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CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  23 January 2010 by S Tai   (Germany)

FRA-PRG-TLL. Morning flight FRA-PRG delayed for over an hour. Missed connection to Tallin in PRG. Over 60 mins standing and waiting in line at the transfer desk in Prague, to then find out that the only option to get to Tallin would arrive in Tallin at midnight. No apologies, no offering of compensation, highly "uninspired" staff. Flying CSA is also like flying in the 80s : the machines are probably 20-30 years old, with broken arm rests being fixed with duck-tape. Not to be recommended.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  19 January 2010 by C Habicht   (Estonia)

TLL-BRU connection in PRG. Economy. Each and every flight was delayed +/- an hour. First of all, my flight from Tallinn got delayed about 50 minutes because of de-icing. When we arrived in Prague, I only had 10 minutes to catch my flight. I only barely made it thanks to not having to pass any security checks anymore. That flight was delayed as well and I arrived in Brussels an hour later than planned. On the way back, my flight from Brussels was delayed over an hour so I missed my connection in Prague. So I had to stand in line for another hour to get my tickets exchanged. Of course there were no other direct flight to Tallinn, so they gave me one through Helsinki. At least I got to travel in business class because economy was full. Then my flight from Prague was delayed AGAIN and I missed my connection in Helsinki AGAIN. So I had to stand in line once more (another hour) to exchange my tickets, wait an hour for the flight to Tallinn which was also (of course) delayed about 50 minutes. In conclusion I spent my entire day in 4 different airports and got to Tallinn 8 hours later than I was supposed to. And with a headache from all the standing in lines in poorly air conditioned airports.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  10 January 2010 by Farouk Mogheth   (Thailand)

One way flight from Prague to Munich. The flight was early in the morning with an ATR42. Check in was a bit chaotic at the beginning.. sort of a rush hour and the new "check in for all Czech airlines flights" system that I am not very keen of but I have to admit that its a saving factor for the airline. More check in counters opened 20-25min from my arrival. I guess knowing their bottle neck times, all check ins should have been ready. But all in all it took me around 25minutes to check in. Czech airlines check in kiosks were all over with ladies helping those who didn't know how, but the line for the baggage drop was as well full. Beware Czech airlines will not let you with even 900g of extra weight! The check in agent was polite and helped that I took one of the fairly larger bags with me onboard (around 10kg) so I kind of wonder of the logic as I had a back pack and this bag with me. Passport control quick. Czech airlines has a fairly large fleet of turboprop ATR42s, however I caught one of two older generation so the interior even though clean, showed its age and older design. The cabin crew did their job looking at the fact that this was a very short hop. Security demonstration, English, Czech and German as well as newspapers in all these languages. Captain talked to us explaining de-icing and 5 minutes delay. A small sandwich and free (juices and water, tea and coffee). I love Czech airlines but a reason for taking a star away is having to pay for coca cola, beer and wine on their flights. CSA was known for impeccable service and plenty of food and drinks. Saving on visible things like food and drinks make a difference. Good value for money but have to monitor how much is CSA cutting in service - afraid it will come in line with other "sit, shut up till we arrive" kind of airlines that we see today

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  28 December 2009 by P Herman   (Spain)

Barcelona-Istanbul with connection in Prague. Excellent value for money, all flights arrived on time or early and friendly and helpful staff. A320 between Barcelona and Prague and return was clean, comfortable with excellent legroom and a bit of IFE on overhead screens, food same old sandwich and very limited free beverage service (only one round, and a very stingy one) however. A bit too many announcements from the flightdeck for my taste. 737-400 between Prague and Istanbul and be aware that these aircraft seem to have a third, substandard class which starts halfway down the economy section and features narrower seats and less legroom than the economy seats up front. I´m not sure if these are for passengers who have paid cheaper fares, but I was seated in this area on PRG-IST, but on the return flight I was seated closer to the front and was much more comfortable. Passengers who have booked business class on this aircraft should know that the first row in Business class, located right behind the bulkhead, features considerably less legroom than in economy. Prague airport is not my favourite but all connections were smooth and CSA staff were very helpful. On the return I only had 40 minutes between flights but I managed to get to the gate unhurried with time to spare. Will look into them again in the future.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  19 December 2009 by Graham Fairclough   (Netherlands)

