CSA Czech Airlines

FRA-PRG-BUD and back over Easter. FRA-PRG 3-3 seating a small cake. PRG airport is not too big and easy to get around. PRG-BUD was a turboprop plane 2-2 seating. Snack was another cake. Snacks on the way back were crackers on both flights. Flight attendants were reasonably friendly flights were on time baggage was fine both ways. It's no frills gets you there and back which was all I needed.

LHR-PRG-LHR. Met requirements I would expect of a 3-Star airline. Comfortable A319 with leather seats and good legroom. Meal provided satisfactory and efficient cabin crew. Minor delay experienced on return - would use this airline again.

Samara-Prague-Paris and Samara-Prague-Barcelona. 2 baggage losses simply outrageous - when I was traveling to Paris I was supposed to stay there for 6 months and when they lost my baggage I had only the clothes that were actually on me at the moment. I had my baggage back only 2 weeks after. Don't expect the representatives to react to your claims you're going to be politely ignored. Now I'm in Barcelona and was supposed to go to the Pyrenees to ski but they lost my baggage again and all my sportswear is in there. It may seem like good value but you risk too much and if they lose your baggage you're gonna pay the difference you'd pay for a flight with a different airline. So as you might guess I do not recommend this airline.

Barcelona to Zagreb via Prague. Check in at BCN swift. Barcelona - Prague leg A319 with decent legroom. Complimentary refreshments served. Crew polite but without a single smile during two hours flight. Prague-Zagreb leg by ATR 72 aircraft. Transfer in Prague smooth and departure to ZAG on time. ATR72 cabin a little bit worn out but clean. Legroom better than on Airbus aircraft. Complimentary refreshments served. Crew courteous and smiling.

LHR-PRG-LHR. Outbound flight fine drinks and croissant served and extra drinks provided on request. Ham and cheese roll on the afternoon return flight which was perfectly ok. Seat a bit hard on both legs but otherwise ok.

FRA-PRG-TLV return. CSA offers very competitive fares to TLV. Check in in FRA took a little time since only 2 counters open. A319 seats a little slim and not very comfy. Small sweet or salty snack and drinks served on this short sector. IFE was overhead LCD screens showing CSA commercials and map. Connecting in PRG very easy. Airport nice look out for a brochure with coupons for the airport restaurants. CSA offers upgrades for appox 40 EUR to business class (subject to have a high economy booking class or a frequent flyer status). PRG-TLV was full on A320. Seats not very comfy and felt quite cramped. Served a small hot meal and not very good. TLV to FRA they were overbooked and offered to rebook me to a direct El Al flight which I accepted. Check in staff at TLV very friendly and efficient. I would fly Czech Airlines again if the price is low the product is nothing special but they did the job and flights were on time.

LHR-PRG-RIX-PRG-LHR. Flights on time. Crew smiling and helpful. Free drinks and sandwiches on which is more than can be said for most European airlines now. Flights on 737s which feel cramped when full. My only gripe was with Prague airport - nothing to do and horrendously expensive! (£4 for a small glass of orange juice in every cafe! £55 in 'duty free' shops for most fragrances!).

Our flight Prague to Madrid (A319) was badly delayed supposedly due to a last-minute crew replacement. The staff started issuing new boarding passes at the gate effectively scrapping the passengers' seating preferences but they were unable to provide any information on the delay. After about 70 minutes at the gate the airline let everyone on board just to keep them waiting for another 2 hours. This seems to be CSA's favorite way of avoiding passenger rights claims as it automatically falls within 'tarmac delay' - people on board only got a glass of water while waiting. The crew never said anything about the actual cause of the delay and didn't seem to care much about it. The inflight snack consisted of the usual ham and cheese sandwich a cold and a hot drink. The arrival to MAD was further delayed by about 30 minutes while waiting in the landing stack meaning that we missed our connection even though we'd originally had 4 hours for transfer within the same terminal. The flight back (MAD-PRG) two weeks later was substantially better: a newer A319 on time and with a friendly crew (although their language skills remain disappointing). The seats in more recent narrowbody aircraft are decent with adjustable headrests and sufficient legroom. Inflight snacks keep to the same standard (small chicken sandwich drinks) the entertainment system only has a few LCD screens throughout the plane showing the flight details occasional video clips and a very very dated presentation of Prague. All in all the experience was more pleasant than the previous trip and the ground staff has been very helpful in locating and retrieving my lost baggage upon arrival.

Vilnius-Prague B737. Smiling and professional crew. Clean aircraft and free onboard drinks and tasty sandwich for 1hr 30 flight in economy.

MAN-PRG return B737-400 Economy. On time departures / early arrivals in both directions. Both directions almost full - encouraging given that CSA pulled off the route at the start of the recession and only came back this Spring. Food/beverage service OK - outward (breakfast) a bit meagre - two muffins inbound (mid-evening) a turkey roll. Generous with coffee/tea/drinks etc.