Finally I found some time to write this flight report! This was my second visit in Prague and It was very nice.
Pre flight experience - PRG airport
After short drive from the city (20 minutes) I arrived to the airport.
Outside view during sunset:
I started to wait in the tax free queue, unlike Vienna airport and Frankfurt airport, the queue in Prague airport was very long and very slow. After long waiting, some tax free agent was free to give me a service, however, She was very angry, I just requested pen (and honestly, I asked "can You give me pen please?" or something like this), I don't know why she was so angry… I never experienced such a bad service in any airport.
After I finished this process, I went to the check in area. Again, SmartWings doesn't offer any online check in option, the queue in the airport was very long and I waited almost an hour for check in. (Only 3 counters were open for our flight with more than 200 passengers)
The check in area:
In contrast to the first flight with SmartWings, this time, the ground crew understood me and I got seat 29F as I wished!
My boarding pass:
Photo from the check in area:
By this time, It was almost 10 PM, the immigration process was a little bit slow, almost anything working very slow in this airport…
After the immigration, I went to the duty free, the duty free in Prague is very nice, I think It's bigger than the shops in much bigger airports like Frankfurt. The service in the duty free shop is good, however, there's mismatch between the prices in the shop and the website…
The duty free shop:
I went to the toilets in the airport, near to the duty free:
As You can see, It wasn't so clean… (However, I saw worst toilets in some airports)
I'm addicted to coffee, and since I knew that the next time coffee will be available is in 5-6 AM in Israel, I went to the dinning area in Prague airport, which was very surprising!
During the way to the dinning area:
The dinning area is open 24/7 and the prices were low! I never saw such low prices in European airports! The service was good here, I bought coffee with milk for something like 2$ USD, I saw that cakes were very cheap also (something like 1.5$ USD).
Another photo of the terminal:
Visit in the toilets near to the boarding area:
Again, not so clean.
I went to the boarding area, the security process (handbag check) was fast, after this process I arrived to the boarding area of my flight.
While waiting for the boarding, I took some photos of our aircraft: (I'm amazed to see such results in smartphone!)
Before the boarding, I went to the toilets in the boarding area:
Looks ok, but nothing more.
Boarding area: Although the boarding process should done by groups, some people boarded to the aircraft without noticing the groups…
The way to the air bridge:
Some photos that I took from the windows of the air bridge: British airways A320 family (maybe A319): Czech airlines B738:
Outside view of our aircraft:
Flight experience, PRG to TLV
Aircraft information: Boeing 737-9GJER OK-TSI Sent to SpiceJet in December 2011 Sent to Travel Service in May 2015 The aircraft was 7.5 years old when I traveled
What a legroom!!!
Wing view during boarding:
Cabin view during boarding:
The modren PSU:
I sat behind the exit row, I found It strange, but the flight attendant guided anyone who sat row after and row before the emergency exit row, He also insisted that I can't use my camera during take off and landing… I don't know why, but in any airline, no one told me that I can't use my camera during take off and landing, strange though, It wasn't problematic to use my smartphone… So I did my best, but sure, It'll be worst than using my camera.
Photo during taxing:
Take off video:
Almost one hour after take off, the crew gave us a cup of water:
Boeing mood light: I really like this light, It looks very cool in my opinion.
Approximately 2 hours into the flight, I went to the WC: As You can see, It was almost clean, but It's ok for this time of the flight. The toilets in this aircraft located under the tail section, and They are very tiny, in comparison to A320/A321 lavatories of LH and OS or LY B738/739.
The flight was boring, this time the streaming application worked, so I was able to see our location during the flight, however, the application is very limited in comparison with the parallel streaming system in Elal or Lufthansa.
Anyway, this time I couldn't take photos over Tel Aviv, since my smartphone isn't a DSLR or mirrorless camera, so not photos this time…
Landing video:
The landing was smooth and very nice in my opinion.
Wing view in TLV airport:
My seat:
Some seat showing its age…
Cabin:
After flight experience - TLV airport
Air bridge in TLV: It was surprise to see that We got air bridge, since some friend who checked my flight told me that We should park in some remote parking and deboard with stairs.
During the way to the immigration and baggage claim area:
Austrian A321 OE-LBB from my flight report of OS860:
Baggage claim area: This time, I waited 15 minutes to my luggage, not so fast, but I had worst waiting with Enter air…
After customs check:
Thanks for reading!
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Verdict
SmartWings
7.0/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi4.0
Buy-on-board menu8.0
Prague - PRG
7.5/10
Efficiency6.0
Access9.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness8.0
Tel Aviv - TLV
9.8/10
Efficiency10.0
Access10.0
Services10.0
Cleanliness9.0
Conclusion
I found that flight with SmartWings will be cheaper than flight with Elal, so I went for this option. However, after I tried SmartWings, I can say that if I'll fly to Prague again, definitely I'll choose Elal and not SmartWings, even though They are cheaper and using newer aircraft on this route. If I try to find some positive points for SmartWings over Elal, the terminal will play a role without any doubt. While Elal using Terminal 1 for the flight to PRG (Terminal 3 serves the inbound flights, since isn't possible yet to do so in Terminal 1), SmartWings using Terminal 3, which has jet bridges and better duty free and dining area. The service was good this time, but nothing special... I had a plenty of legroom, however, the seat wasn't comfortable and as You can see in the photos, some seats show their age. The entertainment score isn't zero, but very close to zero, since the only thing I could do with the application was to see flight map. Anything else will cost money. I gave SmartWings 8 in the Meal score, since the prices of the food on board aren't high and reasonable. I'll mention again that It's not possible to use the web check in when You're flying from/to Israel, so It's another disadvantage.
PRG airport wasn't great, though the duty free shop is nice and the dining area is open 24/7 and It's prices are very reasonable, the service from the tax free agent was horrible, the check in process was slow, as I mentioned, almost anything working slow in this airport... The cleaning wasn't great also, I saw much cleaner airports in Europe, like Vienna, Frankfurt am main, Munich, Amsterdam, Hamburg, etc, however, It wasn't so bad.
TLV airport was good as usual, the immigration process was fast as usual, even though It was night before Passover, the luggage arrived in reasonable time and in total, the experience in the airport was good.
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I don't know why she was so angry… I never experienced such a bad service in any airport.
Uwwww sorry to hear that, last time when I was there with my friend (he can speak Czech fluently) the check-in agent and other staff was talking bad things about us, just because I've done my check-in online and I just need to drop my suitcase, since the queue pretty long one of the staff asked me to drop my luggage at the very empty business class check-in counter.... Yeah surely not all were bad staff but some of them clearly not suitable to work on service industry. LOL
Unfortunately, It doesn't surprise me, the service that I experienced was bad and the tax free said something to her colleague after my request... I don't think that They must be nice to everyone, but at least not be so angry and be respectful to us, as passengers.
The 739 is a nice aircraft, but the aircraft itself isn't the only thing that We measure in our flight reports, I'm also considering the service in the inbound and outbound airports, the aircraft itself, the cabin and the crew.
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14 reviews
4 Comments
Uwwww sorry to hear that, last time when I was there with my friend (he can speak Czech fluently) the check-in agent and other staff was talking bad things about us, just because I've done my check-in online and I just need to drop my suitcase, since the queue pretty long one of the staff asked me to drop my luggage at the very empty business class check-in counter.... Yeah surely not all were bad staff but some of them clearly not suitable to work on service industry. LOL
I don't think that They must be nice to everyone, but at least not be so angry and be respectful to us, as passengers.
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