Bucharest to Amsterdam, via Prague. Booked in economy; frequent flyer upgrade to business class on PRG - AMS leg. Czech Airlines are OK, though not as good as they were a few years ago. Their model is a hybrid of full service airline and low cost. The pressure on their prices if obvious, with only charter airline quality food and drinks available free in economy class. The main problem I encountered was changing planes in Prague. Prague airport has simply not worked out how to be an efficient hub. Connections between Schengen and non-Schengen zones in particular are a pain, as the airport is rather sprawling. As there was a 50 minute delay to the OTP-PRG leg, I had 15 minutes connection which I only made by a lot of running and some fairly shameless pushing in front of queues. Only 2 passport booths were open and these were monopolised by a group of Russian school children. CSA are fine but beware tight connections in Prague. If your incoming flight is late, neither CSA nor Prague airport will help you expedite the process; you're on your own and don't get priority in any queues. The result is extremely stressful. CSA are as good as any other airline for point-to-point travel at reasonable costs and onboard service can be very good, but beware connections.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  6 November 2009 by B Green   (Turkey)

IST to BCN via Prague return in Business Class. Outbound from Istanbul to Prague was good service on A320 with easy connection in Prague to Barcelona on A320 - good service with average business class seating. On the return segment we checked in for the flight and assigned seats 2a and c. When we boarded the aircraft we realized they had a change of aircraft to an A321. Problem with this plane is that it is only a charter aircraft with no business class. Small seat no legroom and I paid extra for this. The connection in Prague was to a B737-400 which was very old and badly in need of a new interior. Crew was nice but again cabin comfort horrible for a business class. As a Platinum member with Delta I was shocked to find that my miles did not credit to my account. When I contacted Delta they said to contact Czech Airlines. When I contact Czech Airlines I spoke with a very combative person on the phone who said this was a Delta problem and they could do nothing. A bad experience and had other issues with Czech with the overall service and the extremely rude 3rd party staff they have contracted in Barcelona.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  30 July 2009 by M Neuman   (Netherlands)

Amsterdam - Kyiv via Prague return. On the return, our flight out of Kyiv was delayed by about 40 minutes, resulting in a connecting time of only 15 min in Prague. Still, I made the flight as the plane waited a few extra minutes for us, connecting passengers. Also, my luggage was on the same plane! Impressive. Otherwise, standard service: sandwich and non-alcoholic drinks for free, pleasant planes. Will fly them again.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  27 July 2009 by J Spinner   (Germany)

TXL-JFK via Prague return. I have flown often with Czech in Europe, which is a decent experience, and thought I would try them transatlantic. Terrible idea. Worst business class I have ever experienced. The seats are worse than premium economy on BA or SAS - uncomfortable, poor pitch, poor recline, etc. The entertainment system consisted of an ipod with four films loaded on - the volume on the headphones was too low to hear anything. I tried three different ipods on the two transatlantic flights with no luck. Other than that, the decor is tired, toilets not kept clean during the flight. The only positive is that the crew are polite, but for this, one doesn't pay business class fares.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  27 July 2009 by J Teelem   (Estonia)

Helsinki - Prague one way. Aircraft modern and clean. Enough legroom, flight was about 2/3 full, so there were plenty of empty seats. FAs professional and polite. One sandwich and a glass of juice was for free.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  17 July 2009 by J Krastina   (Latvia)

RIX-PRG-JFK and back. Riga to Prague and back ok. Aircraft comfy, staff friendly. But planes to New York are with very poor entertainment system. Expected good entertainment system, thought will watch movies or listen to music in the plane. But there was nothing to listen to, just few channels of music and nothing acceptable. No TV sets for every passenger. They showed old movies and stupid "funny" short movies. The flight was long as well - about 9 hours.It wasn't night flight so I also didn't want to sleep that much. This airline company is ok if you fly in Europe, but they should think more about entertainment system for flights across the ocean.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  17 July 2009 by Gavin Slater   (UK)

