AIR BALTIC review : 7 May 2008 : by Mark Hurter

Customer Rating : 4/5

ZRH-RIX-ZRH in Economy class B737-500. Lucky to get emergency exit seats. Tried web check-in which is convenient but one cannot choose the emergency exits seats. Skycafé service with good choice and normal low-fare airline food prices. Menus are good value though if you are willing to pay around CHF 12 for airline food. FAs professional but tend to be somewhat reserved. Not too many smiles but friendly. Early morning check-in in Riga a bit chaotic in the beginning as ground staff only showed up one by one. As soon as staff had appeared check-in went quickly. This tickets not the cheapest but ok considering they are the only airline flying this route out of Zurich directly..

Air Baltic review by N Holman

19 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Expensive ticket even though they are a budget airline. Worst legroom I've ever encountered. Would rather fly EasyJet or RyanAir.

Air Baltic review by T Robertson

10 March 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

London (LGW) to Riga (RIX) Economy. The flight was 2.5h late. £5 food voucher was given little late, just 1h before the late departure which meant that most people already had purchased their food. Onboard seat pitch was adequate. There was no free food or drinks but inflight menu was good and reasonably priced. On arrival flights from the countries outside the Schengen Agreement, such as the UK and Ireland, arrive at Terminal 2, which is very small and can be reached by walking outside only. All flights to and from other EU countries are served by a much nicer Terminal 1.

Air Baltic review by Dave Kusiak

4 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

WAW-CPH. Flight on time, I was upgraded to Business Class as a Eurobonus frequent flyer. Service - I've had better, but OK. Old airplane, not many staff friendly.

Air Baltic review by J Steele

30 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

Copenhagen to Vilnius. The aircraft was clean, leg room sufficient and flight attendants were pleasant. Purchased a sandwich and a coffee, both excellent and good value for money. I would use Air Baltic again.

Air Baltic review by Erik Jenner

8 January 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

KBP-RIX,then RIX-TXL. Check-in at KBP very slow, flight attendants very friendly, food to purchase on board expensive but tasty. All in all, a good experience.

Air Baltic review by Joerg Lehnert

3 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Berlin to Riga. Air Baltic is basically a no service airline (unless your are willing to pay four or five times more to get a meal and some newspapers in their so called "Business Class"). They use B 737-500. Plane was reasonably clean and the flight was on time. Seat pitch was all right, certainly better than on Ryanair or Easy Jet. Flight attendants were all right although you do not really need them on a non service flight (well if you wish you may purchase some overpriced drinks or food). Would I use them again? I fear I have to because most if not all airlines that are servicing the Baltic States have become no service airlines.

Air Baltic review by Adam Haynes

26 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LGW-RIX-LED. I felt the 40 minute connection time in RIX was a bit short but as it was 2300hrs it wasn't busy at the airport and managed to connect with no problems - had to check in at gate though as no ticket provided on first leg of journey. Clean, new aircraft - Fokker 50 from RIX to LED very noisy but a fun experience in the dark foggy north! Biggest complaint - no food provided unless you pay for overpriced baguettes and coke. I paid 180 GBP (+ 70 GBP to change the flight date) for a single ticket and I expect a bit more than just a flight. Yes both flights were short, but add them together and we're talking nearly 5hrs without a decent meal. But overall a pretty good airline.

Air Baltic review by Paul Jacobsen

11 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

ARN-RIX and return economy. I paid only 600SEK and was satisfied with Air Baltic. Both flights were on-time. Cabin crew very friendly and spoke English well. Aircraft a B737-500; seats were a bit worn and very cramped. I did not notice any legroom difference for those travelling in Business class. Air Baltic offers web check-in for flights out of Riga, but remains quite old-fashioned as there isn't any self-service machines at the airport (only manual check-in).

Air Baltic review by Pierre Leblache

30 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Northern Europe has the best and the worst in low cost air travel, with Air Baltic unfortunately being the worst. Changing flight times without warning, poor service, self centered flight attendants appearing in awe of being in a smart uniform, not to mention an appalling and dangerous online reservation system. One example on a flight between Vilnius and Brussels was the cordoning off of 6 rows of a totally empty "business class" (not ONE passenger, same 6 abreast seating, same seats, same pitch) while the flock of us were made to cram every single seat behind. Any question of "why?" elicited at best a dumb look.

