CSA CZECH AIRLINES 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.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  13 February 2009 : by Dennis Ng

Flown CSA for 7 years every other week, and it has steadily gone from okay to unbearable. Flew in January and had a bit of extra luggage. They told me that their overweight luggage charge is now £20 per kilo. Fine - I asked if I could buy another ticket instead. The flight had a total of 20 people booked on it. Went up to the ticket desk (manned in UK by Air France staff who were helpful). They called Prague call centre to get access code to make the sale. After 20 minutes on the phone, the Prague call centre told the ticket desk that they cannot sell me another ticket - and check this out, because I was 'not a fat person' or travelling with a guitar! The poor Air France ground staff was so embarrassed to repeat that to me. I wrote a letter to CSA London and Prague to complain (not seeking refund of the overweight charges, but just an explanation of their actions), and no answer.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  28 January 2009 : by T Besler

PRG-TLL-PRG. Another european flight with them and again it was OK. Got an older 735 on both legs. Plane clean, seats were comfortable. The food was tasty. I would most probably not choose them from PRG to JFK or YYZ with the A310, but if you fly Europe, they are a good choice.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  27 January 2009 : by A Wilbert

BRU-PRG-OTP A320 and A319 respectively in Y Class. Nice, clean aircraft, due to relative light load, B and E Seats where left free, which made the flight comfortable. Inflight catering was a small bread roll as well as soft drinks and Tea/Coffee. Friendly crew, but English language is not their strongest point. Non of the PA announcements were intelligible, from the cabin staff or from the Pilot. In-flight entertainment was based on items that do not require sound. Actually, I was quite surprised to find any kind of entertainment on such short flights. Delay was cut down to about ten minutes by the time we landed in PRG and transfer to the second flight to OTP was uneventful and easy. Flight to OTP, on a A319, was more or less identical to the first leg. Overall, a good experience on such short European Flights. CSA gets the thumbs up from me.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  21 January 2009 : by J Grant

PRG to CDG. Easy Check-In at Terminal 2. Security and Passport lines never more than a few minutes wait. Disorderly boarding at the gate seems to be typical. New and clean A320 with attentive crew. Announcements in Czech, English and French. Economy Class Food service well above average for duration of flight.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  30 November 2008 : by Tommy Desmet

BRU-PRG return. The outbound flight was terrible. Unfriendly cabin crew, poor food and very old airplane with minimum legroom and smelling toilet. The return flight with newer equipment A320 was just the opposite. We were delayed due to heavy snow at Brussels but the crew did their job properly with offering a drink service extra.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  22 November 2008 : by Dirk Lijnzaad

JFK-PRG and from there an attempt to get to Ostrava. Full fare Business class tickets. Czech Airlines flies an old Airbus 310 with an ancient entertainment system. Check in at JFK unfriendly as usual, flight attendants very friendly. Despite the full fare business and confirmed booking for aisle seat, end up in the middle seat in business class. Aisle seat is given to frequent Czech Airline flyers with full fare economy. Completely unacceptable and the last time I will fly Czech across the pond. Connection in Prague the same challenge. Due to 'weather' no flight from Prague to Ostrava, long cue to rebook ticket to next flight. This flight is not 'delayed' or cancelled' but 'suspended' so does not end up flying either. From there it only gets worse, PM flights are fully booked, first flight may be evening (8 hours wait on the airport..) or it may be a bus... A complete joke. The best performance was to get my checked luggage out of the airport which only took 10 minutes. Hertz rental car offered the simple solution.

CSA CZECH AIRLINES review :  9 November 2008 : by Vince Danz

CGN-VCE-CGN via PRG. All four segments operated by ATRs. Seating was fine for each flight. Cabins were clean and surprisingly quiet despite having seats near the middle where the propellers are. Crew very nice. Spoke excellent English and German. Snacks and full beverage service on all segments and free! Connecting in PRG was a breeze.