LHR-PRG-LHR Economy. Flight on time, plane not full so good seating choices. Checked in online and worked well. FA's friendly and attentive, snacks served followed by items to be bought - paid for wine but no problem. Quick exit at Prague airport. Return flight plane also not full and FA's friendly. Food served and items sold. At Prague you can upgrade to Business (if you have the right class ticket).

CSA CZECH AIRLINES customer review :  2 July 2009 by F Turan   (Germany)

CGN-PRG-IST. CGN-PRG aged and not well kept ATR 42. When weighting the hand luggage the CSA employees claimed that the allowed baggage was 8 kilos, not 12 as stated at their website. Some passengers were already sorting out some of the luggage. Later the women checked the flight details again, and admitted that the hand baggage is 12 kg. Cabin crew did not speak German and only poor english, although most passengers were non-czech. Only a small sandwich was handed out, unfortunately the cabin crew did not know whether the meat included pork or not - the vast majority of the passengers were Turkish, so almost no one could eat the sandwich (no vegetarian alternative provided). Prague airport was nice and the three hours of waiting were enjoyable. An old Boeing used for the flight to Turkey. Seats were not clean. This time a bigger sandwich provided including one free drink. I felt like flying with a low cost carrier.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  29 June 2009 by Judy Retr   (Canada)

Our direct flight Toronto - Prague was cancelled, however the web site said it was on time about 3 hours before the planned departure - we live 15 min. from the airport (the plane never left Prague so they knew for at least 8 hours). We were offered to fly direct 2 days later or be put on any available non-direct flight. We were not informed at the time and only found out later that we had to wait for 8 hours in Amsterdam for the connecting flight to Prague. No food/drink vouchers were offered. In Amsterdam we tried to book earlier flight but were told that it could not be done for security reason because our luggage was already booked to Prague (there was much earlier flight to Prague - at 9 am, we landed at 7 am and had to wait until almost 3 pm!). We had a similar experience with a different airline last year (10 hours delay) and we received EU 40 in food vouchers and Can$ 150 for future travel each. We will avoid flying with CSA in the future.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  26 June 2009 by S Greg   (Spain)

BUD-PRG-MAD return. Had good experience with them, ground crew screwed up in BUD so we were late by about 1hr, CSA held back all the planes that had connecting pax from BUD. Very nice of them (though I'm sure others were annoyed by delay)! BUD-PRG in an ATR42, was good for an experience, PRG-MAD both ways in a clean A320 with one of the best inflight meals I've ever had. PRG-BUD served by Malev. CSA had a great price for the money at the time I bought the ticket.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  15 June 2009 : by Robert Szocik  (UK)

MAN-PRG. Generally a pleasant flight, almost full, in an ageing but clean Boeing 737. Good information from cockpit, in both English and Czech. Cabin crew are good but looked fed up. Catering has gone downhill since my last CSA flight, and the sandwich was stale. Flight was 5 minutes late, but bags were on the belt very quickly.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  9 June 2009 : by C Hondsen  (Netherlands)

Similar experience to Michal Matejka below, Amsterdam - Prague flight parked at non-Schengen gate, which resulted in long bus trips around the airport. Return Brno - Amsterdam via Prague, connection was very tight (40 minutes) and further delayed by another security check at Prague. Don't understand why this couldn't be done once and for all in Brno - is security there not acceptable for international flights? Annoying to have to pay for food and beverages considering €600+ fare - surely free beer can be offered?