Air Baltic review by Arturas Jakutis

17 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

VNO to CPH. Booked and paid tickets via internet and had to pick them up in the office in VNO (strange they still do not have etickets). Leg space is bad (737) and I am not a tall person. Stewards did not seem to enjoy their work.

Air Baltic review by W Decker

13 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Berlin Tegel to Riga, then Riga to Kyiv. Both flights on time and cabin service professional. No complaints. I bought the tickets online from the US on Air Baltic web site. Air Baltic offered the only reasonably priced one-way option.

Air Baltic review by Thomas Harding

9 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Oslo-Riga-Oslo in Economy. I travelled with this airline and would do all I could to avoid it in the future! Both flights were delayed - the first by 4 hours - and talking to others who have flown with Air Baltic this would appear to be a regular occurrence. On the return flight we waited in a hot gate lounge with no facilities and the information that was provided was inaccurate. There was little legroom on the plane, and the seat was uncomfortable - obviously well past its use by date. We had to purchase food and drink on the plane. Normally this would not be a problem, but they only accept Euros or Latvian money - but flying from Norway where we use kroner it is not likely that you will have either currency in your wallet. We had exchanged some kroner for lats at the airport, but on the plane they could not give us change in lats and wanted to give us euros in return! This would have meant changing them again into kroner or lats and possibly losing money through commission on the transaction. What should have been a cheapish cup of coffee became more expensive. The service - such as it was - was very slow. We were seated at the back of the plane and by the time the trolley reached us there was only 10 minutes of the 90 minute flight left!

Air Baltic review by Pierre Leblache

30 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

A low cost offspring of SAS with a near monopoly for travel to and within the Baltic States, Air Baltic has strange business practices: On January 17, I booked online 2 tickets from St Petersburg to Riga for August 16 at an admittedly low price. All screens progressed confirming the right date until the final confirmation gave a travel date of August 17, or 1 day later. I sent them an email exactly 1 minute later, mentioning the error and requesting a correction. The reply came quickly online, suggesting that I could change the travel date for a 100 euros penalty ($ 134). All subsequent mail, emails and faxes have gone unanswered. Air Baltic prospective customers, beware !!

Air Baltic review by S Summers

14 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

BRU-VNO-BRU. Bought the ticket three months in advance for a reasonable 100euros return including tax for a short weekend break in Lithuania. Flight out on Friday evening was on-time and despite the aircraft being full, comfortable. Unfortunately by the time the service trolley reached my emergency exit seat there were no hot meals left and I wasn't prepared to pay for cheese and a small bottle of red for dinner! Flight back on Monday morning again on-time, this time quite empty and I had a fairly good hot breakfast for a very reasonable 5euros including coffee.

Air Baltic review by Erich Koller

11 June 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

CPH to VNO (Vilnius), actually flown as by Air Baltic, but booked as SAS. Flight left and arrived on time. B737 showed its age, however kept to a certain standard. No food or drinks for free on the LCC, therefore just as its mother (SAS). Cabin Crew was rather friendly, not overwhelming but okay. For a 90 minutes flight, this was acceptable. Would fly them again if required.

Air Baltic review by P Graves

10 May 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

TLV-RIX 25th March 2007, arrived at airport for 03:50 flight only to find that it had been cancelled without any prior notification. Six weeks on & Air Baltic have failed to respond to our requests for re- imbursement & compensation for additional costs incurred. A shambolic organisation with whom I shall never book a flight again! Can't give a star rating as we didn't have a 'trip' experience with them!

Air Baltic review by Brian Watling

5 May 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

Having travelled to Riga many times over the past 3 years from LHR, STN and LGW. I have noticed improvement to the standard of service offered. The food is first class and reasonably priced. The staff make an effort to ensure the highest standard of customer service. The price of their tickets are very reasonable. It is a pity they do not operate a morning flight to Riga now that BA gave the route up. We travel home to Latvia to see family about every six weeks and look forward to flying with Air Baltic.

Air Baltic review by F Wolski

8 March 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

LGW-RIX-LGW for a weekend trip to Latvia's fantastic capital. AirBaltic promotes itself as a cheap airline and that is what we got. Paying £45 for the return trip, I can hardly complain about anything. Yet, both flights on time in new and clean aircraft. Food is available for purchase and the different options are both tasty and plentiful as well as well priced. £4 for a hot meal with wine! They are miles ahead the likes of Ryanair and I would recommend them to anyone. It's worth the extra penny!

