Getting from Budapest to Berlin

I'd avoid stress and fly to Berlin the day before departure to the US. There are no direct night trains and an overnight Flix bus ride of 12 hours before a transatlantic flight is certainly far from being recreating. Personally, I cannot confirm the horror stories about Easy Jet - it's just a no frills low-cost carrier and it is pretty petty about baggage regulations; otherwise for a 90 min flight I cannot see problems. But if you want to avoid them, there are enough alternatives on Kayak or Skyscanner.

The only direct flight I see from Budapest to TXL on 10/23 (or 10/22) is a 9:35 Easy Jet Flight that arrives at 11:05. Any other BUD to TXL itinerary is going to require a connection (such as a 6:00 am Lufthansa flight that connects through MUC with arrival at TXL at 9:05 or 9:25, depending on which connecting flight you choose) and will be more expensive. For a same-day, morning flight, the question is how much of a gambler are you? Are you willing to gamble that the flight out of BUD and/or the connecting flight will not be delayed? The odds are in your favor, but if you arrive at the Icelandair gate at TXL after the door closes, you will likely pay the walk-up price for a flight back across the Atlantic on whichever airline has an open seat. My experience on Easy Jet is good. It's an efficient budget carrier. You just have to know the rules of the ticket you buy, and you have to realize the rules will be strictly enforced.

The ubiquitous poster Fred is a fan of night trains. Perhaps he'll pop on and give an opinion. As Sla points out, though, there are no direct night trains, so you add additional uncertainty with connections. I also agree that a night on a bus/train before a flight sounds less than recreating.

All that to say that I agree with Sla. I would eliminate the stress and fly to Berlin on 10/22. I will admit, though, that I've made the gamble on an early morning, same-day flight on a separate ticket/airline to catch a transatlantic flight (VIE to MUC) and won, but it was a non-stop flight on a reliable carrier, and I had a good cushion between flights.

I went back and read your other post, I see that you've already encountered Fred. I am still interested in knowing what he thinks about taking a night train the night before a flight out.

You didn't mention your full itinerary, but some people combine Budapest with Prague. Did you? Prague has better train connections with Berlin. That's what we did, having flown INTO Budapest. Night trains are an obsolete form of low-budget transportation. And missing your flight home is a huge penalty for any problems. I would not travel internationally in the 24 hours before a flight home. I wouldn't even come from, say, Hamburg to Berlin the day of the flight.

When people post about horrid stories it would be helpful to know what those horrid stores are. We have flown easyJet a number of times with absolutely no problems. They are our preferred discount carrier in Europe. I compare them to SWest in the US and there are people in the US who rip on SWest. ALL airlines can have problems with weather, maintenance, etc. I would never consider flying in to met a returning flight. The downside risk to too high. Go in the day before. With a 2pm flight you will need to start the check in process around 11am.

Skyscanner.com shows non-stops from Budapest to Berlin on that date from easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz taking about 90 minutes. Even though the passenger has to be at the airport much earlier than the train station, and the Budapest airport is somewhat awkward to get to cheaply, the time saving over a half day, or night, bumping along on ground transport is overwhelming (even though I like trains.) Prices too; cheapest showing for your date is $20 US up to about $60. Extra fees will probably double the total, but that's still hard to beat.
How horrible can it be? These three airlines didn't grow so quickly by driving customers away. To some extent they succeeded by imitating Icelandair, which you approve of even with its mandatory stop in Iceland.

Thanks to everyone's thoughtful replies. Very helpful, and it seems like flying back to Berlin is a no-brainer if I'm finishing in Budapest.

My travel dates of are arriving Berlin on Oct 7th, followed by Dresden, day trip to Görlitz, Prague, then Budapest. I have considered reverse engineering the second leg of my trip and flying Berlin to Budapest, then heading up to Prague and finishing in Dresden/Görlitz. Then a short and easy train ride to Berlin from Dresden on my final day. My only problem with revising my itinerary is that it forces me to hit Prague on a weekend, which I was hoping to avoid. My original itinerary is:

Arr Berlin Oct 7th for 7 nights
Arr Dresden Oct 14th for 2 nights
Arr Prague Oct 16 for 3 nights
Arr Budapest Oct 19-22/23 3-4 nights
Oct 23 fly back to USA from Berlin (TXL)

As far as the horror stories for the budget airlines, a simple search for reviews (such as Yelp) don't paint them in a positive light. I have no problem flying them, and mostly just wanted to know if people felt they were generally reliable and on-time.

Again, thanks for the replies and if there's any further suggestions it is appreciated.

The flight is $45 non-stop on EasyJet. It arrives about 3 hours prior to your departure. I dont understand why you would do anything else.

I fly EasyJet all the time. I've never had a problem. They are serious about baggage weight and size, so you have to read the fine print and make sure you are in compliance. They are also serious about one piece of hand luggage (carry on in US terms) only, so if you have a purse and a piece of carry on luggage, you better be able to get it in your luggage and still be in the weight/size requirements. Make sure you've printed your boarding passes or have them on your phone. Otherwise they're completely fine.

That said, the reverse-engineered trip makes a lot of sense to me. Prague is crowded, regardless, I don't know how much more crowded it will be on a weekend in October versus other times but it's not something that would affect my travel plans.