SkyEurope cancelled BBU-BUD tickets for earlier time periods, and according to FlyerTalk posters, they did not receive an email. Once they got in touch, SkyEurope informed them they didn’t do refunds, just credits. That was okay for this poster, as they booked another SkyEurope flight. I would do a credit card challenge if this flight no longer exists, because I think in your case you have no use for another SkyEurope route for your trip. I hadn’t heard about the later time periods, but maybe there’s too much competition on this route and indeed the route no longer exists on their site.

So yes – I’d buy the Wizzair flight probably, and also check out Malev.

I just sent SkyEurope a response, so we’ll see what happens.  I haven’t heard much on Wizzair, so i’m not sure how reliable it is.  Even with a free ticket (just paying taxes), the WizzAir ticket comes to about $30 CAD.  My SkyEurope ticket only cost about $23 CAD.  I already checked out Malev yesterday, and it’s extremely expensive.  Maybe i’ll have to check ITA, and see what I can find. 

Or maybe the trip will just have to be altered slightly.  Hungary was the main country I was interested in anyway, and I have my direct flight to Budapest, so whatever happens in the 10 days i’m there is open to change.

It seems both Wizzair and SkyEurope are attacking the central/eastern European marketplace by dumping a bunch of cheap fares, and then cancelling the route if demand is different than expected or if they decide to use the planes somewhere else. Of course all airlines do this to some extent, but Wizzair and SkyEurope have done this several times in the past few years, so it seems to be a purposeful pattern. And if they make it difficult to get a refund, it’s no-lose for them.
 
There’s always the train method back from Bucharest to Budapest – about 14 hours and if done at night, not so much of an imposition.

I know the long overnight train is available, but I figured one of those in a week was enough.  I was planning on taking the overnight train from Budapest to Sighisoara.  I’m holding off on buying anything for now, and i’ll wait and see what the airline has to say (if I even get a response). 

Budapest and Bratislava are on, but the rest just may be open.  I want to make sure when I get to Romania, I don’t end up only seeing a place or 2.  I don’t want to feel like I went all that way, only to miss out on seeing everything I wanted to.  If I don’t have time to see it all on this trip, maybe i’ll opt for something not quite as far from Budapest. 

Croatia and Slovenia, and maybe even Poland interest me, but I don’t even want to get into this right now.  I’m just happy this is a pretty flexible trip.[]

Nivid, it looks like Blue Air has done something similar in my case – well, not quite so drastic, as they have changed the dates and times without informing me. I bought the tickets for Blue Air Jan. 10, but now the August 15 flight BBU-CGN has changed to an earlier time in the day (not a concern), but the August 25 CGN-BBU flight has disappeared (definitely a concern!). I have sent an email and I will see what they say.

I emailed the airline, and fill out an online form, and have never gotten a response.  One of these days, i’m going to phone them, and see what exactly they have to say.  My flight is still listed when I log into SkyEurope, but i’ve never gotten an email about it.  Only for me checking something on their site, I still may not even have known.

The only thing I would recommend is to be sure, if you don’t get a response, to do your credit card chargeback within the time limit allowed, and have documentation of your requests to contact them and get compensation.
 
I know this sort of thing happens with Ryanair and even major airlines too, but I much prefer getting notice about it, and a proactive approach to handling the situation.

I called the Credit Card company, and they said that I will have to wait until the date of the flight in order to be compensated.  They said to keep all my flight info, and keep a response (should I get one) as proof.

Nivid – that’s interesting – what credit card did you use for this?

Mastercard

Blue Air changed the flight for me to the previous day without any hassle. So I guess I get an extra day in Bucharest – I think we’ll do a daytrip to Sinaia.

Last week I got an email from SkyEurope saying my flight was cancelled, and that I had 2 options.

a) Rebook my flight at another date and time OR
b) cancel and get a full refund

I’m pretty impressed, since I thought my money was long gone and that i’d never here from the airline again.  I had to fill in an online form, and in a week or so, the money should be credited back to my MC. 

The route that I had booked, still is no longer in existence, and even if I wanted to rebook for another date, I can’t since my flights to and from Canada are booked, and i’m not changing them. 

Looks like Romania might have to wait until another trip.  It’ll most likely be Hungary, Slovakia and Austria this summer.

I’m glad they emailed you and you’ll get a refund, but 7 weeks later is a bit ridiculous. What if you had made nonrefundable plans in the interim?