Air Baltic review by Svyatoslav Pidgorny

5 February 2007

KBP-RIX-TBS-RIX-SVO. I didn't have many expectations and the airline delivered me to the destinations almost on time. I was disappointed though to find out that drinking water is only available for purchase even on 4-hour flights. Note that new EU hand luggage deny taking the drinking bottle onboard - so additional expense and inconvenience.

Air Baltic review by David Gartside

1 November 2006

MAN-RIX-MAN. Despite the best attempts of Manchester Airport to completely foul up the outward journey with incredibly slow security in Terminal 1, the return journey was very successful, with on time flights in a DC9/MD80 hired in from an anonymous Icelandic lessor. Cabin service was reliable and good tempered despite the interventions of a moronic British stag party. Check-in and security at RIX was an object lesson for others - same quality of result in a tenth of the time and much better passenger experience.

Air Baltic review by Erich Witschi

1 November 2006

First flight, Zürich to Riga on October 29th (new route) and as big fan of Riga I just had to go! Flight left on time, Business almost full, Economy almost empty, nice and relaxing flight on this 737-500. Food and drink can be bought on board at reasonable prices, had a sandwich that was quite good. Flight time 2 hours and 15 minutes, arrived on time in Riga (airport is very nice btw). Left Riga the next day on Air Baltic to Munich. The 737 was substituted with a MD82 leased from JetX. I love MD82s, they are sooo quite if you can sit in the front, even though this plane showed its age quite clearly (seats stained, etc.), but things like that never matter that much to me. Once again, left exactly on time and arrived in Munich a few minutes earlier. Smooth flight of 1 hour and 50 minutes. Overall I can highly recommend Air Baltic! Its a great airline with an astonishing network and unbeatable fares (if you book early).

Air Baltic review by David Zemdegs

27 September 2006

CPH to VNO and RIX to CDG with Air Baltic. We travelled as a family with two young boys. Our flights left on time and arrived ahead of schedule. The flight service was good and all the luggage arrived as expected. As we booked early we paid what we thought was an unbelievably low price. In summary our experience was very positive.

Air Baltic review by Linas Zajankauskas

12 August 2006

MUC-VNO . Due to a misconnect, purchased a last minute seat on the flight. The flight was operated with a Fokker 50 aircraft. The interior design of the aircraft is lively, but the seat comfort is rather poor, the cabin is very small and on a totally full flight it is rather uncomfortable. Due to ATC flight was a little late to depart, and there was no air-conditioning or explanation of the delay. The toilet was locked up and passengers were not allowed to use it before departure. The service was prompt, and a variety of snacks and beverages was available for purchase. The cost of the last seat on the plane was over 200Eur for a one-way flight, which was fairly competitive for the last minute purchase. However, overall experience was so and so.

Air Baltic review by Richard Pestell

18 June 2006

Surprisingly good for a 'budget' carrier. We paid less than £90 each for London - Riga return flights which were perfectly on time both ways. They were operated with clean B737 300s with plenty of leg room and good crew. Inflight food was good and very cheap - £4 buys you a hot dinner with wine. The only downside for us was that they now use Gatwick instead of Heathrow which would have been more convenient for us.

Air Baltic review by Tom Chadaravicius

5 March 2006

BT uses Fokker 50 on VNO-CPH that SAS had amicably ditched down the ladder for use by BT. For some time, BT treated its Riga-based customers to these F50. The F50 maximum altitude did not even allow to break cloud level during my flights, making them a grim reminiscence of Soviet-era VNO-PLQ flights on Antonov 24. It doesn't matter that I have been paying for high economy class (Y, S) airfares at around $1500 USD. BT refused to serve plain drinking water for free in spite of known exposure to dehydration customarily caused by low cabin air humidity. This is a health threatening experience. An airline can charge for soft drinks, beer, liquors, food, but tap water is an uncostly preventive necessity. The only good point about BT operations out of Vilnius is the professional airport staff that previously wore SAS uniforms and thence was trained by SAS for high SAS standards of late nineties.

