A group of four of us are arriving in PRG over a 2 1/2 hour period this fall (3 different flights: KLM, AF, and SN, all from the EU) We'll all have carry on luggage only. A couple of questions for any regulars:

Is the OK lounge available to arriving passengers?

Is there place you recommend that we can have a couple of good Czech beers while we wait for "tail end Charlie" to arrive?

Thanks in advance.

Normally I don't think the lounge is for arriving passengers, but you can always send them an email and ask.

Alternatively the airport has several bars, 1 KFC and one sushi restaurant, where you can spend the time before your friends arrive.

I wouldn't count on lounge access, as OK have made arrival access a published benefit of OK+ platinum. If you were OK+ gold, I could see them letting you in after telling them that you need to wait for someone else etc....With another card, I think your chances are quite low.

If you're arriving during business hours, get outside the terminal and go to the business centre behind the Courtyard hotel. On the first floor, there is a self-service restaurant (more like a canteen, actually) that's very popular with airport workers. I have never eaten there, just had drinks, but it's always packed and buzzing, and the beer is cold and cheap, so that should already be a good start. If that's not your thing, the ground floor boasts a very nice, very civilised Italian cafe-bar whose coffee is a million times better than what's available in the lounge.

If you're arriving in the evening, the above may be closed, but the airport is full of decent catering options with plenty of seating (both airside and landside).

Having said all that, if you are actually going to Prague, I would also be thinking about heading into town straight after arrival. It's not Tokyo- we're talking pretty short distances here. Outside of rush-hour, it's only 20 minutes in a (reasonably-priced) cab, or about 45 by bus+metro combination. Then you can wait for your mates in some trendy bar or at least a comfy hotel lobby...

Thanks for the tips. I am NW Plat, which is SkyTeam Elite Plus, in addition to being a NW World Club member, but I'd need to guest two which would probably be pushing it.

Three of us arrive pretty much at the same time and the last guy comes two hours later. We have somebody picking us up, so we'll wait for him (unless he is late). The point of the trip is beer (not coffee ) so the canteen would work. We arrive in the afternoon, so it should be good.

Well, unless money is no object, don't pay 90 crowns or whatever it is for a beer in the terminal itself.

Theres' a store kind of across the street where the same beers are like 26.

Traveling on DL BE, we were able to use Czech Air's lounge, comfortable, but I think the only beer was bottled, Pilsener Urquell, IIRC, but maybe Gambrinus. It was a morning departure, the sun only beginning to top the yardarm, so I was on coffee and brandy.

In a country where draught beer is generally available, and in almost every case, "fresh" from the kettle, I avoid the lesser appeal of bottled beer. I do not remember a bad (or other than satisfying) glass/mug/stein of beer in nearly two weeks of continuous consumption. Mid-morning, lunch, mid-afternoon, cocktail hour and dinner.....(and early to bed - Prague restaurants are not the late hours sort).

The best? The "Moritz" from the Moritz mini-brewery and restaurant in Olomouc.

Among the Czechs, it seems that dark (Helles?) beer is for girls and the weak of heart, whilst real men drink pilseners. The local "Black and Tan" ain't bad, just semi-effeminate.

"Helles" is German for "Pale" or "Light" (in color). Světl� Le��k is the Czech version. The dark beers are Tmav� Le��k or Čern� Le��k and the ones from the larger breweries do tend to be on the sweet side (so I could see the "girly" thing) but some from the smaller breweries are quite nice.

I may not know much about the Prague airport, but I do know a bit about Czech beers. I think Pivovar u Bulovky (aka "Brauerei Richter") was my favorite on the last trip but Prvni Pivni Tramway had to be one of all time funkiest pubs I've been to just about anywhere.

good luck with the airport

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