MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review :  18 September  2009 by B Kovacs   (Hungary)

CDG-BUD-CDG 6 times in the last half year, 5 flights with Malév (7 with Air France), on Boeing 737-600 and 700, Economy class. Very basic service from tired-looking FAs, never accompanied with a smile, they often complained among themselves in Hungarian while serving the passengers, often saying disrespectful things about pax not understanding their language : an extremely big negative point. Planes overall in excellent condition, equipped with overhead entertainment system, showing Oneworld and information about the flight. Online or self- service check-in unfortunately not available from Paris at all, from Budapest only if your flight is operated by Malév and you have a Malév ticket. Self-service check-in machines at BUD are often frozen, or not working at all. Legroom is generous, seat width is OK. Does not matter which flight you take, you will only get a small sandwich, not too much for this 2 hour flight. Once upgraded to business class: a different service from 2 attentive FAs, frequent rounds to satisfy all our needs, delicious hot meal. Personal space is a bit bigger than on Y class, but Malév still puts 3 business class passengers on 3 seats next to each other - I prefer the Air France and Lufthansa solution, where the middle seat is left empty.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review :  30 August  2009 by P Hyvönen   (Finland)

HEL-BUD return economy. Morning flight to Budapest was ok, although cabin personnel do have quite reserved attitude towards customers (even by Finnish standards) and service was not too overwhelming. Return was spoiled already at the check in - terminal 2A ended up being a big mess. Only few Malev flights, long queues, too little desks open (and too little personnel to take care of queue) it ended up in chaos where quite a few missed their flights. I was lucky to make it, started queuing 2h15min before flight and got my boarding pass just over 30 minutes before the scheduled departure time. Easy to guess that while writing this the bag is still on the way!

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review :  21 August 2009 by S Gregorn   (Croatia)

BUD-TGM-BUD on quite old Dash 8. Flights on time, FAs friendly enough, service acceptable for a cheap 29 EUR flight, but I wouldn't be happy with it paying 420 EUR what flight for ZAG costs. However, there are definitely better airlines in middle Europe than MALEV.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review :  14 July 2009 by Christopher Adam   (Canada)

Budapest-Sarajevo return. Service onboard Malev has deteriorated significantly over the past two years, making this a below average airline. Check-in at Budapest Airport chaotic and disorganized, and the self-check-in machine was out of order. Flight attendants offered passengers in economy class small boxes of artificial orange juice and inedible chocolate wafers. There was no choice at all when it came to drinks, with the exception of tea or coffee to complement the juice box. Add to the poor service the fact that Malév prices on its Budapest to Sarajevo route are very high. Malév could once pride itself on excellent service, but now it pales in comparison to what British Airways offers on its short-haul routes.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review :  27 June 2009 by S Gregg   (Spain)

BUD-MAD on a 737-700. One of the perks Malev offers you is online checkin which is seldom used by most people flying with Malev. Combine this with the absurdly low number of Biz pax and you get Biz seats for grabs! Service will be still Economy (sadly declining sharply over the past 2 years). The only attractive thing about Malev is they fly this route cheaper now than the usual Wizz tickets.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review :  25 June 2009 by Shane Larkin   (Ireland)

Booked via my company to fly from Dublin to Budapest - After being in the check-in queue for almost 20 minutes (no electronic check-in in Dublin) . Got to the desk and told there was a problem with my ticket in that I didn't have a seat on the plane as they have changed the aircraft to a smaller one - this I heard also happened to 50 others! Now bearing in mind I had booked an early flight to catch an important meeting in Budapest at 13:00 - the only option I was given was to catch a plane to Paris and then onto Budapest and I would arrive there at 18:00! Never again will I risk to fly with them - Malev should be ashamed of themselves !