Air Baltic review by Justin O'Brien

10 January 2006

Riga to Dublin on 2nd Jan 2006. The flight was delayed over 5 hours without any explanation or refreshment. I had checked in early and obtained my preferred seat - left hand side near the front. Just prior to (finally) boarding, my seat was changed without explanation to a windowless seat in the last row next to the toilet - the toilet was in a terrible state. The food had run out by the time they made it to the last row and the cabin crew looked tired and over it. I read that AirBaltic has increased passenger numbers by over 80% in the past year. Perhaps they need to increase their aircraft numbers and cabin crew by the same percentage? Poor management resulting in an inferior product. Thank goodness Aer Lingus have just commenced flights from Dublin. If you are travelling from London, may I suggest British Airways?

Air Baltic review by Victor Sprengel

21 November 2005

airBaltic in my opinion its really getting worse. Cabin crew looks really exhausted. I like that we were not given that terrible food. Its much better to pay less and not eating that junk.

Air Baltic review by Villem Aruoja

13 September 2005

Tallinn-Vilnius-Tallinn, Fokker 50. Air Baltic has no feedback section nor e-mail address on their website so this has to be posted here. The primary complaint was a strong stench of urine coming from the lavatory and filling the whole aircraft. I thought they will clean it up but unfortunately it was not weaker on the way back 2 days later. This time the pilot was having a private joke with the microphone, not sure in what language he tried to sing. Not to mention the cabin guys who sat next to me and talked too loud. But then again the 2.3EUR sandwich was quite ok. Luckily not the only airline on this route.

Air Baltic review by Stephen D'Arcy

9 September 2005

Brussels - Riga - Brussels. 737-500, newish, food & drink at fair prices. Good in-flight mag. covers all three Baltic States. It's possible to buy one-way tickets at good prices.

Air Baltic review by Steven Curfs

24 August 2005

RIX-CGN. Clean 737-500, with nice seats but just enough legroom. Plane departed on time, journey was without major events, I took a breakfast box for 4€, not exactly great to be honest. Arrived ahead of schedule and I would fly them again.

Air Baltic review by Sigthor Jonsson

28 July 2005

Copenhagen - Riga - Copenhagen on the way to Riga everything was like expected and friendly staff and smooth service. But on my way back the check in staff looked confused, and first the flight got delayed about an hour, then it was replaced with the F50 wich made me land about 2 hours later then expected - not so good as I had a meeting with my family in Copenhagen, the cabin crew was nice, but you could never understand what the pilot was trying to say. But compared to the prices I guess I can´t expect more.

Air Baltic review by Joost van der Maarel

25 June 2005

Flew them twice AMS-RIX-AMS on the Boeing 737-500 and both times I was surprised. I only paid EUR 98+tax so I didn't expect too much. Check-in staff was generally nice. I didn't ask anything special, but they were smiling and friendly. Same for the cabin crew. I liked the leather Recaro seats (YL-BBA, ex Braathens) more than easyJets seats, the cushion is way better. Not too much space, but as I'm pretty small it was perfect. Twice I had a 3-row for me alone.

Air Baltic review by Max Spencer-Dohner

6 March 2005

Flew RIX - HEL on a Fokker F50. Great service, great value for money fare. Professional crew. Smooth Flight. A true surprise.

Air Baltic review by Carl Bain

1 March 2005

I flew Air Baltic to London and was very disappointed. The service was slow and poorly organised. I don't mind paying for food, but if I'm paying, I also expect more. The staff whilst not rude, were not friendly. The pilot - not sure why he bothered saying anything, as he could not be heard in the main cabin. Overall a poor experience, but then on the plus side, plenty of room for improvement.

Air Baltic review by Alex Kuhn

23 December 2004

Just flew with them Berlin - Vilnius - Berlin and I must say it was a true disappointment. Not to mention the tiny leg space, the whole cabin was a joke. The seats were completely uncomfortable and the cabin crew was disinterested. Both flights were on a Fokker 50 and on the return flight some strange noises scared me. Sounded like the cabin got stretched, weird experience. I usually use Lithuanian on this route because of the direct flight and fast 1 hrs. 15 flight. With Baltic it took 2 hrs. 15 because of the slow Fokker. Very unfriendly check in staff at Vilnius airport! No more BT for me.

