Czech Airlines: good or bad?

December 6, 2005 10:18 AM

Has anyone flown on Czech Airlines recently? I'm flying them from NYC to Prague in January and the most recent reviews I've seen of them are 2-3 years old.
posted by parttimesaint to Travel & Transportation (9 answers total)

What type of review are you looking for? I flew Czech Airlines from Prague to Paris, Budapest and Bucharest lately, no problems.
posted by loquax at 10:31 AM on December 6, 2005

I flew Czech Airlines from NYC to Prague in the summer of 2002. It was ye standard cheap formerly-state-owned airline type of ordeal. The plane was filled mostly with budget travelers from former USSR, so the flight was accompanied by proper amounts of chaos, disregard for everything the flight attendants said, blatant safety violations (nobody wearing seatbelts, people smoking in salon near lavatories, making cell phone calls during take off) and screaming toddlers. The planes were old enough to still have ash trays built into the arm rests.

Now as someone who grew up in a former USSR country, I found the experience to be exactly as expected; in fact I was feeling quite in my element. It may seem a little out of control if you've only flown american or western european airlines before. But hey, it's only one flight, the overall safety track is on par with name brand airlines, and it's a cheap thrill. Just don't expect SAS level of service.
posted by blindcarboncopy at 11:02 AM on December 6, 2005

For what it's worth, my experience was different from blindcarboncopy's (although I didn't fly intercontinental) in 2003, 2004, and 2005. I found the planes and the level of service to be no different from the average Air Canada flight. There was no smoking, the planes were clean, there were all kinds of people on board. Very normal and average and boring. I've flown Tarom, Malev and Lot too, and they were also quite normal, as opposed to the horror stories I've heard about Aeroflot (which is supposed to be much better these days too). The airport in Prague reminds me of the airport in Vancouver too, for what it's worth.
posted by loquax at 11:43 AM on December 6, 2005

I flew Czech Airlines from Prague to Amsterdam, and I had no troubles at all. That said, New York -> Frankfurt -> Prague on Lufthansa would be a much nicer experience.
posted by cmonkey at 12:00 PM on December 6, 2005

I flew Czech from Amsterdam to Prague last year, in fact Czech, LOT (Polish), Malev (Hungary) in the space of a week - all were the same, all newish A320s, all clean standard stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary service wise

Czech were far better than Northwest P.O.S. DC-10 from Seattle to Amsterdam, shudder....
posted by clarkie666 at 1:08 PM on December 6, 2005

I flew Czech airlines a few summers back, and watched the strangest in-flight movie I have ever seen (it was in Czech with no subtitles so I have no clear ideas about what it was about) in which a beautiful young woman cut off her long blonde hair, only to be beaten by her boyfriend or husband with a hair brush.
All the same, it was better than any trip I have ever taken on United, hands down.
posted by Sara Anne at 1:15 PM on December 6, 2005

Best answer: Safety wise, there as good as any other. Being a member of the SkyTeam alliance (with AeroMexico, Air France, Alitalia, Delta Air Lines, Korean Air and Continental, Northwest Airlines, and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines), they're audited on their safety practices, maintenance, aircraft operations and security.

From a passenger service standpoint, they are a tad utilitarian, but provide comfortable and courteous, if not always luxurious service. Depends on the class of service you book, also.

If the price and schedule are right, I wouldn't hesitate to fly them.
posted by flyingrock at 1:30 PM on December 6, 2005

Best answer: To make a completely informed decision, you should know they dispense free Pilsner Urquell to steerage coach passengers.
posted by rob511 at 4:15 PM on December 6, 2005

I flew Czech air earlier this year and every year or so prior, and I have always had good experiences. The films, as Sara Anne noted, will likely be in Czech (which can be fun... save on the headphones and make up your own story about young Resnik, his village and the Great War); the food is typical airline food; and the flight will likely be of average comfort. The one difference, I have found, is the staff. I may just be lucky, but I routinely have in-flight staff that is friendly and accommodating. A few may not be English-proficient, but they have been more than gracious in attempting to understand my (sadly) English-only requests.
posted by gyrom at 6:50 PM on December 6, 2005