.com/Airlines/MA.htm
It gives Malev a three out of a possible five star rating.
This is what they consider three stars:
3 Star Ranking
Star Grading awarded to airlines supplying a fair Quality performance that conforms to an industry "average" - when assessing all different areas of competitive ranking.
3 Star ranking signifies a satisfactory standard of core Product across most travel categories - but may reflect less consistent standards of Staff Service / Product delivery either Onboard or in the Airport environments.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
sweetsue_98
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"Still More George W. Bushisms: 'Neither in French Nor in English Nor in Mexican'"
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