Frequent Flyer's Experience

Flying is by far my favorite means of transport. I often go to Spain, as my girlfriend is from there, and any alternative would take days rather than hours. Besides, traveling could hardly be any cheaper. If you know how to buy flight tickets, flying becomes the most affordable option. As it is the season of cheap flights, I find this topic more than suitable. A brief glance at Skyscanner reveals that June return flights from Prague start from $30. If you care about the date, you can easily find a great return flight for $60. Prague ranks among the more expensive airports, as it is rather small. Vienna usually offers better prices, for instance. As I fly around ten times a year, I guess I have some experience to share.

The current Skyscanner return flight offer

Flight Disrturbers

In contrast to what many people say, flying is perfectly suitable for children. Although my girlfriend and I don’t have any yet, we often travel on public holidays in either of the two countries and see many Czech-Spanish families with children. A funny fact – you can always tell which of the parents is Czech – they wear rather outdoorish outfits, regardless of the season. Anyway, the crew is ready to handle children of any age if accompanied by an adult. Adjusted seatbelts and children-size life vests are available. The flight attendants don’t mind heating baby food, and crews even have several toys ready to save the day.

It is not the children who cause the most trouble on board. An Iberia steward once told me he even preferred school trips over adults who drink onboard, or board already tipsy. That is not uncommon, especially when the flight gets delayed. While you can buy duty-free spirits in every airport, you are not supposed to drink any alcohol except purchased from the crew on board. This measure is meant to prevent drunkards from ruining the flight for their fellow passengers – flight attendants are known as the strictest bartenders ever. Still, some people manage to get wasted, and then it is fun to watch as long as they sit a few rows away and don’t pass by you on their journeys to the bathroom.

Prague airport promoting the tournament; and showing the match results on screens.

There was an ice hockey world championship in Prague recently. It is known as a party town, where many Scandinavians come to enjoy their near-death experience from alcohol poisoning even when their national teams don't play there. I am not exaggerating much – you can drink yourself into a stupor for the same money you would spend on two pints of beer in Stockholm. No wonder I’ve heard stories about fans who spent overtime in a bar and then made the flight unforgettable for those who, unlike themselves, were conscious. Fortunately, I was wise enough to avoid any of the fan flights.

When the Flight Pays Off

With a bit of luck, you can travel for free or even with a profit. I have covered that in my recent post on travel budgeting – my travel insurance (an outdated product that is no longer available but I can keep renewing it as an existing subscriber) compensates for delays of 2+ hours. It usually covers the price of the flight ticket. Besides, EU regulations require airlines to pay compensation if a flight lands 3+ hours late, though that has not happened to me recently.

On my last flight to Madrid two weeks ago, I experienced an overbooking. A professional musician had paid for an extra seat for her violin, booking two tickets for a single person. I imagine the instrument is worth tens of thousands of dollars, and she intended to protect it from any minor harm. To my surprise, the cabin crew had a dedicated seatbelt-like system to secure the box with the instrument on the seat.

An over-wing shot, what a cliché. Taken in January.

The safe transportation of the violin was not the issue, though. Due to some glitch in the booking system, the seat taken by the violin was likely resold to another passenger. 183 seats, 183 people, one violin. What a Spanish-style drama, right? Except the musician spoke German (I can't tell Austrians from Germans or even Swiss by their accent). She refused all offers to transport the instrument anywhere else in the plane – like in some of the safe containers where the crew stores their belongings. Twenty minutes later (at the scheduled take-off time), one seat was still missing, and the passengers, including me, started to get annoyed.

Eventually, the purser (the chief flight attendant all Karens need to talk to) asked if anybody would volunteer to pass on this flight and stay in Prague. I wasn’t considering it, but one of my fellow passengers seemed to be waiting for this call and volunteered almost instantly. It turned out the airline paid for his hotel overnight and booked him on the next flight (they have to do so according to EU regulations). Besides, he got 1,000 euros in cash, which is likely at least ten times what he paid for the flight – our tickets cost 30 euros each, but we know how to get them cheap.

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