airBaltic

✅ Verified Review | Tallinn to Amsterdam. airBaltic appear to be making extra money on luggage allowance. I flew from Amsterdam to Tallinn on 23/10/17 with my family and there was not an issue with our hand luggage. We did notice the cabin crew seemed determined to annoy as many people as possible by opening the luggage racks and moving peoples luggage that seemed okay to me and the rest of the passengers. We returned to Tallinn airport to come home on 27/10/17 and suddenly our bags were now too large and 3 out of 4 we had to pay 60 euros to board. There were 2 queues and on the right hand side the lady let everybody through but in the left hand lane there were two ladies, one was either a new starter or supervisor. The policy appeared to be anybody with an English or American accent was stopped and baggage checked. We again witnessed the cabin crew having fun with peoples luggage. We had a wonderful break in Tallin but airBaltic have put a bitter taste in my mouth and put me off booking again in this region.

✅ Verified Review | Flew airBaltic from Geneva to Stockholm via Riga. Service onboard was ok. Fresh cabin on a 737 and leg space was not too bad because of the new seats. The problems started when reaching Riga 10 minutes delayed. Another 10 minute delay followed since there were no ground crew at the gate. Connection time to Stockholm was 30 minutes so we didn't reach the flight. Ground crew were in general not helpful and were rude at the gate, transfer desk and information desk. We got new tickets on another airline several hours later. We had to wait outside the security control since check-in didn't open until 2 hours before departure. They thought they had lost our luggage, which they had no clue how to locate. We found it in the end after talking to all the employees we could find, for some reason it was placed in the lost and found room. If it weren't for us pushing them to find it we would not have gotten it that day. Basically we lost a full day in Stockholm and, and ended up spending it at an airport restaurant outside the security area. If you're flying airBaltic make sure they don't try to put you on a 30 min connection.

✅ Verified Review | Riga to Amsterdam. I flew as a so called premium economy passenger. However, this does not entail a separate cabin. It merely bundles into one fare all those little bits like baggage, seat selection etc that you have to pay for separately if you select a low cost fare. Further, at Riga airport you get a special check-in counter and priority security screening, which makes those processes very streamlined. The aircraft itself was clean. There was no IFE. On this flight, I didn't order or buy any food. I found the cabin crew polite and efficient. Take off, landing and baggage retrieval were all efficiently handled. For this distance, I was very satisfied with the airBaltic experience.

✅ Verified Review | Gatwick to St Petersburg via Riga. Unreasonable rip off! The strategy is simple. Hand luggage is max 8 kilos. Cameras shall be in, can't be on you. So if you are 3 kg over, they insist you repack to check in bag your extra weight. Suddenly your 20 kg bag is 23 kg. and it becomes a heavy bag. What is normally heavy in other airlines is 30 kg and above. Heavy bag costs 43£ extra (London to Riga . Paying by kilos is not an option. Provided I already paid for premier is absolutely nasty price. On top of it customer service is really bad. I asked if I can pay but dont repack as my all hand luggage is photo cameras, which are retro and fragile. No way supervisor allowed me to do that. Absolutely not helpful. With all the amounts combined, can fly much better airline with this money. "Fragile" sticker was a piece of the sticker that is normally used to check the bag and print barcode. They just took and empty one, took a normal school pen, not even anything that writes thick, and wrote "fragile". Hoping that would be noticed and taken into account is delusional.

✅ Verified Review | Minsk to Helsinki via Riga. The flight went otherwise well, but I wanted to point out unnecessary and behaviour of a airBaltic gate staff at Riga airport. I was told at the gate to put my bag in the rack to test my bag size. I had to gently push it in because of the handles. However, this was not enough for the airBaltic employee. He repeated three times, that the bag needs to go "easy in, easy out". I felt I was harassed at the gate, and wasn't allowed to take the bag to the cabin (checking in the bag was free). The point is the bag needs to fit to the cabin compartment, as it does. If it fits the rack and takes a few millimetres of more space perhaps, I felt that it wasn't enough for this arrogant behaviour and getting a customer upset. I think this experience is very telling about the company's culture, values and attitude towards its customers.

✅ Verified Review | Brussels to Riga. Their service goes down over time. On my last trip to Riga they have lost my luggage again, even though their rep has confirmed the luggage has been tracked OK in Brussels. Upon the arrival company’s agent in Riga did not have a clue where my bags were. Multiple calls to baggage claim department have helped to receive my luggage after four days. However, one of them was ripped out, no plastic wrap. I have dropped off at their head office in the airport, but Customer Service rep has refused to meet in person to explain the situation.

✅ Verified Review | Poor Service. We had flight from Tbilisi to Paris via Riga with a connection timer of 40mins. Airplane arrived on time, but we were waiting about 15 minutes for the loading stairs, we also wasted time in the queue in passport control, we arrived at the gate and the gate was close. Airplane departed after 20 minutes after we showed up. airBaltic said they could do nothing. There was so many people with the same case. Nobody was listening to us and was offering us to buy new tickets from Riga to Paris for 300 EUR, without baggage. They even did not offered us any kind of discount for new ticket, finally we bought new tickets from Finnair. Try to save your nerves and money and not try to buy tickets from AirBaltic.

✅ Verified Review | Hamburg to Riga. I recently had flight from Newark to Riga with connection in Hamburg. Arrived at 6:50AM and my flight was scheduled for 8:50AM, so I had almost 2 hours waited at the gate. I had all documents, did check in Newark, only needed to pick up boarding pass at the gate when someone show up! Couldn't print boarding pass in Newark because United and Air Baltic have no agreement, so they only can confirm your check-in, but boarding pass must be picked up at the gate! When lady show up at 8:15 AM she said I'm not registered - how did I get to Hamburg then? After she said I supposed to get there earlier to get my boarding pass. Earlier? I was there for over an hours and she got there 4 min ago! Then she said flight is overbooked and someone is actually seating on my seat! No apologies and no alternative options. I had to buy tickets with LOT to get to my final destination! I would give them 0 star and never fly with them! When I claimed Air Baltic, they said I did not show up for my flight. In Riga I found out it is normal practice for Air Baltic. Please, save your nerves and money and fly with some other company.

✅ Verified Review | Tallinn to Copenhagen via Riga. Airbaltic should be avoided. I've been travelling with airbaltic for the last 8 years without any problems and was a loyal customer but after they started scamming people in the transit area of their home airport in Riga I could not stand but write this review. They allow you to bring 1 bag with you on board at your departure, but then charge you 60 EUR for it at the gate for your next transit flight in Riga. They even hired special staff to do that - 2 ladies checking everyone in the queue to the gate looking for appropriate victim and then telling them to pay. Several people got charged together with me on my last flight. It's pure scam as people had they luggage checked during first flight to Riga, but have no other option but pay 60 EUR at the gate.

✅ Verified Review | Amsterdam to Vilnius return. These flights were on Boeing 737's with good leg-room and were on time, with friendly cabin crew. Food and drink were available for purchase, and airBaltic accepts cash (euros) so passengers were served more expeditiously (excellent Latvian beer on offer, by the way). Perfect short flights, perfectly done.