Hello all, I live on Long Island, NY and I'm going to be visiting my gf in Brno (moved there recently). I'll probably leave from either JFK or LaGuardia airport and definitely want to land in Brno (not the one in Prague) as I don't want my gf to trouble herself and drive all the way out to Praha. The only way to get to Brno from New York is via connected flights (nonstop not possible). Now, I was a recipient of the CzechPoint101.com's (property investment company) mailing list (back when David Showalter was running the show) and Mr. Showalter mentioned in his December 5, 2004 email that Ryan Air was offering direct flights from London-Stansted airport to Brno for only $8 (3.99 GBP). Does this still apply? I just went to Ryan Air's website (www.ryanair.com) and they list it as free, but I think I'm just seeing it wrong. So basically, these are the criteria I require - 1. Leaving from JFK or LaGuardia and landing in Brno. 2. Must use Delta from NY to wherever (I have their SkyMiles credit card). 3. Looking for cheapest connecting flight from wherever to Brno. So in a nutshell, I need to find a flight that will make use of Delta but will incur a low overall round trip fare. Do any of you New Yorkers (or US citizens) have suggestions from experience? Thanks in advance.
My experience is limited, but perhaps I can help a bit. You should understand that Delta partners with Air France and Czech Air Lines (among others); you can both use and accrue your Skymiles credits on any of these three airlines. It 'costs' more if you're redeeming miles to: -use more than one airline on a single journey (but that's not necessary for you in this case) -make a non-simple round trip, for example to fly from New York to Prague and return from Paris to New York (even though the flight from Prague to New York may stop in Paris). I've not used the Ryan Air service to Brno; a big problem I can foresee is the transit of London to get from Heathrow where most international flights terminate, and Stansted which is used by Ryan Air. If you google such phrases as 'heathrow to gatwick ryan' you'll find various schemes; they all involve considerable time and expense. My advice is that you fly Czech Air Lines or Air France to Prague, then travel by train to Brno. You may be able to fly from Prague to Brno on CSA; in winter when I typically travel this service has not been available. You can research this on CSA's site http://www.csa.cz/ . I see Brno airport has completely revised their website http://www.airport-brno.cz/ . You might find good information there as well. Please post here once you make your travel plans. Many of us travel routinely between the US and Moravia and are always looking for ways to streamline the trip. On my last trip my travel time from my home in Maine to Olomouc was 24 hours, including auto, bus, airplane, shuttle-bus, train and tram travel.
Wow - thanks for the advice. Those 2 airline sites are in Czech lol, which I'm not very good at. My gf doesn't have internet access so I'll see if I can ask her to go to a cafe or something later. But in the meantime, do you know of any locations that go directly to Brno? Thanks for mentioning Air France (as part of SkyTeam) - I went to their site hoping they would fly direct to Brno, but I don't think they do. I'm guessing the Brno airport is very limited in incoming and leaving flights? I'm trying to find a flight path that makes a stop (using a Delta or partners) and that changeover location must fly direct to Brno - that would be the ideal itinerary.
Sure. Stick around here. There are folks here who can help you with that. The Brno airport site is available in English by clicking the link at the bottom of the page. If you look here: http://www.airport-brno.cz/index.php?id=15&lang=en you'll see that Ryan Air's one arrival and departure per day are currently the only scheduled flights into and out of Brno Tuřany.
According to the Czech Airlines website at http://www.csa.cz/en/czechia/cz_home.htm?userLanguage=en, you should be able to purchase bus tickets through them. Enter that you are going from Prague to Brno and the listings that will come up will be by bus. Another option is to use Student Agency - http://www.studentagency.cz/mainpage.php?switch=1460. Their website is only in Czech, however, and without a prepaid card, it is not possible to reserve tickets in advance. I used them last week to go from the main Prague bus station (Florenc) to Brno. It took 2 1/2 hours and the bus was very comfortable. The trip cost 150 Kč.
They only fly to and accept flights from one location only? What's the point of that airport then? LOL. It seems like either I fly in through Ryan Air or just simply land in Prague, then take other means of transportation. Thanks.
Brno Tuřana is a regional airport. Private and charter flights as well as air cargo services operate at the airport. My own state's capital is served by one airline flying to one destination; the airport is nevertheless a valued part of its region's economy. You can see from statistics here: http://www.airport-brno.cz/index.php?id=43&lang=en that development of Brno airport continues. Ryan Air's decision to offer flights to and from Brno will have a large impact on the airport and the South Moravian region. Czechs, and Europeans in general are accustomed to travelling by bus and train, unlike those of us in the US where these services are underdeveloped. Yes, this has been suggested.
I ended up taking a flight to Prague and using other means to get to Brno. Next time, I think I'll rent a car and drive myself to Brno (I think I'm pretty confident I can get there).
S2kDriver - Hello, Czech Airlines has direct non-stop flights from JFK to Prague daily and CSA is part of Delta skyteam and it is an excellent airline to travel with. Sorry I don't know anything about Ryan Air but there must be something from Ruzyne one would think? - Scott