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  8 June 2009 : by A Canepa  (Sweden)

Stockholm to Prague was OK, nothing to complain about. Sandwich not the best, but not the worst either. Don't understand why they serve coffee and tea together with the sandwich instead than returning after a while, but that's not a big issue. The return was very disappointing. I travelled with my husband and we had only one checked luggage weighing 22 kilos, one piece of cabin luggage and my purse. We had to pay the 2 kilos overweight because we had two separate bookings! The check-in lady told us that she has to follow the (Austro- Hungarian) rules and she doesn't want to lose her job. We replied that she will for sure when the customers will choose other companies.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  25 May 2009 : by Gael Breizhat  (France)

CDG-PRG-EVN return. Way in no problem, except that all beverages are no more free. On the way back, 2 hours delay in Yerevan, and CSA managed rerouting perfectly in PRG. The plus for CSA : 6 flights a week for EVN, skilled and fair english speaking staff. Best prices from France to Armenia. Transit in PRG is far easier than in many Paris metro stations. The minus: a problem with some goods purchased on board. No more agency in EVN, you have to phone to headquarters in PRG.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  21 May 2009 : by Michal Matejka  (Czech Republic)

Amsterdam to Prague. This once-preferred airline with above average quality of services has come to its decline and no longer deserves the 3 star rating. The airline has recently jumped on the bandwagon of paid onboard refreshments. Although I generally do not fully understand this tactics of many major airlines nowadays to make their customers to pay "major" airfare for low cost services, I do not completely object to paying some extra for beer or wine onboard - provided that the prices are decent (which is true with CSA) and provided I have chance to get what I desire. The latter is unfortunately not true with CSA - even though I was willing to pay for a can of beer, the attendant said that beer will be provided "by a colleague" who was however serving the rows in front of me and never made it to my row. It is quite difficult to understand the logic behind this. After arrival to Prague the aircraft parked at Terminal 1 (non-Schengen flights), which meant that, although the airbridge came to the aircraft, we only entered it and then we were forced to go out and take stairs to the apron to board the bus which took us to Terminal 2 (Schengen flights). This is a notorious problem at the Prague airport which the airline has be unable to resolve for 3 years (since opening of the terminal 2). The flight crew is supposed to inform the passengers in advance of this Prague "special" but no one bothered to do that on my flight.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  5 May 2009 : by Robert Szocik

LHR-PRG-LHR in Economy. Polite staff, even at check-in! I speak reasonable Czech, but overheard good English being spoken with other passengers. Can't comment on other language skills. Clean and comfortable seats, with adequate legroom. Below-average food, but still edible - I've had far worse. They aren't the cheapest, but in my opinion, still offer an acceptable service for the price.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  20 April 2009 : by D Malfait

Brussels- Prague-Cairo return. When you fly a low cost carrier you get what you paid for, and that's no problem. When you fly a regular carrier, you could expect a "normal" service. I thought CSA wasn't a low cost carrier, because their fares aren't that low. I was wrong. CSA gives low cost services (no free soft drinks, no free beer, no vegetarian food as asked) for regular fares. They only want to take from their clients and don't want to give service in return. The low cost mentality and this for a star alliance member.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  10 March 2009 : by G Jardin

An unexpectedly superb flying experience. Easy check-in without a queue in sight, generous leg room especially on the return leg, decent economy food (hot pastries), a free newspaper and friendly and helpful FAs. Couldn’t have been better. Well done Czech Airlines.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  5 March 2009 : by Joerg Lehnert

I have flown on CSA many times on the route Tallinn-Prague-Berlin. They were never the cheapest option but they always stood for quality transportation and customer care. Well no longer so: Since 15th February CSA has quietly reduced service for economy passenger in a way that puts them just one step ahead of low cost/low service carriers like Air Baltic or Easyjet. They still offer one small sandwich and one non alcoholic beverage. If you want to drink more or have a wine, you must pay for it. In addition they have nearly doubled the fees for excess baggage and have adopted a strict zero tolerance policy: If you have more than 20 Kilos, you pay. In the past they were a bit lenient. CSA just forgot to lower the prices. So they are like low cost carriers servicewise but like full service airlines when it come to the ticket price. It is sad to see the decline of yet another one good airline.