Originally Posted by
pawtim
+1 to this idea.
Or, if you're willing to slightly modify your plan and fly into Budapest (a place to which AA flies directly from NYC), and you're going between now and May 15, you could get an off-peak award on AA for 40,000 miles. You could redeem for one free seat and then just buy the seat next to it -- that should be more affordable.
Budapest is a fantastic city, IMHO, better than Prague in some ways. It's a relatively easy drive from Budapest to Prague, about 8 hrs, all highway. DO NOT SPEED through Slovakia. Not even 1 kmh. The government (well, IME, all things) in Slovakia is highly dedicated to revenue generation, and they will pull you over for anything.
If you are interested, Aushwicz (sp?) would not be too far out of the way.
Rail is also possible, but, crazily, the two cities are not in the same Eurail zone, so you need to buy an actual ticket, not sure how much it is.
The other option that may be closer is Berlin.