Air Baltic review by Jaanis Plieksaans

10 November 2004

Have flown 2 times Riga-Amsterdam-Riga. No objections whatsoever, apart from the fact that any food/drink has to be paid for, and somewhat shaky landings. Don't understand why but other airlines I have flown tend to land much smoother regardless of whether conditions etc. AirBaltic is not considered a low-fares airline, but overall service is comparable to e.g. EasyJet - probably more relaxed attitude to baggage allowances and slightly more customer-oriented attitude. So much for me. My friend had a worse experience - she was flying the same route recently - her outbound flight was delayed 1 hour and Boeing 737-500 (usual for this route) replaced with small Fokker due to (most likely) small amount of passengers for the flight. Not only that made the 2,5 hour flight even longer, but also made some people sick, which was quite an unpleasant experience. No problems with return flight though.

Air Baltic review by Ranjit Mene

17 September 2004

LHR-RIX-LHR 12th September 2004. Having paid almost 500 EUR for the privilege, I expected at least a drink and some peanuts!!! Alas, it was not to be as Air Baltic had gone low-cost. Unfortunately for the passenger, this meant low- cost when it comes to in-flight service, but NOT when it comes to prices. An airline to be avoided at all costs. BA also fly this route and are much better - their only downside is that they don't have a very convenient return flight time back from RIX if you're just there for a morning or afternoon meeting.

Air Baltic review by  Matthew Edwards

1 August 2004

Flight from RIX to Tallinn, booked on the internet for an early afternoon flight. Arrived at airport to check in and told it is no longer run and it is now a early evening flight. Told that I would have been contacted by email with the new flight times, this did not happen, was told that there was nothing that I could do and that was that. I asked why I was not called on my mobile as I had given that number as a contact, no response. Air Wales cancelled my flight from Cardiff to London and called me on my mobile and made other arrangements. Air Baltic just do not seem to care. When on board the seats were so small, made for midgets, you moved and the seat flew back. No food, one drink. Will never fly Air Baltic again.

Air Baltic review by  Vlad Gavrilov

7 May 2004

Excellent flight! I enjoyed nice, smooth flight CPH-RIX-CPH, friendly flight attendants who were speaking good English. There is no free meal service in the economy class - the fares were low, so it is worth to take a cheap flight and sacrifice a meal. RIX airport - Air Baltic hub is a very clean and modern facility. It makes waiting for your departure flight very pleasant.

Air Baltic review by   Allan D Robins

6 May 2004

LHR-RIX 25th March 2004 : I booked in Jan 2004 the above route and received a text on my mobile with booking ref and print out for e-tickets. I then received paper tickets as well. In the details it gave the flight times and advised us we would get a meal. When we got on board we were given a menu with a price list! Since March, they had lowered their fares they said and now you paid for your meal. The fact that I had paid the same price was irrelevant. The food was expensive and puny, the hot meal (which I waited 45mins for) consisted of 3 lumps of chicken and a bit of stewed veg. The flight there was fine if a little cramped, staff friendly but we were shaken around at landing as we approached the runway at right angles, pitching at the very last moment. RIX-LHR : The flight was 15 mins late off, mainly due to the fact that they announced which seats were to board first then ignored that and let anyone on. The result was gridlock on board. The seats were cramped and small (every time I shuffled, my leg hit the recline button and off I went). Legroom was awful, designed for midgets and it was extremely hot and stuffy on board. Staff seemed happy enough except one who had a allergy to smiling. Resulting delay meant that we missed our slot at LHR and we landed 40mins late.

Air Baltic review by   Inga Ashworth

25 April 2004

My daughter was on the Air Baltic flight from RIX to LHR, Apr 16, BT 651 as UM . However, the cabin crew carelessly let her out of the aircraft on her own, she was fending for herself through immigration, customs, etc. She is only 13 years old, we paid for the service and it is really unbelievable how careless Air Baltic was. It is only matter of time when disaster could happen. Air Baltic rating is quite high on your list. Apparently, you will have to lower it. I will send you back Air Baltic reply to our complaint how and why they missed UM on their flight.

Air Baltic review by   Michel Scaviner

18 April 2004

Riga to Tallinn (14/04/2004). Air Baltic operates this short route on Fokker 50 ; these are small airplanes, but comfort is Ok, even if the strong wind made the landing procedure a little uncomfortable. Just one hour flight, so no meal, but a non alcoholic drink. Only 8 passengers this day for the beginning afternoon flight - they operate three flights a day on this route - cost was a reasonable 50 euros one way. Airports in Riga and Tallinn are very nice, small, very clean and pleasant. I visited the aviation museum just aside Lidosta airport in Riga, and took place in an old Antonov 24. A pleasant way to wait the boarding time !




 

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