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This week will mark the end of service for Czech Airlines. The airline's operations will fully merge with Smartwings, a Czech low-cost carrier. And the Czech Airlines OK Plus loyalty program will cease to exist on October 26, 2024.
As the world's fifth oldest continuously operating airline — not to mention a country's national carrier — it's sad to see such an airline fly off into the sunset. The airline has trimmed operations over the past few years after suffering financially during the COVID-19 pandemic. It never recovered.
Timeline of Czech Airlines Integrating With Smartwings, Shuttering Its Frequent Flyer Program
Czech Airlines will be fully integrated into Smartwings and all their flights re-coded on October 26, 2024. This marks the end of Czech as a member of SkyTeam. Its frequent flier program (named OK Plus) also ends on that day. This loss will drop the number of SkyTeam carriers from 20 to 19.
Any flights booked with Czech Airlines will not be affected by the transition. Czech Airlines has operated with the airline code ‘OK,' and all its flights will be re-coded to Smartwings ‘QS.'
Got OK Plus miles? Make redemptions now.
If you have any flights booked with OK Plus miles, these reservations will not be affected. Given that October 26 is the last date to redeem miles, anyone who happens to have enough miles for an award should consider making a redemption.
However, it's worth noting that your trip must also be completed by October 26. Any remaining miles will be forfeited. Smartwings is a low-cost carrier without a loyalty program, so there's nowhere for the miles to transition.
Final Thoughts
It's sad that we're losing a carrier that has served passengers for nearly 100 years. With Czech Airlines ending its operations and loyalty program, there will be one fewer SkyTeam carrier to choose from for European flights. Fortunately, plenty of other carriers on the continent are still part of that alliance, including the newly added Scandinavian Airlines.
Once upon a time, you could redeem Etihad miles for excellent value on Czech Airlines. They had all of one long-haul flight — between Prague and Seoul — and it was quite a good deal in the business class cabin. The one-way trip would cost you ~25,000 Etihad miles. But talk about a niche redemption!
But amidst all the sad news is one small upside. Smartwings will operate a handful of planes bearing the Czech Airlines livery. It would have been cool for Smartwings to maintain the Czech brand name, given that it owns it. That's the biggest loss, in my opinion, for an airline with such a lengthy history.
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