My First Flight From Edinburgh In Four Years: Ryanair To Prague

Quick disclaimer: I don’t have many photos from this flight, the airport was pretty busy and I did not want to invade peoples privacy just to write a flight review!

On Monday October 26th 2026 I did something I had not done since December 2023, I took a flight departing from Edinburgh Airport. With that out of the way, it’s about time I write a review that does not, for once, start in Glasgow Airport.

This particular flight was FR1054 Edinburgh to Prague on Monday October 26th 2026, departing at 1755 and arriving at 2115.

Check-In and Security

As I was flying Ryanair I had already checked-in online and had my boarding pass on my phone, and with no checked bags I did not need to visit their self-service check-in area. I did however walk through the airport check-in hall to get to departures.

Works have taken place since my last flight, and the area has been expanded. I did not get a true experience of the area as by the time I was flying most of the flights left to depart were with Ryanair, easyJet, Loganair and Aer Lingus, so not pushing the hall to the same limits as a peak summer day.

Security queues at Edinburgh Airport regularly find themselves in the news, with complaints about long wait times. I was passing through on the first Monday of the winter season in the middle of the afternoon.

From scanning my boarding pass to walking out the security hall was an impressive 4 minutes and 17 seconds. I do want to highlight that the security staff in the hall were directing queue directions and were instructing people to specific tray areas to keep things moving.

Edinburgh Airport does also deserve praise for having a dedicated family and assistance lane, something that I have not noticed in any other airport I have used recently.

Airside Experience

It’s here I think there is still room for improvement, and I’m not talking about anything substantial I don’t think, but rather things that seem to be self-inflicted by the airport, and not caused by any physical terminal constraints.

My first issue is a lack of seating. Edinburgh Airport appears to have crammed as many food and beverage outlets into the existing terminal as they can, at the expense of general seating.

Now I get that this is a major revenue source for the airport, and the range offered is more than adequate, but when it starts coming at the expense of general seating then it does start becoming an issue I think, even on this particular late October day seating was a bit of a challenge.

I do also think that some of the gates in the airport are very hard to find, ironically as they are blocked by food and beverage outlets.

Gates 12-16 are not very visible (Gates 12-14 especially) from the main passageway, my flight was departing from Gate 14 and I actually walked past it without realising at first as it was not very visible, and not very well sign posted, bigger signs would fix this I think.

I found a seat down by Gate 23 and as the picture below shows, work outside on the new terminal extension is clearly visible, but so are the rather obvious (and easily fixable) issues with the existing terminal.

I only bring the carpet up as it’s such an easy fix, if I had a pair of scissors I would have done it for them.

Negatives aside though, the airport departure boards were available throughout the terminal, and were very clear to read.

Boarding Experience

This was your typical Ryanair experience, with boarding starting as soon as the inbound aircraft landed at 1713.

Swissport staff at the airport did enforce priority boarding, and the announcements made were clearly audible (sometimes an issue in airports). I do have a question I hope someone with more experience at Edinburgh Airport can clarify, does the airport announcement system and departure boards only announce information in English or are announcements also made in a 2nd language?

SP-RKI was the aircraft for today’s flight, a 9 year old Boeing 737-800 operated by BUZZ. I was able to board reasonably quickly, and after a family hosting a session of the UN trying to swap seats, I was able to take my randomly assigned seat – 12D

The Flight Itself

After a very short taxi to Runway 24 we departed Edinburgh at 1807.

From what I could see looking around the aircraft the flight was pretty much full, the seat next to me was empty but I didn’t see many other (if any) others empty.

Ryanair’s onboard service on this particular flight was broken into 5 sections;

• Hot Food
• Snacks and Drinks
• Duty Free
• Scratchcards
• 2nd Snack Service

I did not order anything on this particular flight as I was not hungry and had a drink with me, but the flight crew did a great job in pushing the service to passengers but not being over the top, something Ryanair crews sometimes get wrong.

As well as doing all of the above mentioned service passes, the crew also passed through regularly collecting rubbish, and it was clear they had been doing this on the inbound flight as well as the aircraft was spotless from what I experienced.

Ryanair does not have seatback pockets, and if you only have a backpack I would personally avoid the aisle seat as I struggled to fit mine under the seat in front of me, and looking around the space under the aisle seat is smaller than the middle and window.

This aircraft was also equipped with the slim seats Ryanair has on their aircraft rather than the old thicker seats found on older aircraft. These thinner seats are far more comfortable.

Arrival In Prague

We arrived into Prague at 2054, landing on Runway 24 before a short taxi to Stand 53. As this is a remote stand 3 buses were waiting to take us into the terminal, and this part of the arrivals process was incredibly smooth.

Unfortunately here was where things started to go wrong. Those who know me well will be aware that I am a big supporter of Prague Airport and usually praise my experiences through the airport, however, I unfortunately have to say this particular experience was nothing great.

Thanks to the new EES process for arrivals outside the EU there was already a significant border queue when I arrived, and this only grew as more flights and people arrived after me. From joining the queue to walking landside was 71 minutes, and I did not have any bags to collect.

The lack of adequate queue filtering did cause issues, and when I arrived at the border desk I was delayed further as the agent’s computer had crashed. I do however want to praise the customer helpers in the border area who were proactive and tried to move people in small groups to the EU queues in an attempt to speed things up.

My Final Thoughts

I have to say, Edinburgh Airport in many ways well exceeded my expectations, mainly in security. Although everyone’s experiences are subjective, mine was very good and did create a good impression.

Airside though is clearly struggling with the number of passengers, and although the airport is investing £500 million in the terminal, I cannot help but feel that a number of the issues I had were self-inflicted rather than because of a terminal that was too small, one or two less food and beverage outlets (I’m looking at you WHSmith) with seating in their place would be a very welcome addition, and better signage for the gates I mentioned.

Ryanair did exactly what they promised, they got me from A to B cheaply and on time, and as tends to be my experience with the airline, the crew were great.

Although arrivals in Prague was a bit of a shambles, it pales in comparison to my departing experience from Prague (stay tuned for that review) and really did take the shine off what was otherwise a great trip.

How Much Did I Pay?

I booked this flight on October 8th and paid £55.18 for the flight. I did not pay for any bags or seats.