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review :  15 June 2009 : by B Boros  (UK)

LGW-BUD-LGW in business class. I fly BA on this route very often and decided to give Malev a go for a change. The service is frankly shocking. Surly, unsmiling ground staff at Budapest, an every-man-for-himself scrum at the gate once boarding is announced, a 20 minute wait on a packed hot bus to be shuttled to the plane, followed by a 20 minute wait on the tarmac as a full aircraft boards through one stairway. The flight attendants tried hard, but were clearly frazzled, and the meal consisted of dry chicken in sweet and sour paprika sauce served on a white napkin. If considering flying Malev business class, my advice would be to save your money and fly BA economy - it's better in almost every way.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review :  1 June 2009 : by T Hentunen  (Finland)

Seems like the standards at Malev are going down. This time had a return flight from HEL to BUD. Service was very poor in economy. Got an upgrade to business on a way back, in which the food and service were quite nice. But in economy, Malev feels like very low-cost. If I had a choice, I would rather fly a airline like Turkish, Lufthansa or Finnair, which have much better standards on same routes.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review :  29 May 2009 : by Simon Smith  (UK)

OTP-BUD-ARN economy on Malev. OTP-BUD on very old and noisy F70. Service provided was a bag of pretzels and a drink. Connection at BUD was okay, queues not too bad but buses to/from planes, and airport very busy. Due to BA exec club status I used the Malev lounge, which was small, basic and crowded. BUD-ARN was on B737-800 which was newer but uncomfortable due to a combination of high cabin temperature and plastic covered seats, which got hot and sticky. Snack was a small cheese roll with 1 piece of lettuce. The only good thing about the flight was getting out of the plane into fresh air at ARN. Would avoid Malev in future where possible.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review : 25 May 2009 : by C Rocha

Customer Rating : 3/5

MAD-BUD-MAD Economy Codeshared with Iberia. Plane clean and staff attentive, on return check- in at Ferihegy was fast and courteous. I think they don’t serve alcohol on economy. A small sandwich juice or water and coffee served free of charge. Again flight personnel were attentive and friendly. The plane was a Boeing 737-700 and was new.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review : 20 May 2009 : by Pete Crowman

Customer Rating : 4/5

BUD-CDG Business. Checkin was quick. I was continuing to New York JFK on AA and then to Lima on LAN. I was able to get my boarding pass for the first connection, but not the 2nd. Not sure why not, they were all One World Airlines. Checkin nice, but I was not directed to a lounge, and my boarding pass did not list the gate, even though it was just two hours to departure. After going to the wrong lounge, I arrived at one of the right ones. Malev seems to operate two lounges across from each other. I was the only Biz passenger on the Boeing 737-800. Not a huge fan of the European style business class (economy class seats with a curtain separating from coach). Service was really good. I was invited to sit anywhere I wanted to because I was the only J passenger. Pre-departure beverage offered, hot towel service before takeoff and before landing. Hot breakfast of good quality, with a second pass on the bread tray. Several beverage runs. Very attentive, decent food, lots of smiles.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review : 20 April 2009 : by B Kovacs

Customer Rating : 3/5

CDG-BUD in Economy of a B737-700. Fair service, however without a single smile. One passenger called a FA and it took almost 5 minutes that she arrived. In addition, it was on Easter's Friday, perhaps the only day of the year when it is awaited that they are at least well- supplied with meat-free food. It was not the case, half of the plane had to eat salami sandwich, as they ran out of the cheese one. At least they were on time, and was cheaper than with AF.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review : 6 April 2009 : by J Hansen

Customer Rating : 2/5

CPH-BUD-CPH economy. Planes (737 and 738) fairly new with good legroom and IFE. Both flights a little delayed. Inflight service is rather poor, an ok sandwich but no alcohol - not even for purchase! No coke, only juice and water. From A to B fine but definitely nothing special.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES customer review : 30 March 2009 : by Konstantinos Roumeliotis

