Delayed and dismayed in Luton - letters to the editor

Delayed and dismayed in Luton

A regular traveller between Budapest and London, the long night of the Museums was an event I was looking forward to attending with friends. Instead, I was stuck in Luton airport for 14 hours before eventually arriving at my flat in Budapest at 6am, over 12 hours late.
There is a lesson somewhere in this ghastly adventure. I had bought a cheap ticket with Wizzair instead of sticking to the airlines I know who do “wooden bench” flights, or even Malév/British Airways, which have good deals.
This airline is building up a reputation for delays, so this was by no means a one off, and nobody likes to be made fool of, even if they have paid only £166.
This is enough to expect some service or even compensation for a lost day and lost connections to destinations far from Budapest.
As you may know, Luton is not a very prepossessing place, and I can think of better places to spend the night.
The immediate news of an estimated three hour delay to our 2pm flight was just about acceptable, since a plane had broken down and no one wants to travel on a dodgy aircraft.
But the three hours passed with a £3 voucher and no further explanation or information was offered until, finally, the 100 passengers approached the Wizzair desk and tried to quiz several female staff who appeared much hotter under the collar than the passengers.
“Didn’t you read the contract you made with the airline?” they asked. The duty manager, the only polite, professional, person, after struggling with his many mobiles for an hour, finally announced that a substitute plane had been found, would fly from Prague to Budapest and thence to Luton.
Our new departure would be at an “estimated 1:35am.” Another voucher for £10 was issued. The long night of the sleep- deprived passengers began.
Meanwhile, the restaurants and shops around us closed one after the other. The departure lounge was deserted. Even the taps at the bar ran out of beer.
The 100, mostly Hungarian passengers, amazingly kept up their good humor throughout, and only one English passenger became seriously “merry” and quite comical when he started practicing his minimal Hungarian vocabulary on us.
Eventually, the Boeing 737, marked Canarias - Service, took off at 2:15am, but we were not offered so much as a drop of water all the way to Budapest, where we arrived long after the sun had risen in the sky.
May this be a warning to travellers. Cheapest is not always best and the lower end of the air travel market has plenty of very good deals.

Esther Ronay
Raoul Wallenberg utca

Editor’s note: Wizz Air was given the chance to respond to this letter, but had not done so by the time The Budapest Sun went to press.



Architectural gain? It more like pain

I must say that I am a little upset at some of the architectural changes that are taking place in my beloved Budapest.  
Let’s start with the ugly. How could anybody in their right mind, having a minimum of integrity albeit taste, allow the construction of that huge, glass building on the once elegant Vörösmarty tér?  
This gigantic edifice, possessing all the elegance of an elephant stuck in a mud pool, completely disfigures and spoils the whole area. Walking past it, I felt like I had a Walkyrie hanging over me ready to pounce! Can you imagine such a building in the old town square in Prague?
What is even more terrifying is the other project foreseen in Szervita tér for a building which, if local pictures show the reality, has all the allure of a mutilated version of the Loch Ness monster!
Admittedly, the present building on Szervita tér is far from beautiful, but let’s not make matters worse.
Modern architecture is fine, but in the right place. It’s a question of balance.  
In Paris, lots of errors have been made on this level, and the mixture of old and new architecture doesn’t work, apart from maybe the pyramid at the Louvre.
It is good to see renovations being made, especially for the local people, but I feel Budapest is slowly losing its soul to the devil.
There used to be a nice view from the end of Vörösmarty tér, looking towards Deák Ferenc and the almighty Anker Palace, an absolute landmark on Károly körút.
However, now the view is partially obstructed by a row of little fairy lights and a few, kitschy, pseudo-Parisian gas-lamps which look like they might have been taken from a Charlie Chaplin film-set, all this to embroider a few high-class shops.
Luckily, there are still a few corners of this marvellous city that have been preserved, but one wonders for how much longer?  
Miraculously, many authentic streets still remain, and when strolling along them you know you are still in Budapest and not in Las Vegas.

Mary Wotherspoon
Paris



Fine disabled parking offenders

I completely agree with the sentiments in Disabled parking con (Letters, The Budapest Sun, June 18), condemning parking abuses against disabled drivers by able bodied drivers on the streets of Budapest.
Unlike most American cities, Budapest doesn’t seem to have harsh, rigorously enforced penalties for such abuses.
Last year in Missouri, my wife had painful foot surgery, expected to take some three months to heal.  
Her surgeon was obliged to provide a signed application to the motor vehicle bureau for a conspicuously dated, TEMPORARY, disabled parking tag for her car.
This permitted her to legally park in designated spaces wherein violators are regularly fined between $500 and $1,000 for illegally parking. Those caught using a false permit must pay much higher fines.
Most often in St Louis, Missouri, parking spaces are generously available for disabled drivers.
But it is not that Missouri car owners are much more kindly or morally well adjusted than their Budapest counterparts.
Rather, the police better enforce the laws, and able bodied Missouri drivers simply hate paying the very high fines when caught perpetrating parking crimes against disabled drivers.
My guess is that, after a few Budapest bad apples are caught and heavily fined, disabled parking abusers will quickly disappear.

Frederick Sweet
Szentkirályi utca
Budapest

02.07.2008