Review of SmartWings flight Prague Tel Aviv in Economy

Airline SmartWings
Flight QS1286
Class Economy
Seat 29F
Aircraft Boeing 737-900ER
Flight time 03:45
Take-off 18 Apr 19, 22:30
Arrival at 19 Apr 19, 03:15
QS 15 reviews
Dor
By BRONZE 1288
Published on 3rd July 2019
Hello,

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:
photo 20190418_195851photo 20190418_195854

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:
photo 20190418_204358

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 20190418_212823

Photo from the check in area:
photo 20190418_214112

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:
photo 20190418_2145070photo 20190418_214732

I went to the toilets in the airport, near to the duty free:
photo 20190418_214843photo 20190418_214900

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:
photo 20190418_215048photo 20190418_215239

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).
photo 20190418_215458photo 20190418_215501

Another photo of the terminal:
photo 20190418_2217050

Visit in the toilets near to the boarding area:
photo 20190418_222003photo 20190418_222007photo 20190418_222015

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:
photo 20190418_223621photo 20190418_223822photo 20190418_223852
(I'm amazed to see such results in smartphone!)

Before the boarding, I went to the toilets in the boarding area:
photo 20190418_224214

Looks ok, but nothing more.

Boarding area:
photo dsc03076
Although the boarding process should done by groups, some people boarded to the aircraft without noticing the groups…

The way to the air bridge:
photo dsc03077

Some photos that I took from the windows of the air bridge:
British airways A320 family (maybe A319):
photo dsc03078
Czech airlines B738:
photo dsc03082

Outside view of our aircraft:
photo dsc03085

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!!!
photo dsc03087

Wing view during boarding:
photo dsc03089

Cabin view during boarding:
photo dsc03091

The modren PSU:
photo dsc03090

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:
photo 20190418_234103

Take off video:


Almost one hour after take off, the crew gave us a cup of water:
photo 20190419_003800

Boeing mood light:
photo 20190419_005458photo 20190419_005459
I really like this light, It looks very cool in my opinion.

Approximately 2 hours into the flight, I went to the WC:
photo 20190419_012949
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:
photo dsc03096

My seat:
photo dsc03099

Some seat showing its age…
photo dsc03101

Cabin:
photo dsc03102photo dsc03104

After flight experience - TLV airport



Air bridge in TLV:
photo dsc03107
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:
photo dsc03119

Baggage claim area:
photo 20190419_044621photo 20190419_044905
This time, I waited 15 minutes to my luggage, not so fast, but I had worst waiting with Enter air

After customs check:
photo 20190419_050029photo 20190419_0500320

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.

Information on the route Prague (PRG) Tel Aviv (TLV)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 3 compagnies sur la ligne Prague (PRG) → Tel Aviv (TLV).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est SmartWings avec 6.7/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 3 heures et 48 minutes.

  More information

4 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 509922 by
    emyrrs 108 Comments
    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
    • Comment 509949 by
      Dor BRONZE AUTHOR 115 Comments
      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.

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