Customer Rating : 4/5

ATH-BUD return in Y. Flights on time, plane not full, staff fairly attentive, food (sandwich) not tried. Seat pitch average for Y class. Good deals on fares as well. MA product is very descent and the effort its people make is well appreciated. Ferihegy airport staff could be just a little bit more smiling, and less strict with weight limits (fortunately I did not have to pay extra so far). Airport departure gates and facilities (Ferihegy) are just not up to anticipated standards for a modern European airport, though. A recommended product overall.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES review : 26 March 2009 : by T Fulop

Customer Rating : 3/5

I travel a lot with Malev from Budapest to Moscow and back. In Budapest there is no problem with checking-in, but Moscow is very slow. The staff are polite and always apologise for slow checking.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES review : 14 January 2009 : by E Wilson

Customer Rating : 1/5

Malev flight delayed Jan 11th due to four passengers arriving 30 mins after scheduled take off. The crew made it very clear that we were waiting for them. When they finally got on board, the traffic controller would not let us take off for an other 20 mins. Most of us missed our connections. There were a lot of angry folks at the Amsterdam airport. Especially when it became clear that Malev was not taking any responsibility for the delay. If MALEV makes a decision of waiting for passengers way passed scheduled time, they at least should take responsibility for the consequences.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES review : 26 November 2008 : by Gergely Rung

Customer Rating : 4/5

BUD-CPH BUD economy. Online check in was great and fast, but only available from BUD. Both flights on 737-600 wich were clean and comfortable. FAs made polite service. Legroom ok. A sandwich and chocolate and free beverages served during this 1,5 hour flight. Overall a good experience.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES review : 24 November 2008 : by H Theodore

Customer Rating : 5/5

LGW to BUD in Business class. Gatwick,staff direct you to the Aviance Lounge, but as Malev is part of Oneworld, the BA lounge upstairs (with showers and superior facilities) is also accessible if you don't mind not having info displays about when the flight is boarding. The flight boarded business class passengers first and offered refreshment along with a selection of magazines and newspapers. Once in the air, food service, service courteous and professional.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES review : 7 November 2008 : by Andrew Monks

Customer Rating : 5/5

Dublin - Budapest return. Check in at both ends was quick, baggage claim also quick. Inflight service excellent - a warm breakfast served on the flight to Budapest with a stream of drinks - return evening flight we were served a sandwich which was OKy.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES review : 31 October 2008 : by A Hijmans

Customer Rating : 3/5

AMS-BUD-AMS on Boeing 737, economy. Fairly bland meal service, choice of two sandwich varieties. Inbound flight again delayed, this time by 40 minutes. Inflight service again basic foodwise but attendance very good, it is nice to see in flight attendants near pension age still delivering excellent service, in fact one of the stewards, who was probably in his late fifties, lended a certain authoritative flair to the whole experience. A whole lot better than young, inexperienced staff employed by certain low-budget airlines.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES review : 9 October 2008 : by Janne Petersson

Customer Rating : 5/5

Gothenburg-Budapest return. Outbound on Fokker 70, return on B737-700. Seat pitch OK, attentive service, sandwich and drinks (including good beer and plenty of tasty Hungarian wine) served for free. Both flights almost on time. Very pleasant and very, very good value for money. Would use Malév again.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES review : 4 October 2008 : by D Benson

Customer Rating : 4/5

LGW-BUD-LGW. Economy. Great value, comfortable seats and attentive service on new B737-700. Good, Hungarian-style hot food served on both legs and considering I could have paid more to travel by EasyJet – this was a wise choice. Would travel with again.

MALEV HUNGARIAN AIRLINES review : 12 September 2008 : by L Reinstein

Customer Rating : 3/5

ARN-BUD-ATH. Business class. Check-in and lounge at ARN handled by Finnair (Oneworld Partner). I was only C class passenger which meant attentive service. Abysmal breakfast of cold, unidentifiable meat. Food on second flight was warm, but only slightly better. Aircraft new - Malev try hard, but clearly still a small airline that needs work.